List of plantations in Louisiana

This is a list of plantations and/or plantation houses in the U.S. state of Louisiana that are National Historic Landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, listed on a heritage register; or are otherwise significant for their history, their association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design.[1][2][3]

List of plantations
Color key Historic register listing
National Historic Landmark
National Register of Historic Places
Not listed on national or state register
NRHP reference number Name Image Date designated Town, Parish Parish Notes
87000849 Acadia Plantation May 29, 1987 Thibodaux Lafourche Demolished 2010
83000554 Afton Villa Gardens February 24, 1983 St. Francisville West Feliciana House destroyed by fire in 1963. Gardens and ruins open daily, March 1 to June 30 & October 1 to December 1.
91001046 Aillet House August 9, 1991 Port Allen West Baton Rouge Built in 1830; French-Creole Architecture
01000007 Albania Plantation House January 26, 2001 Jeanerette Iberia
Albemarle Plantation House Not applicable Napoleonville Assumption Owned and in continuous operation by the original family since 1839.
96001263 Allendale Plantation November 1, 1996 Port Allen West Baton Rouge Owned by Henry Watkins Allen, the last Confederate Governor of Louisiana. Burned to the ground by Union troops in 1862.
82000469 Ardoyne Plantation House November 1, 1982 Houma Terrebonne
80004476 Arlington Plantation October 3, 1980 Lake Providence East Carroll
82000457 Arlington Plantation House October 5, 1982 Franklin St. Mary
82004676 Arlington Plantation House August 11, 1982 Washington St. Landry
79001050 Ashland (Belle Helene) May 4, 1979 Geismar Ascension
72000552 Asphodel Plantation and Cemetery November 15, 1972 Jackson
87000729 Audubon Plantation May 14, 1987 Baton Rouge East Baton Rouge
82000434 Avondale Plantation Home December 17, 1982 Clinton East Feliciana
07000424 Bagatelle Plantation May 9, 2007 Sunshine Iberville
79001056 Battleground Plantation May 14, 1979 Sicily Island Catahoula
98001425 Belle Alliance November 23, 1998 Belle Alliance Assumption Italianate and Greek Revival home, built about 1846.
Belle Grove Not applicable White Castle Iberville
79001083 Bennett Plantation House May 14, 1979 Alexandria Rapides
91000705 Bocage Plantation June 20, 1991 Darrow Ascension Built in 1837, possibly designed by James H. Dakin
83000527 Bouverans Plantation House July 21, 1983 Lockport
80001709 Breston Plantation House November 22, 1980 Columbia Caldwell
83000503 Buckmeadow Plantation House September 15, 1983 Lake Providence East Carroll
79001103 Butler-Greenwood Plantation April 17, 1979 St. Francisville West Feliciana
82002754 Calliham Plantation House July 22, 1982 Hamburg
84002859 Calumet Plantation House October 18, 1984 Patterson St. Mary
79001069 Carter Plantation February 23, 1979 Springfield Livingston Built c. 1820 for free man of color Thomas Freeman. During the Civil War, a minor Confederate naval operation was launched here.
82002757 Cashpoint Plantation House August 11, 1982 Elm Grove Bossier
92000583 Caspiana Plantation Store June 5, 1992 Natchitoches
88001049 Cedar Bend Plantation July 14, 1988 Natchez
76000965 Cedars Plantation May 19, 1976 Oak Ridge
82000442 Chatchie Plantation House October 25, 1982 Thibodaux Lafourche
73000869 Cherokee Plantation August 14, 1973 Natchitoches
77001519 Chretien Point Plantation May 26, 1977 Sunset St. Landry
85000970 Clarendon Plantation House May 9, 1985 Evergreen Avoyelles
75000857 Cottage Plantation March 17, 1975 St. Francisville West Feliciana
84000144 Crescent Plantation October 18, 1984 Tallulah Madison
73000868 Darby Plantation March 26, 1973 New Iberia
86001054 Desire Plantation House May 15, 1986 Vacherie St. James Built circa 1835, French Creole perique tobacco plantation. Private.
73002132 Destrehan Plantation March 20, 1973 Destrehan St. Charles Completed in 1790, the site of a tribunal after 1811 German Coast Uprising, the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history. Restored by a nonprofit organization and open to the public.
87000851 Dixie Plantation May 29, 1987 Franklin
85002759 Ducros Plantation November 7, 1985 Schriever Terrebonne
94000742 Dulcito Plantation House July 22, 1994 New Iberia
82002791 El Dorado Plantation House March 24, 1982 Livonia Pointe Coupee
88003135 Emilie Plantation January 13, 1989 Garyville
75000848 Enterprise Plantation March 17, 1975 Jeanerette Iberia
91001386 Evergreen Plantation April 27, 1992 Wallace
30.02690°N 90.63958°W / 30.02690; -90.63958 (Evergreen Plantation)		 St. John the Baptist Composed of 39 buildings, Evergreen Plantation is an intact major antebellum plantation complex of the Southern United States.[4][5] Open to visitors.
88000102 Fairhaven Plantation House February 11, 1988 Zachary East Baton Rouge
