West of New Orleans, along the Mississippi river, are many plantations that were built in the early 1800's and have been maintained for tourist today. We drove along the road that many of them are on and stopped to see two that we were told were the best.
The plantation to the left is called "Laura" and was built in 1805. It is named after one of the residents from the mid-1800's who happened to write her memoirs about living there. The stories that are told are very interesting. Back then the business and the plantation itself was not willed to the oldest son but was willed to the smartest child. Over the course of many years, Laura was owned and run by four different women and no men. Laura, the woman, was married to a Frenchman and as a result, on top of sugar cane, she had the exclusive rights to import Bordeaux wine to the region. Needless to say, she was very rich. All of the many plantations were worked by slaves.
The second picture is a plantation called "Oak Alley" and was built in 1839. As you can see, it has a beautiful "alley" of giant live oak trees on both sides making a beautiful canopy for the entrance. There are 28 of them evenly spaced. I wasn't aware that the reason a "live oak" tree is so named is because although it sheds it's leaves in the fall, it has other leaves that replace them and so it appears to always be full of leaves (live). This plantation is the most photographed in Louisiana. I'm not surprised!
Both plantations have been designated National Historic Landmarks. It was a very nice day!
