Sandi's Lament: A Visit to a Southern Plantation (GART

As New Orleans disappeared from my rear-view mirror and I headed toward San Antonio, I decided to make a stop about an hour outside of New Orleans to see a plantation. I’ve always had a moral dilemma about visiting a Southern plantation. It’s hard to visit a place in which people made money off the backs of slaves, but I realized that it’s a sad part of America’s history. Ignoring it is unacceptable, therefore I went to a plantation to honor those people who suffered through slavery. There’s a location between New Orleans and Baton Rouge dubbed “Plantation Alley” where quite a number of plantations are available to tour. I decided to tour one of the most popular and well-known plantations: Oak Alley Plantation.

Oak Alley is named after its distinguishing feature – an alley created by a double row of live oak trees which were planted in the early 18th century – a hundred years before the mansion was built. Originally named Bon Séjour, Oak Alley was established to grow sugar cane. In 1836, Jacques Roman obtained ownership of the 1200 acre plantation and the 57 slaves who were part of the plantation. The following year, Roman began building the mansion utilizing the enslaved labor. After the plantation was lost by the Roman family due to over expenditure and the Civil War, the plantation went through several owners who could not afford the upkeep of the house and by the 1920s the mansion and outbuildings had fallen into disrepair. In 1925, Texas cattle rancher Andrew Stewart purchased the property for his wife, Josephine, and spent thousands of dollars refurbishing the property. Josephine was the last owner to live in the residence. When she died in 1972, she left the historic house and grounds to the Oak Alley Foundation, her foundation - which opened them to the public.

I started my tour of the plantation with the slavery exhibit. The original slave quarters were in such disrepair that they were torn down. Replica buildings were placed on the footprint of the previous buildings. The exhibit shares the daily life of the slaves, including topics such as healthcare, punishment, and life after emancipation. One of the buildings has engravings on the wall with the names of the slaves as an honorarium.

After seeing the exhibit, I toured and photographed the exterior of the mansion and the grounds, including the 300 year old oak alley and the Stewart Family graveyard.

Then it was time to tour the house. I joined approximately 15 other visitors. The tour began in the parlor and then went through the dining room, the 2nd floor bedrooms, the 2nd floor balcony, before returning to the ground floor to see the plantation office. Beautifully decorated with period pieces and a few original Roman artifacts, it was a fascinating look at the antebellum period. Oak Alley has been featured in many Hollywood movies, including Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte; Interview with the Vampire; and Primary Colors.

Check out all the photos from the Oak Alley Plantation on my GART photo site. Onto San Antonio.