Plantation alley is located on the Mississippi River North of New Orleans. On both sides of the river were large sugar cane farms (plantations down here), where the owners built beautiful mansions for themselves, while their slaves, who worked the fields, lived in shanty poverty. Many of the estates have been destroyed either by fire or the floods of “Old Man River”. Most of the existing ones have been restored and offer guided tours.
The first plantation of the West Bank was Laura. This is a Creole plantation built in 1805. The guided tours are based on the Memories of Laura Locoul, who had lived there and in the French Quarter. The tales of Br’er Rabbit were stories told in the slave quarters on this plantation and later written down for posterity.
Next is the most photographed plantation of the all, Oak Alley. Twenty-eight majestic oak trees line the entrance way to the mansion. River road passes by it and a levee has been built to control the river from flooding. The view from the river in the 1800s must have been magnificent. It is even spectacular today. I have been told that Hurricane Katrina destroyed some of these stately oaks.
On the East Bank of the river are the restored San Francisco, Ormond, and Destrehan plantations. The war of 1812 almost began in New Orleans, rather than ending there. The facts are that in 1805 Haiti abolished slavery. Some of the French settlers took their slaves from Haiti and moved to the East Bank of the Mississippi, where they farmed sugar cane and kept their previous way of living. The slaves had felt the stirrings of freedom while on Haiti. Some of them felt that if they could band together, they might be a force with which to be reckoned. In 1811 a group of slaves escaped from their masters up the river and began traveling South to New Orleans, which they hoped they could capture and negotiate their freedom with the British, who wanted the Colonies back. Along the way the group grew in numbers with slaves from other plantations and from other escaped slaves who heard of their mission. A sizeable cache of guns and ammunition was to be waiting for them along the way. For some reason, they were betrayed and the cache was not there. They were captured, put on trial at Destrehan Plantation (now a B & B) and convicted. What would have been the outcome of the war if they had succeeded?