93000821 Fairview Plantation House August 12, 1993 Ethel East Feliciana
10000062 Felicity Plantation March 8, 2010 Vacherie St. James Sister plantation to St. Joseph Plantation, built circa 1850 and privately owned.
Frogmore Plantation Not applicable Ferriday Concordia Established circa 1815, Frogmore has a steam-powered cotton gin. Plantation's tour is a Rand-McNally "Must See Site."
82004674 Frozard Plantation House August 12, 1982 Grand Coteau St. Landry
93001548 Godchaux-Reserve Plantation House January 21, 1994 Reserve St. John the Baptist
97000967 Gracelane Plantation House August 29, 1997 Baton Rouge
92000510 Graugnard Farms Plantation House May 14, 1992 St. James
82000451 Harlem Plantation House October 26, 1982 Pointe à la Hache Plaquemines
78001438 Hazelwood Plantation July 31, 1978 Laurel Hill
86003129 Homestead Plantation Complex November 6, 1986 Plaquemine
70000842 Homeplace Plantation House April 15, 1970 Hahnville
29.97105°N 90.40758°W / 29.97105; -90.40758 (Homeplace Plantation House)		 St. Charles Built circa 1790, large French Colonial raised cottage. Not open to the public.
04001470 Hope Plantation House January 11, 2005 Garyville
80001694 The Houmas September 27, 1980 Burnside Ascension
87002449 Inglewood Plantation Historic District January 14, 1988 Alexandria Rapides
01000669 Katie Plantation House June 29, 2001 Breaux Bridge St. Martin Parish
06000317 Kenilworth Plantation House April 24, 2006 St. Bernard
71000362 Kent Plantation House August 5, 1971 Alexandria Rapides
84000145 LaBranche Plantation Dependency October 18, 1984 St. Rose St. Charles
02001296 Landry Plantation House November 8, 2002 Youngsville
93000322 Lane Plantation April 22, 1993 Ethel
92001842 Laura Plantation February 3, 1993 Vacherie St. James Plantation heiress and manager Laura Lacoul Gore's (1861-1963) autobiography tells the family's history and her experience living at the plantation. Open to the public.
78001426 Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation March 24, 1978 Thibodaux Lafourche
93000694 LeBoeuf Plantation House July 29, 1993 New Orleans Orleans
Leonard Plantation, also known as Webert plantation Not applicable Algiers Orleans Established in the 19th century, located at Patterson & Merrill Sts., a showplace noted for its productive truck gardens. Ravaged by Hurricane Betsy in 1965 & dismantled several years later.
94000705 Linwood Plantation Manager's House September 23, 1994 Newellton
79001057 Lisburn Plantation House July 26, 1979 Ferriday
74000924 Live Oaks Plantation November 20, 1974 Rosedale
80001748 Logtown Plantation October 16, 1980 Monroe
77000678 Loyd Hall Plantation April 29, 1977 Cheneyville Rapides
02001603 Lucky Plantation House December 27, 2002 Sunshine Iberville
73000860 Madewood Plantation House May 4, 1983 Napoleonville
29.92738°N 90.99426°W / 29.92738; -90.99426 (Madewood Plantation House)		 Assumption
83000548 Magnolia Plantation January 3, 1998 Schriever
29.714722°N 90.818889°W / 29.714722; -90.818889 (Magnolia Plantation (Schriever, Louisiana))		 Terrebonne
79001071 Magnolia Plantation January 3, 2001 Derry
31.55294°N 92.94240°W / 31.55294; -92.94240 (Magnolia Plantation (Derry, Louisiana))		 Natchitoches
86000253 Magnolia Lane February 13, 1986 Westwego Jefferson
72000549 Magnolia Mound Plantation House September 7, 1972 Baton Rouge East Baton Rouge
87002135 Marengo Plantation House December 14, 1987 Jonesville
83000533 Mary Plantation House July 13, 1983 Braithwaite Plaquemines
72000556 Melrose Plantation May 30, 1974 Melrose
31.08771°N 92.96756°W / 31.08771; -92.96756 (Melrose Plantation)		 Natchitoches
80001769 Monte Vista Plantation House June 9, 1980 Port Allen
87002505 Montegut Plantation House January 21, 1988 LaPlace
82000444 Montrose Plantation House October 5, 1982 Tallulah Madison
82000468 Moro Plantation House October 5, 1982 Waterproof Tensas
06000779 Moss Grove Plantation House September 6, 2006 Jonesville
76002167 Moundville Plantation House December 12, 1976 Washington
80001717 Mount Hope Plantation House December 3, 1980 Baton Rouge East Baton Rouge
79001094 Myrtle Grove Plantation May 10, 1979 Waterproof Tensas
74002185 Myrtle Hill Plantation House December 4, 1974 Gloster
78001439 Myrtles Plantation September 6, 1978 St. Francisville West Feliciana
76000966 Narcisse Prudhomme Plantation July 13, 1976 Natchitoches
85000976 Narrows Plantation House May 9, 1985 Lake Arthur Jefferson Davis
80001733 Nottoway Plantation House June 6, 1980 White Castle Iberville
74002187 Oak Alley Plantation December 2, 1974 Vacherie
30.00427°N 90.77593°W / 30.00427; -90.77593 (Oak Alley Plantation)		 St. James
92000036 Oak Grove Plantation Dependencies February 13, 1992 St. Francisville West Feliciana
79001073 Oakland Plantation January 3, 2001 Natchez
31.66500°N 93.00333°W / 31.66500; -93.00333 (Oakland Plantation (Natchitoches, Louisiana))		 Natchitoches
