Nottoway is the Grande Dame of Plantations, the largest still existing in the South. Its towering size, hand-carved marble mantles and intricate plaster frieze work are most impressive.The
64-room, three-story palatial mansion also incorporated one particularly interesting, innovative feature: the use of acetylene gas, produced on site, to fuel gas lamps throughout
the building.
Nottoway was completed in 1859 for
John Hampden Randolph and his
wife, Emily Jane Liddell Randolph, and it was home to their eleven
children. The mansion boasts 53,000 square feet, and originally sat on
400 acres of highland and 620 acres of swamp.
It was designed by renowned architect Henry Howard of New Orleans in
Greek Revival and Italianate style.
That Nottoway survived through the
Civil War, a variety of owners, and disrepair to become one of the most
visited plantations in the South is a testament to its original owner,
John Hampden Randolph. Randolph was an astute
businessman. It was his business savvy that fostered his tremendous
wealth, and his business savvy that saved Nottoway during the hard times
during and after the Civil War. And, it was both his sense of grandeur
and love of his family that brought Nottoway
to life.
The Plantation is a restored historic Louisiana Creole plantation on the west bank of the Misissippi near Vacherie. Formerly known as Duparc Plantation, it is significant for its early 19th-century Créole-style raised big house and several surviving outbuildings, including six slave quarters. It is one of only 15 plantation complexes in Louisiana with this degree of complete structures. Because of its historical importance, the plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places. Only about eight of us on the tour, along with Rose, a wonderfully knowledgeable, enthusiastic guide. From my point of view, I think this plantation house, in spite of its relatively diminutive size, compared to Nottoway, was far more interesting in terms of the local architecture and designs for cooling the building. One of the owner's married a wine broker from Bordeaux and imported wine from France to sell along with the sugar grown on the estate. To keep the wine cool, it was stored in large ceramic vats, (originally containing olives brought from France), lowered into pits dug into the silt below the house. The vats were kept at a cool, even temperature as the silt was saturated with the cool Mississippi water, throughout the intense heat of the summer.
The tour took about an hour and and a half and it was just the four of us and Kathy, our guide, a lovely woman for LA who moved here to marry a Creole man, a musician turned handyman! Our landlord, William Banks McLintock IV, had suggested, the night before, that we should visit Laura, A Creole Plantation, to see a completely different approach. After having a delicious picnic, (We had dinner reservations for 6:00pm that evening so we didn't want to fill ourselves up beforejhand.), of two cheeses, houmas dip, gluten-free crackers, yam chips and mixed nuts on a side road off the fifty foot levee which runs along the Mississippi hereabouts, we arrives at Laura just in time for the 3:30pm tour.
The story of the remarkably strong Creole women who managed the estate
for most of its history is really beyond belief and stands in marked
contradistinction to life at Nottoway, and elsewhere, of course, in the
South, where it was taboo to for a young lady
to expose her ankles. We were told that if a young man caught a glimpse
of this "limb", (even the term "ankle" was not allowed!), he would be
forced to marry the woman in question. Randolph had two stairways built
to the main entrance to his mansion, one for
each sex, in order to circumvent this problem, At Laura, however, in
the business office the women occupied, there was a bed in the corner,
used when the occupants didn't sleep in hammocks on the mosqitoe-netted
verandas. Apparently, the sight of this furniture
always caused a great deal of embarrassment and consternation among "Les Américains
", despised, if not hated, by the Creoles, who came to do business with the plantation!
So much to see and hear that we were all sorry when tour came to a close but we had to dash, literally, as we weren't back in our car until about 4:50pm and it was at least an hour back to NO. Traffic moved quite well until we were close to the airport and then things clogged up. Peter managed to phone Lillette and we were told that our reservation would stand if we could arrive by 6:30pm. Took us more than 30 minutes to drive 10 K but we made it home by 6:05pm. The Sisterhood dashed inside to change but Peter and I simply had a snort of Jura before we changed for dinner. Made it to restaurant by 6:33 pm so we were fine. Dropped off anxious diners and was able to park just around the corner.
Domani we off to see a parade at 6:00pm in French Quarter, followed by another meal at a restaurant named, Bayona, researched by The Sisterhood! To be continued...
I'm
sick and in a perfect world my Mama would just appear in a puff.
However, she is too busy partying in the French Quarter of New Orleans
with Poppa and friends to worry about me...anyways Pierre Prince got me a Slurpee...and who says men can't nurse?
Hi Goils!
Terribly sorry to hear about Rae! Glad accident wasn't more serious and
that she seems to be recovering with Joey's loving ministrations. Please
send along our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery!
Sorry for not being able to tell you more, right now, about our wonderful day yesterday but we are simply having a marvellous time. Went of a culinary history tour, yesterday, in French Quarter. Remarkable! Gang are shouting for me to come downstairs as we are off to drive to see a number of plantation homes, about an hour away. Dinner reservations for 6:00pm this evening, down the street, Magazine, from our place. Much Love to Tinsel Towners and Vancouverites! Dad!
Well thank god your sending short emails and enjoying yourself. But you could send some photos!!
xx Chloe Alexis Yes, what Chloe said!
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