Laura Plantation

We arrived at Laura Plantation about noon, and even so, there weren't a lot of people around.  Unlike Oak Alley, you pay for your entrance in the store, and are given a guided tour of the entire property.  While you wait for your guide, you can look around the store, and decide what you might want to buy when you leave....or maybe that's just me!

If I could I would have purchased the old icebox.  Though I have no idea where I would have put it!  Above the icebox, and impossible to read, is a plaque that has an embossed fleur-de-lis with the word Bienvenue below.  I did pick this up on our way out.  My daughter is bilingual, has a fleur-de-lis tatooed on her calf and the plaque will be a perfect way to welcome friends to her old house.

Back to Laura Plantation.  Our guide was a young man (under 30 years) who has worked at the Plantation since he was in college.  It was clear he loves the place, his stories were interesting and he could answer our questions quite readily.  He also had the Louisiana accent, and although I didn't ask I'd suspect he was bilingual.

"Laura Plantation is a restored historic Louisiana Creole plantation on the west bank of the Mississippi River near Vacherie, Louisiana, (U.S.), open for guided tours. Formerly known as Duparc Plantation, it is significant for its early 19th-century Créole-style raised big house and several surviving outbuildings, including two slave cabins. It is one of only 15 plantation complexes in Louisiana with this many complete structures.  Because of its historical importance, the plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places. The site, in St. James Parish, Louisiana, is also included on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail." - Wikipedia

As you can see there is significant difference in the buildings at Oak Alley and Laura Plantations, the former built in the Greek Revival style and the latter in the Creole style.  Our tour started beneath the house which housed several areas for storage and in particular for wine storage.  Our guide showed us how the beams of the house were cut, numbered (Roman numerals) and placed in accordance to this sequence.  According to Wikipedia, construction on the house was started in 1804 and completed less than a year later.

Up on the gallery there are 8 double doors, though our guide said in the original house the outside rooms were not closed off and the gallery encircled the house.  The doors were mean to allow cooling air from the river to circulate through the house.  

We left the lower level through the back and into a lovely French inspired garden.  Lots of roses blooming there!

We made our way around the house, up to the gallery and through one of the sets of double doors.  Here we allowed to take photos.  The picture above the secretary (sorry for the flash) is Guillaume Duparc, the original owner of the property.  He died within a few years of acquiring the land and building the house, 1808, and his wife Nanette Prud'homme took over the daily operations.  In 1829, she gave control to her three children, Louis, Flagy, and Elizabeth.  None of whom apparently got along, and this was a continuing story line through the next generation as well.

Elisabeth outlived her brothers and took over the business, eventually dividing it between her two children Emile and Aimee.  The way it was divided caused further dissension and eventually Aimee's children moved to France.  Emile renamed the plantation Laura Plantation in the 1870's and when she married and moved to Missouri in 1892, the sale required that the name remain.  Much of the information was made available to the historic society through her memoir "Memories of an Old Plantation House" which was rediscovered in 1993.

Elizabeth's brother Louis was married and had one child, Eliza.  When she was 16, her parents took her to Paris to seek treatment for her severe acne.  Each day, for four days, she went to (at then) renowned physician who gave her a shot, and each day she grew more ill until she died.  What was contained in the shots, was arsenic.  

It should be noted that although the American side of the Duparc family lives on in the descendants of Flagy Dupard and his slave Henriette Jean-Pierre.  We later saw a listing - which I thought I had taken a photo of but evidently did not - and I believe they had at least a dozen children together.

The lighting in this photo is horrid, but I wanted to share because of the cradle in the center.  We were told that this piece of furniture is the only one original to the house, in fact, it is the cradle of Laura Locoul, the great-granddaughter of Guillaume Duparc and Nanette Prud-homme.  

The remaining pieces are representative of the period, but not original to the house.  

The dining room table, decked out for Christmas.

There was, in this room, as set of dishes that did belong to the Duparc family.  





This area was one of the rooms that was closed off at the back of the house when the gallery was closed in.  I was used as the pantry.  There was no kitchen in the house, because of the fear of fire.

However, as you can see there was a fire - it happened in August 2004 due to an electrical issue.  The house was restored by 2006, but the beams were damaged both in the main house and in the area below.  Yet the house still stands!












This is the site of the original kitchen which I believe was also destroyed by fire many years ago. I suspect at some point, with sufficient funding it will be rebuilt.

Beyond the kitchen site was the garden. For the most part it was filled with cabbage at this point, but there was also this lovely display.  Remember the wine storage below the house....some of the old bottles have been used in the borders.  Empties of course.

Besides vegetables, there were also orange and grapefruit trees.  I can only imagine picking fresh fruit for my breakfast, how wonderful that would be.

The slave quarters, which have been restored but much more in the style of the 1840's.  We were able to go inside the quarters where our guide shared the story of Edouard Gros Duparc.  Edouard was born to his parents, Phillipe and Melanie Gros, however as was common he was also known by his master's last name.

During the civil war, Edouard left the plantation and fought for the Union, later returning to the plantation after the war.  As our guide indicated, none of the slaves knew how to read or write, and the only life he would have known (outside fighting in the war) was on the plantation. Of course, he was a free man, but the plantations could not afford to pay wages and set up "company stores".  Wages did not match the cost of necessities and we saw a ledger that contained notes of the amounts owing by these emancipated individuals to the plantation owner. 

Later Edouard applied for a pension for his time fighting for the Union.  This is where much of the historical information regarding the slaves is derived from, as Edouard provided many pages of notes.  He was awarded his pension as although he could not read or write, his knowledge of events and timing was noteworthy.  

More cabbages and orange trees were located outside the cabin.  In addition to their duties on the plantation, the slaves and later free men and women grew their own gardens for sustenance.

On the way back to the store, we passed by this dilapidated old house.  It is actually the mother-in-law suite, built for either Nanette or Elizabeth (I've forgotten which).  I asked our guide about it, and he said that due to the fire, the historical society has not been able to make any repairs, however do plan to do so at some point in time.  Currently, though it is not safe for viewing.

The Laura Plantation tour was incredible, with a totally different focus than Oak Alley.  I'm so glad we had the opportunity to tour both, and perhaps someday I'll return to visit Whitney Plantation.  We simply didn't have the time to visit all three as the rental car outlet had no after hours drop off.

I'll leave the rest of the day, not much to report, and our last day in New Orleans for the next post.  Though I will echo K's words that evening, "we had another great day in New Orleans".