80001720 Oakland Plantation House October 3, 1980 Gurley East Feliciana
73002162 Oaklawn Manor March 30, 1973 Franklin St. Mary Plantation home of U.S. Senator Alexander Porter.
79001072 Oaklawn Plantation March 28, 1979 Natchez Natchitoches
73000878 Oakley Plantation January 25, 1973 St. Francisville West Feliciana John James Audubon worked here as an art tutor in 1821 & painted 32 of his Birds of America. Open as the Audubon State Historic Site.
80001697 Oakwold Plantation House July 23, 1980 Evergreen Avoyelles Sam Houston visited while in the area soliciting funds for his Texas army.
80001764 Orange Grove Plantation House March 26, 1980 Houma Terrebonne Circa-1840 Greek Revival briquette-entre-poteaux architecture; operates as an inn today. See Orange Grove Plantation House.
90001748 Ormond Plantation House November 11, 1990 Destrehan St. Charles
77000665 Palo Alto Plantation April 13, 1977 Donaldsonville Ascension
70000258 Parlange Plantation May 30, 1974 Mix
31.66500°N 93.00333°W / 31.66500; -93.00333 (Parlange Plantation House)		 Pointe Coupee
03001064 Pegram Plantation House October 24, 2003 Lecompte Rapides
71000360 Pitot House September 28, 1971 New Orleans Orleans Built in the late 18th century in what then was outside of the city, home to Mayor James Pitot. Restored and open to the public.
84001347 Pleasant View Plantation House April 5, 1984 Oscar Pointe Coupee
80004251 Judge Poché Plantation House December 3, 1980 Convent St. James
87002136 Poplar Grove Plantation House December 14, 1987 Port Allen West Baton Rouge
01000943 Residence Plantation House September 8, 2001 Houma Terrebonne
79001064 Richland Plantation March 28, 1979 Norwood East Feliciana
80001736 Rienzi Plantation House May 31, 1980 Thibodaux Lafourche Not open for tours
80001771 Rosale Plantation December 8, 1980 St. Francisville West Feliciana
76000974 Rosalie Plantation Sugar Mill January 2, 1976 Alexandria Rapides
73000880 Rosebank Plantation House April 13, 1973 Weyanoke
01000765 Rosedown April 5, 2005 St. Francisville
30.79602°N 91.37095°W / 30.79602; -91.37095 (Rosedown Plantation)		 West Feliciana
99001039 Sandbar Plantation House September 2, 1999 Port Allen
74002186 San Francisco Plantation House May 30, 1974 Reserve
30.04753°N 90.60554°W / 30.04753; -90.60554 (San Francisco Plantation House)		 St. John the Baptist
78003448 Santa Maria Plantation House December 29, 1978 Baton Rouge
82000445 Scottland Plantation House November 2, 1982 Tallulah Madison
86001495 Sebastopol Plantation House August 13, 1986 St. Bernard
72000553 Shadows-on-the-Teche May 30, 1974 New Iberia
30.00254°N 91.81499°W / 30.00254; -91.81499 (Shadows-on-the-Teche)		 Iberia Greek Revival home completed in 1834 by planters David & Mary Weeks, within New Iberia. William Weeks Hall left the building to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1958. Open for tours.
95000387 Smithfield Plantation House April 7, 1995 Port Allen West Baton Rouge
83000558 Solitude Plantation House January 27, 1983 St. Francisville West Feliciana
74002188 Southdown Plantation January 18, 1974 Houma Terrebonne
80001695 St. Emma June 30, 1980 Donaldsonville Assumption Circa-1850 home on former sugar plantation, scene of a Civil War skirmish in 1862.[6]
82000470 St. George Plantation House October 5, 1982 Schriever Terrebonne
05000987 St. Joseph Plantation House September 6, 2005 Vacherie St. James Early 19th-century plantation, joined in 1890 with Felicity Plantation to form the St. Joseph Plantation & Manufacturing Company. Privately owned.
75000849 St. Louis Plantation December 3, 1975 Plaquemine Iberville Italianate and Greek Revival style home on a working sugar cane plantation; owned by the same family for 150+ years, named for the city in Missouri. Private.
79001104 St. Maurice Plantation April 3, 1979 St. Maurice Pointe Coupee
03000680 Star Hill Plantation Dependency July 24, 2003 Star Hill
98000570 Stephanie Plantation House May 20, 1998 Arnaudville
82000432 Synope Plantation House October 5, 1982 Columbia
79001059 Tacony Plantation House April 19, 1979 Vidalia Concordia
80001731 Tally-Ho Plantation House January 20, 1980 Bayou Goula Iberville
99000257 Trio Plantation House February 26, 1999 Rayville
Uncle Sam Plantation Not applicable Convent St. James
02000297 Valverda Plantation House April 1, 2002 Maringouin Pointe Coupee
77000677 White Hall Plantation House May 26, 1977 Lettsworth Pointe Coupee
87001475 Whitehall Plantation House September 8, 1987 Monroe
92001566 Whitney Plantation Historic District November 24, 1992 Wallace St. John the Baptist Site of a slavery museum, opened to the public in December 2014. French colonial main house dates from 1803.
88000977 Wildwood Plantation House June 30, 1988 Jackson
98000702 Woodland Plantation June 18, 1998 West Pointe à la Hache Plaquemines

