The Oaks of Oak Alley Plantation

Vacherie, LA

Before the American Civil War, more than half of America’s millionaires lived between New Orleans and Natchez in the fertile valley of the mighty Mississippi. This area was not conducive to growing cotton crops (too much moisture) however sugarcane grew well here and sugarcane plantations from small to thousands of acres lined the banks of the river, which was used to transport goods in and out.

During the course of the Civil War many of the homes were destroyed by fighting along the river, and after the war, the plantations were no longer profitable once the slaves that worked the fields were emancipated. So many of the homes fell into disrepair, and are lost. However, a growing number have been brought back to their former glory and serve to remind us of those times.

I visited one of the largest of the antebellum homes, Nottoway, when I was in Baton Rouge (and promptly deleted the pictures of it). Today I visited a second, and one of the first to be restored because of it’s forward thinking and smart final owner. Josephine Stewart lived for many years after her husband and in 1972 she knew that the cost of maintaining the property was more than she could handle so she created a Foundation and had the property opened to the public. It is called Oak Alley, and from the pictures you’ll immediately know why.

The oaks (Virginia Oaks to be precise) leading from the river to the home were planted over 300 years ago, long before the home was even built. Growing on the oak branches is a fern called Reserection Fern, because it has the ability to go dormant (and turn brown) during droughts, and then to green up (reserect itself) when water is available once again. Many of the trees in the area as you will have seen from my pics of the City Park also have Spanish Moss on them. However, the last owner of the home didn’t like the Spanish Moss so she had the gardeners remove it and it’s been maintained that way.

Some of the most interesting parts of visiting these homes/plantations, is family history that is wrapped up in the bricks and mortar. Here’s where a good guide is incredibly important. Today’s was fabulous. He was funny, knowledgable and gave us information in manageable bites. This area along the river was primarily Creole, and the guide’s family traces it’s history back to pre-Civil War. He started the tour with his own family history which set the mood. I won’t go into the history of all the families that owned the home, but two little tidbits are: Louise, one of the original owner’s daughters became a nun and started an order that served in New Orleans, and another of the descendants is one of the founders of the Cafe Du Monde.

One of the neat features of the dining room of this house was the punkah over the dining table. A servant sat in the corner of the room pulling on the cord attached to the punkah to move it slowly back and forth, providing air movement for cooling and also shooing away flies.

One of the bedrooms is used to display some of the trappings of grieving. The Creole people are superstitious and one of the things they believe is that when someone dies their spirit might be attracted to the light in mirrors and it might get caught up in the mirror and never rest. So they cover the mirrors in the house with black fabric until the spirit has been sent on it’s way.

The huge bell snuggled into the huge 100 year old box woods just to the side of the house, was used to keep everything on the plantation running on time. It rang to start work, to eat, for lights out, etc.

On the property is also a reconstruction of some of the slaves quarters complete with displays and explanations of the way they lived. And they have a re-creation of a Civil War officers tent and a film explaining the production of sugar from the cane grown in the fields. And they have a bed and breakfast, restaurant, bar and of course the ubiquitous gift shop.

A long list of movies, TV Shows, advertisements have been filmed in part or entirely at Oak Alley. They have a separate brochure with a list of them there are so many. The ones that jumped out at me are: The Young and the Restless, Beyonce’s Deja Vu music video, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Interview with the Vampire.

And since touring is exhausting, after touring the house, I sat to enjoy a Mint Julep in the afternoon sun and thought about life in those times before touring the grounds.