On the Bayou/Sugar Plantation

One day on our trip we rented a car and drove East along the Mississippi River to look at a couple of plantation homes. The first one pictured is Oakview Plantation with the row of oak trees lining the road up to the plantation door. We didn't go in this particular house.

All the rest of the plantation pictures are from the Laura Plantation, which was run by 4 generations of Creole women during the late 18th and the entire 19th century. We took the tour of the house and grounds and the history was fascinating. Our tour guide was a Creole woman, who was still kind of ticked off about the Louisiana Purchase...of 1803. It originally encompassed 12,000 acres of sugar fields. The women made great CEO's of the whole operation, making millions of dollars, and frequently outlived their husbands by decades. The Br'er Rabbit stories were recorded in the slave cabins here.

We also took a swamp tour which was fun. We had a great tour guide who was a real Cajun born and bred with pet alligators and turtles and he was hilarious. We went up and down the bayou on a swamp boat filled with senior citizens. We saw turtles and alligators in the water and sunning themselves on rocks and trees. We did get a chance to hold an alligator and that was pretty cool. He was so nice and soft, and could even wave. Our tour guide just kept kissing him.

Ahh! I miss New Orleans. I loved all the crazy drivers and the slow pace of life. I felt totally at home there with people sleeping in, staying up late, and taking it easy! Too bad about the hurricanes, or I would probably just move there!