Historical background of the plantation era

Upland or green seeded cotton was not a commercially important crop until the invention of an improved cotton gin in 1793. With an inexpensive cotton gin a man could remove seed from as much cotton in one day as a woman could de-seed in two months working at a rate of about one pound per day.[7] The newly mechanized cotton industry in England during the Industrial Revolution absorbed the tremendous supply of cheap cotton that became a major crop in the Southern U.S.

At the time of the cotton gin’s invention, the sub tropical soils in the Eastern U.S. were becoming depleted, and the fertilizer deposits of guano deposits of South America and the Pacific Islands along with the nitrate deposits in the Chilean deserts were not yet being exploited, meaning that there were fertilizer shortages, leading to a decline in agriculture in the Southeast and a westward expansion to new land.

Transportation at the time was extremely limited. There were almost no improved roads in the U.S. or in the Louisiana Territory and the first railroads were not built until the 1830s.[8] The only practical means for shipping agricultural products more than a few miles without exceeding their value was by water. This made much of the land in the U.S. unsuitable for growing crops other than for local consumption.

Under ownership of Spain, New Orleans held the strategically important location between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. The Carondelet Canal, which was completed in 1794, connected the Tremé section of New Orleans with Bayou St. John, giving shipping access to Lake Pontchartrain as an alternative route to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. gained rights to use the New Orleans port in 1795. See: New Orleans#History

Louisiana (New Spain) was transferred by Spain to France in 1800, but it remained under Spanish administration until a few months before the Louisiana Purchase. The huge swath of territory purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 was sparsely populated. During the Thomas Jefferson Presidency, a high priority was to build roads to New Orleans, specifically the Natchez Trace and the Federal Road through Georgia, initially intended to facilitate mail delivery.

