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 9:00 to 4:30, 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 House		May 14, 1987	Baton Rouge	East Baton Rouge
82000434	Avondale Plantation Home		December 17, 1982	Clinton	East Feliciana
07000424	Bagatelle Plantation House		May 9, 2007	Sunshine	Iberville
79001056	Battleground Plantation		May 14, 1979	Sicily Island	Catahoula
98001425	Belle Alliance		November 23, 1998	Donaldsonville	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
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 one of three tribunals which tried and executed slaves after the 1811 German Coast Uprising, the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history; this occurred during the Orleans Territorial period, about 18 months before Louisiana statehood. The house and grounds have been restored by a nonprofit organization and are open to the public.
87000851	Dixie Plantation House		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 House		January 13, 1989	Garyville
75000848	Enterprise Plantation		March 17, 1975	Jeanerette	Iberia
91001386	Evergreen Plantation		April 27, 1992	Wallace 30°01′37″N 90°38′22″W / 30.02690°N 90.63958°W	St. John the Baptist	Composed of 39 buildings, including a main house and slave quarters, Evergreen Plantation is an intact example of major plantation complexes found during the antebellum era 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 tour is a Rand-McNally "Must See Site" and in AAA's Southern Traveler magazine is one of the three favorite attractions in the tri-state area of Ark./La./Miss.
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°58′16″N 90°24′27″W / 29.97105°N 90.40758°W	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
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 House		April 22, 1993	Ethel
92001842	Laura Plantation		February 3, 1993	Vacherie	St. James	Plantation heiress and manager Laura Lacoul Gore's (1861-1963) autobiography Memories of the Old Plantation Home: A Creole Family Album (Nov. 2000) 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	LeBeuf Plantation House		July 29, 1993	New Orleans
	[Leonard Plantation also known as webert plantation]		Not applicable	algiers	Orleans	Established circa 1800's, located on Patterson and Merrill st., was built over 150 years ago. it extended from the river road to the woods about a mile and a half, and was noted for its very productive truck gardens. one of the largest plantations in this area, it was truly a showplace with its beautiful porches and landscaped gardens. ravaged by Hurricane Betsy in the 1965 it was 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°55′39″N 90°59′39″W / 29.92738°N 90.99426°W	Assumption
83000548	Magnolia Plantation		January 3, 1998	Schriever 29°42′53″N 90°49′08″W / 29.714722°N 90.818889°W	Terrebonne
79001071	Magnolia Plantation		January 3, 2001	Derry 31°33′11″N 92°56′33″W / 31.55294°N 92.94240°W	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°05′16″N 92°58′03″W / 31.08771°N 92.96756°W	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°00′15″N 90°46′33″W / 30.00427°N 90.77593°W	St. James
92000036	Oak Grove Plantation Dependencies		February 13, 1992	St. Francisville	West Feliciana
79001073	Oakland Plantation		January 3, 2001	Natchez 31°39′54″N 93°00′12″W / 31.66500°N 93.00333°W	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 Eliza Pirrie's art tutor, for four months in 1821. He painted 32 of his famous Birds of America during that time. Audubon's wife Lucy also taught at Oakley. Open as the Audubon State Historic Site.
80001697	Oakwold Plantation House		July 23, 1980	Evergreen
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°39′54″N 93°00′12″W / 31.66500°N 93.00333°W	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 in the early 19th century. House and grounds 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
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°47′46″N 91°22′15″W / 30.79602°N 91.37095°W	West Feliciana
99001039	Sandbar Plantation House		September 2, 1999	Port Allen
74002186	San Francisco Plantation House		May 30, 1974	Reserve 30°02′51″N 90°36′20″W / 30.04753°N 90.60554°W	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°00′09″N 91°48′54″W / 30.00254°N 91.81499°W	Iberia	The Greek Revival home was completed in 1834 on the Bayou Teche by wealthy planters David and Mary Weeks, within the town of New Iberia. It remained in the Weeks family until 1958, when William Weeks Hall died and donated the building to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 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	Antebellum home of Italianate and Greek Revival style, still located on a working sugar cane plantation; owned by the same family for over 150 years and 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
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 goound 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.

Contemporary accounts of slave housing described it as being better than that of many free white laborers in the U.S.^[11]

See also

• History of slavery in Louisiana
• History of Louisiana
• List of plantations in the United States
• Plantations in the American South
• Plantation complexes in the Southeastern United States

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". Retrieved 2007-08-14.
4. "Evergreen Plantation". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. 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.
11. Huston, James L (1986). The Panic of 1857 and the Coming of the Civil War. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press.