Destrehan Plantation

I picked out two plantations to see today, but due to time constraints we only got to see one, but it was great.  In it's heyday it was a huge operation sugar plantation with over 1000 slaves.  Attached are just a few samples of the many, many pictures I took today.

This gentleman in the Union Army uniform was our guide for our tour.  He's wearing that uniform because this plantation was a stronghold for the Union Army administration once the Civil War ended. 

This is what was called the pre-kitchen.  All of the cooking was actually done in the cook house which was another building far from the main house.  Then the food was brought in here to be assembled and prepared for the table.

This was called the China Kitchen where an indoor slave plated up the meals, from the pre-kitchen, onto the good china and took it to the dining room.  She was also responsible for feeding the masters children here and teaching them manners. 

This was the overseers office.

This bedroom belonged to the lady of the house across from her children's rooms.

This is the master's sitting room.

And this is the master's bedroom.

All of these sitting rooms and bedroom had doors that opened onto this upper veranda that surrounded the house and also onto the hall that faced the large entrance staircase, to take advantage of the breeze from the Mississippi River. 

One of the many bedrooms was later made into a billiard room.

The slave quarters that are close by on the grounds now, were actually moved from over a 1/4 of a mile away.  They never would have allowed the slaves to live that close to the main house. 

The back two corners of the main house had huge tanks to collect rainwater.  One still does, but the other has been outfitted with an elevator, to make the plantation totally accessible.

What looks like a giant wash basin is one of the pots that the sugar cane was boiled and rendered in. 

This is one of the slave quarters.  There are two doors because each of these buildings housed two families.  There was a chimney in the center with a fireplace that opened into each side.

This approximately 10 X 10 room had to house an entire family for living, cooking, sleeping etc.




You might find this article interesting   http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/01/23/untold_story_of_us_slave_rebellion_retold_centuries_later.html


We have decided to stay in New Orleans for another day so we hope to go to the French Quarter tomorrow.

More 9th Ward and a King Cake.

So, of all the new homes in the 9th ward, these are my three choices. 

They are modern, but not too extreme like some of the others.

They fit better into the neighbourhood.  It's to bad that some of those cute little ornate shotgun houses could not have been restored or duplicated.







Now for the "King Cake".  The traditional colours for Mardi Gras are Purple, Green and Gold.  They produce beads, masks, all sorts of decorations in these colours and the traditional desert at Mardi Gras is the King Cake.  This is like a big gooey twisted cinnamon bun with jam that is covered  with bright purple green and gold icing.  It is very sweet, but you have to have one when you come to New Orleans. 

So that's my report from New Orleans, for tonight.   I have just spent the evening researching which plantations I want to see tomorrow.