Laura Plantation: Louisiana's Créole Heritage Site

"The plantation was an amazing experience, especially if you go through a combo tour, bayou and plantation tour. The knowledge covered in the tour was eye opening. It allowed us to walk through the home on all floors as well as the back of the house. Our tour guide was amazing and offered a large amount of information and went very in depth of the families history."

"I was nervous about visiting the Laura Plantation because I didn't know if they would go deep into the history. However, after the tour, I couldn't stop talking about how informative it was, and the tour guide didn't sugarcoat the abuse and trauma. If I could, I would do a repeat of this tour. I recommend this tour to anyone who wants to learn the truth of Laura Plantation."

"When exploring history, context is everything. I had the opportunity to tour the Laura plantation yesterday. Invited by an associate, I must confess I was hesitant. I had an unsatisfactory experience at one well established plantation that didn’t address the history of enslavement and one revolutionary experience at Whitney that solely focuses on enslavement. To me, I had struck out once and witnessed life changing history at the other. I am uncomfortable with the concept of tourism to any plantation that does not encourage anti racism. I reluctantly agreed to go. Boy, am I glad I did. It challenged me to explore the complex and often forced community of this particular site. It never glamorized or made the owners of the big house heroic or to be emulated but spoke with direct honesty of their view points and transgressions. It spoke of a woven narrative that explained the integration of the household side by side was not equality. Due to the matriarchy of this Creole (not American) household there is a narrative offered here with direct sources that gives incredible detail and many specific enslaved individuals. The French records offer insight that often the American records can’t. The willingness of this organization to hold themselves accountable to this narrative since 1994 means they are version 20 of the tour. Every time they uncover new information about a complexity they return to the drawing board and thoughtfully create a narrative that includes the brilliant craftsmanship of skilled labor and the absolute cruelty of capitalism around enslavement. I’d like to mention that our tour guide Joseph was an absolute gem of a guide. Even though he primarily guides in French his descriptions in English were crafted with dignity and he wasn’t afraid to challenge pre established concepts. I have rarely seen such skill bridging any history much less one that requires such dexterity. I now believe that if someone was interested in de-colonization and anti racism the Laura is essential. I think a day trip that would alter your concept of history forever would be Laura, a picnic at Laura after decompressing and then Whitney. It’s essential to understand that if you visit New Orleans nearly every boutique hotel, every store, every historic house, every public park has a history directly linked to enslavement. At Laura they understand that responsibility. If you are strong enough to look this history in the eye, you might see yourself reflected. But beyond that reflection is a path forward. But first we must do the work. The work is being done at Laura. And now it’s up to me to do better."

"A beautiful and well-preserved plantation with a very informative tour guide, Mark. Kudos to him for his presentation in his third language, French. The first part of the tour was based around the plantation owners' family history. The second part concerned the harsh realities of the lives of the creole slaves at the plantation. I would have liked some information about how sugar was grown and harvested."

"The Laura Plantation itself is wonderful. They allow you to take pictures inside. There is a lot of history preserved there, and the tour guide tells you all of it, it seemed. They approach tours now from the people that lived and worked there point of view, and focus very little - and I mean VERY little, on the place (buildings, grounds) themselves. We stood for a long time in a few different spots, and my feet and legs were tired from standing listening to the tour guide. Yes, she is very knowedgeable, but after telling you generation after generation, and the trauma, and abuse, and literally nothing 'good' about it all, you're left wanting to just get out of there. You can't remember all that geneology in one lesson, and although it's a great history lesson, I would much rather have read it, or at least been given a guide to follow along. I probably wouldn't take another tour there if I go back to New Orleans. I certainly enjoy history, but this is too much standing with no place to sit, and one does get tired. Laura seemed dusty, especially the floors and like it could use a good cleaning."