ActivityPhoto Wikimedia CommonsDestrehan Plantation
Louisiana · United States
Our costumed historical interpreters will enlighten you with stories of those who lived on the plantation free and enslaved. After guests can view a folk-life demonstration and self-explore our grounds and dependency buildings, which include a slave cabin with an enslaved registry, an overseer's cabin showcasing our 1811 Slave Revolt Exhibit, an outdoor kitchen, a washroom, a trapper's cabin and our Legacy Room displaying original documents and artifacts from the family members.
Contents
8 sections · tap a section for its opening lines1Orientation
Welcome to Destrehan Plantation. Stand before this majestic structure, shaded by ancient, moss draped live oak trees, and you are looking at the oldest documented plantation in the lower Mississippi River Valley. …
Listen in the app2The Slave Cabins and the Creole System
As you walk toward the recreated domestic spaces, visualize the original layout of this estate. Historically, the slave cabins would not have been situated this close to the grand main house. …
Listen in the app3The Outdoor Kitchen and Louisiana Foodways
We now transition to the outdoor kitchen area, an essential hub of plantation life and the true crucible of Louisiana culinary heritage. By placing the kitchen in a separate building, the plantation owners protected the main…
Listen in the app4The Main House Architecture and Charles Paquet
Step inside the ground floor of the grand main house, a space that reveals the stark mechanics of its own construction. The architecture here is a physical archive of the labor that built it. …
Listen in the app5House Slaves and the Myth of Indoor Privilege
As we ascend to the upper floors and family living quarters, we must confront a pervasive myth regarding plantation life. There is a common misconception that being assigned as a domestic or house slave was a privileged,…
Listen in the app6The Washroom and the 1811 Slave Revolt
We now approach one of the most sobering and historically significant locations on this property: the small washroom. This seemingly mundane structure was the focal point of the bloody aftermath of the largest slave uprising in…
Listen in the app7The Rost Home Colony and the Freedmen Bureau
Moving toward the specialized exhibition space, we jump forward in time to the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War, specifically eighteen sixty five to eighteen sixty six. This period marked a radical, though temporary,…
Listen in the app8Closing
As we conclude our extensive exploration of Destrehan Plantation, take a moment to absorb the immense historical weight of the grounds surrounding you. We have navigated through centuries of opulence and profound suffering,…
Listen in the app
What is Destrehan Plantation?
Destrehan Plantation is a place in Louisiana · United States with 8 story sections on Tellby. You can read the opening of each section on this page; the sound plays in the app.
| Location | Louisiana · United States |
|---|---|
| Type | Activity |
| Story sections | 8 |
| Text language | English |
| Coordinates | 29.9450, -90.3645 |
| Last updated |