It was a time of glorious "Southern hospitality," a time when the women wore beautiful ballroom gowns and the men kept their muskets at their side. It was the "Old South" as portrayed in the classic "Gone With the Wind." But, it's not just a movie, it was once real life as our ancestors knew it.
Gracious living was a must . . . and chivalry was still alive. Haven't you always wanted to see the surroundings first hand, and maybe, to some extent, relive the fantasy? Well, don't miss the chance to visit some of the most beautiful plantations in the world. Preserved in their original state, visitors can experience what it was like to dwell in these awesome estates.Most of the plantations that remain in New Orleans can be found in Algier's Point, which has survived through numerous hurricanes and natural disasters, wars and a devastating fire in the 1800's. Massive oak trees, sugar cane fields, pecan groves and simply beautiful Louisiana Countryside surround six antebellum plantation homes in the Algier's area.
One of the most important surviving plantations is Oak Alley, built in 1839, and reached by way of a quarter-mile long alley canopied by 28 magnificent oak trees, each over 250 years old.
Some of the homes offer resident guides, dressed in period costumes and equipped with knowledge and history on the homes and elegant lifestyles of wealthy plantation owners. Get a full dose of southern hospitality in its original form at one of many plantation homes. "The City that Care Forgot" hasn't forgotten it's past, and neither will you if you get a chance to experience it first hand!
The Louisiana plantation culture first came into being along the state's rivers and bayous in the 18th century. Planters initially used the fertile soil for indigo and tobacco, but these crops were soon replaced by cotton in north Louisiana and sugar cane in the more tropical southern part of the state.
Sugar and cotton made the great mansions possible, but the designs of the homes came from as many directions as did the planters themselves. The first house type was the Creole Raised Cottage, whose core design came from the West Indies. Its great umbrella-like hipped roof came from Canada and its wide galleries and turned colonettes (slender wooden columns) were developed in Louisiana.
The earliest furnishings of the homes were made of oak or cypress by slaves on the plantations. Later, in prosperous years, European craftsmen came to Louisiana. European furnishings and art were imported through New Orleans and other ports. The plantation mansions of Louisiana still bear signs of efforts to make life in the new world as genteel and pleasant as possible. Many are surrounded by extensive formal gardens, and the approaches to some of the homes are lined with avenues of live oaks that are now huge in their old age.
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