The Napoleonic Wars and the Embargo Act of 1807 restricted European trade, which did not recover until the end of the War of 1812 in 1815. The Year without a summer of 1816 resulted in famine in Europe and a wave of immigration to the U.S., with New Orleans being the destination of many refugees. The return of good harvests in Europe along, with the newly cleared and planted land in the Midwest and Mississippi River Valley and improvements in transportation, resulted in a collapse in agricultural prices that caused the 1818-19 depression. Agricultural commodity prices remained depressed for many years, but their eventual recovery resulted in a new wave of land clearing, which in turn triggered another depression in the late 1830s. Cotton prices were particularly depressed.[9]

Until the development of the steamboat, transportation of goods on major rivers was generally accomplished either with barges or flatboats, floated downstream or pushed upstream with poles or by hand using overhanging tree limbs. On the Mississippi River, most shipping was down river on log rafts or wooden boats that were dismantled and sold as lumber in the vicinity of New Orleans. Steam-powered river navigation began in 1811-12, between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New Orleans. Inland steam navigation rapidly expanded in the following decades. Railroads appeared before the Civil War, though at first were used to link waterways. After the Civil War, railroads took over most of the hauling of goods.

It was during the period of expanding steam transportation that plantation agriculture dominated the Southern economy, with two-thirds of the millionaires in the U.S. living in Louisiana, mostly between Natchez, Mississippi, and New Orleans. The surviving plantation homes range from relatively modest dwellings to opulent mansions, some containing original furnishings and many with period furniture.

Due to poor transportation and slow industrialization, plantations tended to be somewhat self-sufficient, growing most of their own food, harvesting their own timber and firewood, repairing farm implements, and constructing their own buildings. Many slaves were skilled blacksmiths, masons, and carpenters who were often contracted out. Cloth, shoes, and clothing were imported from Europe and from the Northeast U.S.

The self-sufficiency of plantations and cheap slave labor hindered economic development of the South. Contemporary descriptions cite the lack of towns, commerce, and economic development.

Besides the necessity of river transportation, the ground near the rivers and old river channels contained the best agricultural land, where the sandy and silty soil settled, increasing the height of the natural levees. The clay soil settled farther away from the rivers and being less stable, it slumped to muddy back-swamps.[10] The plantations in the vicinity of St. Francisville, Louisiana, are on a high bluff on the east side of the Mississippi River with loess soil, which was not as fertile as the river alluvium, but was relatively well-suited to plantation agriculture.

Slave housing
Slave quarters at Magnolia Plantation, Natchitoches Parish IMG 3473

Examples of slave housing can be found on many of the extant plantations.

Examples of slave housing at Laura and San Francisco plantations are wooden buildings with two or three separate rooms, including the kitchen, and furnished with one or more bedsteads and a few other pieces of furniture. These were intended to house a single family.

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gollark: It's only against the rules if you install it without explaining what it is and them agreeing.
gollark: ShutdownOS isn't even conveniently self-propagating.
gollark: What?
gollark: Not everyone is an account, you know. You're very lucky.

See also

References
  1. "How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation," (PDF), National Register Bulletins, National Park Service. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
  2. National Park Service (April 2007). "National Historic Landmarks Survey: List of National Historic Landmarks by State" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
  3. National Park Service. "National Historic Landmark Program: NHL Database". Archived from the original on 2004-06-06. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  4. "Evergreen Plantation". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  5. "Evergreen Plantation". National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. National Park Service. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  6. Daspit, Fred (2006). Louisiana architecture, 1840-1860. University of Louisiana at Lafayette. p. 263. ISBN 9781887366748.
  7. Roe, Joseph Wickham (1916), English and American Tool Builders, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, p. 145, LCCN 16011753. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (LCCN 27-24075); and by Lindsay Publications, Inc., Bradley, Illinois, (ISBN 978-0-917914-73-7).
  8. Taylor, George Rogers. The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860. ISBN 978-0873321013.
  9. North, Douglas C. (1966). The Economic Growth of the United States 1790-1860. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-00346-8.
  10. See soil surveys of the various parishes.
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