Destination Unknown 23: Destrehan Plantation

Day 213

A few days ago we visited the Bragg-Mitchel mansion in Mobile in hopes to visit a real plantation. Unfortunately, the home was a seasonal home for the owners, and their plantation was in central Alabama. Though the tour was interesting, it focused on the lavish lifestyle of the owners and the features of the house, and furniture. Missing the mark on what both Lori and I wanted to learn about, which was the people they enslaved in order to have their lavish lifestyle.

On our first day in New Orleans we decided to try visiting a plantation again. The campground office had suggested the Destrehan Plantation Just ten minutes from the campground, so we decided to give it a try. We arrived at the plantation around ten and paid for the walking tour of the slave houses and mansion. The tour did not start until eleven, so we walked the grounds as we waited.

The grounds no longer resemble the plantation. Through years of neglect after the last owner fled to Europe from the civil war, the Union army occupied it using the mansion as a barracks. After the military moved on, the plantation was seized by the Freedmen’s Bureau and they utilized the property to create a temporary colony with medicine, education and paid wages by working the plantation. After the war, the owner applied for a pardon from the US Government and demanded his property back. The property was returned, but he was unable to do anything with it until the Freedman’s Colony moved on the following year, he did however manage to charge the colony rent. Two years after the last colonist left, the plantation owner passed away.

After we explored the buildings around the property, we headed back to the meeting place for the manor tour to wait out the last few minutes before it started, tucking ourselves under one of the massive oak trees as it began to lightly rain.

Our tour guide for the mansion was extremely knowledgeable and did a wonderful job in walking us through the history of the plantation, and the family who owned it. In the beginning the plantation started as an indigo plantation with the hopes of winning the French military contract to supply blue dye used on their uniforms. When the French sold Louisiana to the US, the French military returned to France leaving the plantation to change their strategy. At this time the plantation owner made the decision to start producing sugarcane. Over the years the plantation became one of the major producers and going from only a dozen slaves in the beginning to a few hundred before the war broke out. Three generation of the Destrehan family owned the plantation for 123 years.

In 1914, the predecessor of the American Oil Company, bought the property and built an oil refinery. The company tore down the ancillary buildings around the manor house and built employee housing. The mansion itself was used in a variety of ways including as a clubhouse. In 1959, American Oil tore down the refinery and abandoned the site. For the following 12 years the mansion fell into neglect and disrepair.

With the mansion now abandoned, it was left vulnerable to treasure hunters who came looking for the legendary privateer Jean Lafitte treasure that was believed to be hidden somewhere in the mansion. Treasure seekers left gaping holes in the walls, stripped the Italian-marble mantels, cypress panelling, Spanish-style ceramic tile and glass window panes from the building. Fortunately, the local sheriff prevented the theft of the plantations original 1840s iron entrance gates and a 1,400lb marble bathtub, rumoured to be a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to the family.

That’s Lori standing as the base of the oak tree.

The branches to the these oak trees are so huge the weight pulls them down to the ground.

Destrehan Plantation

The mansion began construction in 1787 and completed in 1790. The building was contracted to a talented slave carpenter named Charles Pacquet who was born into slavery. Pacquet was given the use of six slaves to construct the home. When the work was complete, Charles Pacquet received the following in payment: “one brute slave,” a cow and calf, 100 bushels of corn and rice, and $100 in cash. The value of his remuneration was not even close to the cost to buy his freedom, but after his father passed, who happened to be a wealthy white man, inherited his fathers fortune through the Spanish rule that allowed mixed slaves the right to inherit his father fortune. With this he was able to buy his freedom.

Dinning hall on the main floor. Every day, unless it was harvest time, the afternoon meal was a big deal with a massive amount of food being prepared.

Tea was an expensive luxury as it was imported from China and was stored in a tea boxes under lock and key. The box was specially designed to keep the tea free of moisture and humidity by having the inner lining of the box made from lead. What they didn’t know is they were slowly giving themselves lead poising.

Tea was shipped in compressed bricks. You can see three of these bricks in the photo.

Due to the fear of fire, the kitchen was in a separate building and brought to this room beside the dining hall for final preparation. It is believed that six to eight slaves would be in here preparing and taking food out.

This is one of the external kitchens.

On the upper floor there was a large room with sliding doors. Originally it was used as the dinning hall, when they had parties they would close the doors, segregating the men and women. This was the women's side of the parlour.

This side is where the men would congregate.

Playing cards was a favoured pastime with the men. In order to keep things fair, the cards had had no numbers printed on them so illiterate guests or family could play.

The kids room was situated on the side with the mom. One of the generations of the family had their daughter pass away in the room from yellow fever.

The wife’s bedroom and nursery. During the operations of the plantation, it was the duty of the wife to open things up in the morning and lock everything down in the evening.

A replica of the fire place in the husbands bedroom. Originally it was Italian marble. Today it is painted wood to look like marble.

The husbands bed. The mattresses were stuffed with Spanish Moss and in order to smooth out the mattress the top of headed board that looks like a rolling pin comes off and the slaves would roll the mattress even.

When any boys of the family entered their teens they were moved to a small two room apartment attached the the outside of the mansion.

It shows a pool table in the second room, sweet bachelor pad.

This was the primary outdoor kitchen, built well away from the mansion.

It was always hot in the kitchen so doors were not necessary.

Plantation bell used to direct the slaves to and from work and for emergencies.

Original slave house brought from another plantation since everything here was destroyed.

The interior of the houses was split into two rooms with a fire place in the centre heating both sides. Up to eight slaves would live on each side. This room shows a bed that would have been made by the slaves if they had the materials, tools and skill. Most of the beds consisted of a sack filled with Spanish moss on the hut floor.

Slaves were called by their skill and health. The most valuable slaves were to Coopers who built the shipping barrels that pretty much everything was shipped in.