You in the Say-oth, Now, Hon-eh!

What a day!

We're in Convent, Louisiana, sixty nine miles south of Ponchatoula, on the Great River Road. This highway is the home for many of the remaining plantations in the area that was an agricultural gold mine from the 1700's to the 1940's. The River Road was once a major thoroughfare between New Orleans and Baton Rouge during the development of this area and provided an alternate route to the Mississippi River. The River, as it is known here, is contained within levees now, but was a major route for goods and people for hundreds of years, and in fact, continues to have a huge impact. These days, sugar cane isn't the huge crop it once was, but is still grown. Petrochemical plants, and trans-shipment facilities line the river. Not as pretty as a row of Oak trees and a plantation house!

We're parked in site 34 at the Poche Plantation RV Park. The park lies in shade trees surrounding the Judge Poche House, which was built in 1870 and served as the residence of Judge Felix Pierre Poche who is best known for helping to establish the American Bar Association in 1877-1878. It has been restored and is open for tours and weddings (as we found out this evening). The house is best known for it's unusual center cupola.

After we arrived and set up camp yesterday, we still had time to do a bit of exploring. We drove southeast toward N'awlins, and immediately came across San Francisco Plantation.

Due to time constraints we didn't take a tour, but read that the home was built in 1856 and is unique in that the lower floor is all brick, and the upper floors are built of cypress with wooden pegs! This side view doesn't do justice to the grand double stairway entrance!

Adjacent to a Cargill Corporation plant a bit farther south is the Graugnarg House, the sole surviving building from the Terre Haute plantation. Now owned by Cargill, the company is in the process of restoring the home, including gas lamps hanging from the ceiling of the porch! In the style of the day, the porch ceiling is painted a light grey because it was found to attract mosquitos and keep them away from people sitting on the porch!

At the farthest extent of our afternoon drive, we discovered Destrehan Plantation. Built in 1787, it is the oldest surviving plantation home in the lower Mississippi River Valley. Approaching 1,000 acres in it's heyday, and growing Indigo, corn and rice, it was extremely successful until the turn of the 19th century, when an inexpensive way of granulating sugar prompted a wholesale move to sugar cane in the area. It is said that Jean Lafitte frequently visited the house, and his visits inspired stories that gold was hidden there.

Sugar cane is still a viable crop in this area, with fields just now starting to flourish. The cane will be 10-12 feet tall by the end of summer, and ready to harvest.

One of the reasons for the shift to sugar cane, and away from cotton is this part of the country is the high humidity that typically plagues the area. While a real boon to cane, the damp air made the cotton harvesting window very, very short due to mold growing on the fibers.

Today we spent the entire day at Houmas House Plantation. This is probably the top listed plantation to visit in this area, and it's reputation is well deserved. We had only planned on spending a few hours and then moving on to another plantation, but we simply could not leave; it is such a beautiful place.

Deriving it's name from the Houmas Indians that inhabited this slightly elevated land, it was obtained by a French trader, name of Alexandre Latil, by trading another area of land and a handful of trade goods to the inhabitants. The native americans moved and the construction of a four-room house in the last quarter of the eighteenth century was begun. A variety of owners remodeled the original structure, adding and subtracting rooms. In 1857, and Irishman named John Burnside, purchased the plantation and became one of the leading sugar planters in the South, at one time owning some 325,000 acres of land.

This 600 year-old Burnside Oak occupies a starring site in the front of the plantation. The pic doesn't do any justice to it, but it's said that Mr. Burnside so prized the tree that he would go to any length to keep it. During a heated card game, he lost the plantation and the tree. So devastated was he, that he challenged the new owner to a horse race, with the plantation as the prize. Now, not being above a bit of trickery, he imported a talented race horse from Ireland, hid it in the parlor so no one knew about it, and eventually won the race, and his plantation!

A staff of eighty maintains the grounds and the mansion in impeccable condition. The current owner lives in the house, and allows tours of his personal bedroom.

Our guide, Ann, was a delight. Extremely well versed in the history of the house, she is a local girl who  left home for awhile, but has come back. She told us the story of a Voodoo curse on the South that requires that anyone born here cannot leave!

Most of the pieces in the home are from the 1850's, with several being original, including this solid silver serving dish.

The chandeliers are original to the home.

This clock was given as a wedding gift to a member of the Miles family, who bought the plantation in 1881. It was originally owned by Marie Antoinette!

The parlor where the horse was supposedly stashed, also known as the Men's Game Room, where the men retired to smoke cigars, drink whiskey, and talk politics. And maybe gamble a little…

This spiral staircase is completely self-supporting. It's an engineering marvel, since it's put together with wooden pegs, and is attached to the house only at the top and bottom!

 The movie "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" was filmed in and around the plantation. If you remember the severed head rolling down the staircase, then you'll remember the stairs we saw in the photo above!
Bette Davis spent several days in the house, and slept in this comfortable bed.

In a display cabinet near the parlor, a complete Vampire Killing case is on display! A useful thing to have around in an area steeped in superstition and Voodoo.

Can you guess what this glass vessel is?

Look closely. The ball on top is removable. The circular hole in the center of the bottom part allows flies and bugs to enter and drown in the arsenic-laced liquid contained in the bottom. Clever, eh?

The view from the second floor veranda. That's the Burnside Oak.

This unusual chair is on the second floor. It's designed for cavalrymen to use without taking off their swords and other gear, which simply falls to either side.

In an unfinished closet area, we notice that the cypress floors are put together in an interesting way!

Hanging in a quiet place is an original George Rodrigue Blue Dog painting of Houma House worth thousands.

After our hour-plus house tour, we headed out to the grounds. A nice lady came by to take our picture. She made sure that the fountain was rising from the top of my head, of course. Thank you, Ma'am.

I like this shot of the fountain a lot better!

The plantation's grounds are nothing less than spectacular! Paths wind through quiet shady areas and around every bend is another wonderful sight.

We have been anticipating our visit to Plantation Country, and our first experience did not disappoint! There are still quite a few plantation houses in the area, most however are not available for public viewing, either due to neglect or the wish for privacy by the owners. We intend to respect their wishes. A half-dozen plantations have been faithfully restored and can be toured. Tomorrow we hope to check out another one, but the bar has surely been set high!