Monday 7th May 2007. The Deep South...

Today I am heading out into the Deep South of Louisiana and its Plantations.

For centuries, the sub-tropical air was filled with the sweet smells of sugarcane, as wagons rumbled from the fields to the docks. The muddy Mississippi established the great River Road as the symbol of wealth and culture in Louisiana claiming the title River of Riches.

My first stop is Houmas House and its gardens. Known as the Sugar Palace, this Crown Jewel of the River Road has gardens that are alive with plantings, ponds and fountains and great oaks that date back 500 years. These Plantations take you back to a time when sipping Mint Juleps in the glow of afternoon sunlight filtered by the old oak trees was the southern way of life...for some.

The French explorer LaSalle first landed at this site in 1682 and recorded the Houmas Indians and the great herds of Bison on the riverbanks surrounding the Houmas village. By the 1720's French settlers had acquired a Spanish Land Grant and were living here with the Houmas Indians, on grounds that were to become the Plantation.

Houmas House has it's beginnings in the 1770's when Alexander Latil constructed a two story brick dwelling which is today the rear wing of the mansion. A Houmas Indian Land Grant had been sold to Latil and Conway in 1774.

Sold in 1811 to the Revolutionary War hero Wade Hampton, the largest sugar producer in Louisiana, the largest slave holder in the South and Americas' richest man, he built the present Greek Revival mansion in the late 1820's, making Houmas House one of the first great columned mansions on the Mississippi River. It is only fitting that he should own the largest sugar plantation in America.

The building has an exterior appearance of stone but is infact brick and plaster that has been painted to give the appearance of a European exterior. Stone would be far too heavy for this Louisiana base but the effect remains vital.

The most noted owner though was the self-made Irish millionaire John Burnside who bought the estate in 1858 beginning his accumulation of sugar cane plantations (at a time when many were selling due to the impending Civil War). He went on to be the largest sugar planter in America and with over 300,000 acres and became known as the Sugar Prince of Louisiana. Sugar cane, a cash crop, was the white gold of this area.

Burnside was a genius and he managed to protect all his property from either side in the Civil War by declaring his British citizenship. Being Irish he was able to blow the smoke screen that neither Yankee nor Southern troops had any rights on his lands and if they were to trespass they would, according to Burnside, incur the wrath of Britain. So busy with their hatred of each other neither side challenged his assertion and so his property remained completely intact.

Born of French, Spanish, Irish and English history Houmas House is based on the concepts behind the great houses of England...

The Ladies side was upriver and included the Dining Room and the Ladies Parlour where the women of the house would play music and sew to entertain themselves.

The Gentleman's side included the Smoking Room (which still smelt of cigars) and the Games Room. With masculine decor from the unpretentious chandelier to the paintings of boats, from card games to billiards and from gaming chips to its dark colour.

I loved the historical touches such as the fly catchers that would be filled with sugar water and a little poison then placed on the table to attract the flies that would enter through the open windows and keep them away from food...the etiquette for such items was that when they were in use on the table the lady of the house was required to place her handkerchief over the offending item to keep it from public view.
The elegant wine and champagne server and the opium jar to store the pleasure of the privileged...and my personal favourite, the iconic three story spiral staircase.

This 23 room mansion is now owned by another Irish man, Kevin Kelly, and a wonderful job has been done in making the property appear as it would have in the 1840's. Whilst almost nothing save the elements of the buildings fabric are original to the home, they are authentic to the period.

There are treasures such as Andrew Jackson's travelling liquor box and the French Limoges China made for "The Houmas" in the 1830's, but the historical highlight has to be Col. John Preston's 1847 Louisiana Census map by LaTourette which was found in the attic in the 1980's.

History is all around and the levee you see just outside the house was part of that WPA project in the 1930's when the Federal Government kick started projects necessary to areas around the country in an attempt to give an economic boost to the depression era.

For lunch Joanne, Christine and I head over to The Cabin Restaurant which operates out of one of the ten original slave dwellings of the Monroe Plantation in a building that is approximately 180 years old.

Authentic, this establishment prides itself on the fact that you can view the original cypress roof inside and even the spider webs of 100 years ago cling to the ceiling. Walls are papered with ancient newsprint held there by way of a mix of flour and water...this was the way slaves insulated the walls of the original slave dwelling.

As you move from the main cabin into the extension you enter a two room slave dwelling from the Welham Plantation with its original roof and walls (approximately 140 years old). The main dining room (where we eat) was built onto the back of the cabin to resemble a garconnier (the visiting bachelor's quarters on a River Road Plantation) and this opens via french doors on to a brick courtyard that is surrounded by two further slave cabins from the Helvelta Plantation.

The complex is also home to the Schoolhouse which was the first black schoolhouse in Louisiana, built in 1865 by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. With local farming history and parts of buildings such as the Old Crow Distillery, New Orleans...you will never find another restaurant like this anywhere in the world, it is a sampling of Southern Louisiana history.

And...today is Monday, and traditionally Monday was wash-day. With little time to cook, the staple diet on a Monday was red beans and rice. You could cook your beans with little watching and this provided the freedom to tackle the chores...so what did I eat...red beans and rice.

Our next stop was Oak Alley, built 1837-39 by Jacques T. Roman and as well as being a fine example of Greek Revival it is famous for its spectacular alley of 28 evenly spaced oaks that pre-date the Big House by at least 100 years. Here I came for the view, as was also the case at Laura Plantation with its compact Creole architecture and its village of slave dwellings and assorted outhouses.

After collecting the kids from school it was back home for a lovely family dinner.