Destrehan Plantation | Laura Plantation | Oak Alley

New Orleans, Louisiana:  We have been traveling eight weeks today. DT has decided we should have planned 6 to 12 months for this trip. Three just isn't enough. Though we are enjoying the food in New Orleans - the city itself is not so lovely that you would want to linger. Today we drove 130 miles (in our car) to visit three plantations and had a lovely day, enjoying the sun and another of America's Great River Roads.

Our first stop was the Destrehan Plantation, built in 1787. The house is the oldest documented plantation house left intact in the lower Mississippi Valley on a Wednesday. DT and I were the only two people on the half-hour tour, so we had the guide to ourselves and could ask a lot of questions. This French family was very prominent in Louisiana politics. They were profitable sugar cane growers, and perfected the granulation of sugar. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were filmed here in several scenes of Interview with the Vampire - written by New Orleans author, Anne Rice.

Destrehan Plantation


Destrehan Plantation kitchen


Living and Dining rooms of Destrehan Plantation


Destrehan Plantation covered porch

Next we crossed over the Mississippi and continued to Laura Plantation. This plantation was a Creole Plantation and a "working" plantation - these people had another mansion in New Orleans, where they resided from January through Easter. They spoke only French and if you didn't speak French, you were not their friend nor welcome in their home (but they would do business with you on the porch).

Laura Plantation

The house was built in 2 years. 80 slaves from Senegal arrived on the property with plans and orders from the family. Forty slaves built the foundation and forty went out into the swamp to cut the cypress trees for lumber. The foundation is built very deep under the ground, and all the bricks were made on site. The house came together, in 1805, when the foundation was finished and the guys came out of the swamp - with the house completely ready to put together. Everything was measured and marked, numbered and matched-up. It took 11 days to put the house up and not one nail was used. Under the house, which was the storage area for wine and foods, you can look up under the beams and still see the numbers written on the boards! This plantation was almost always run by women and because of the diaries of the 19th-century, 4th-generation owner, Laura Locoul, there are more than 5,000 pages of documentation on the property. Laura wrote down all the family history she could remember - and it is nothing like a Gone With the Wind version of the old south. They had a rule at Laura Plantation: If you are going to live in this house, you must work in this house. Of course, since they had several hundred slaves, I am not sure how much the owners actually worked... but it is a fabulous story. Lots of family feuding, illegitimate children, voodoo and swearing.

The front porch of Laura Plantation

From the slave cabins on Laura Plantation came the African-born tales of Br'er Rabbit. Our guide, Melba, was very funny and showed us the bedroom where 67 babies were born. She said half of these children lived to be over 100 years old. (Melba said if she ever has a free moment, she comes into this room and takes a deep breath!) The property has twelve buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including the home where Laura's evil Grandmother lived after she was asked - by her daughter - to leave the main house!

Our last stop of the day was to the most beautiful house I have ever seen. Oak Alley is one of the most celebrated sights in Louisiana. In 1700, 28 Live Oak were planted by a Creole farmer and he built a small home nearby. In 1939, Jacques Telesphore Roman, a wealthy Creole sugar planter, bought the property and built the present mansion for his bride. Seems she loved Oak Alley, but after a few years wasn't so interested in her husband, and spent most of her time at their OTHER mansion in New Orleans. (You know, this is what America needs - less divorce and more two-mansion families.) I loved Oak Alley because it is completely symmetrical, exquisite in its simple detailing and beautifully furnished. The verandas on both levels circle the entire house. All the windows could be opened for cross-ventilation. If you like, they will serve you a mint julep on the veranda!

Oak Alley Plantation


Master Bedroom


Rhett & Scarlet... er, I mean, DT and me, at the lovely Oak Alley Plantation

After a tour of Oak Alley, we walked around the grounds. Oak Alley is just so lovely. If it wasn't haunted and in the middle of a mosquito-infested swamp, I would have moved-in. Oak Alley still grows sugar cane. (We saw sugar cane growing for miles and miles today.) But we didn't see any restaurants and we were really hungry, as it was dusk by the time we left Oak Alley. We did not follow the Great River Road back to New Orleans, but hopped over to the Interstate and were back into town in about one hour. If you are hungry, I suppose New Orleans is good place to be!

This was our last night in town and I still hadn't tried Pompano, so DT took me to Arnaud's. Arnaud's is a classic New Orleans restaurant - so old it felt I was going back in time as we were escorted through the dining rooms to our table. (Again, no reservation and we had a wonderful table in the jazz bistro section of the restaurant.) The floors are mosaic Italian tile and the chandeliers are ancient. Tuxedoed waiters hover. A three-piece jazz band played in the corner. First we had a much-deserved cocktail - no we did not have that mint julep on the veranda at Oak Alley - and relaxed, chatting about our day and enjoying the music. For appetizers, the man I kiss regularly had alligator sausage. (If it tastes like chicken, why not just have the chicken already?) His reptile was served with a smoked onion and apple relish. I tried Mushrooms Veronique, mushroom caps stuffed with grapes and Boursin, encrusted in fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. Now, we felt better! Continuing on into the pages of the menu we chose salads (Caesar for DT, and I chose the Belgian Endive served with roasted walnuts). I had Pompano David - how appropriate - which was a simple grilled fish fillet, brushed with olive oil and lemon juice. DT had Snapper Mitchell - grilled with fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic and Kalamata olives.

We had a lovely meal at Arnaud's. We were so hungry when we sat down, and now we felt good. Full, but not too full. Then, those damned lagniappes. Chocolate Devastation Cake. It devastated us, all right! The two of us didn't even finish half of the cake and we were done for the night. The cake fools you. It is a flourless cake, and your first taste seems so light and fluffy. By the third bite, devastation sets in. After dinner, we walked for an hour - down lively Bourbon Street - all the way to Jackson Square and past Cafe du Monde. No beignets tonight for the Waddling Wanderers. This was a big day!

RV Park: Jude Travel Park