15 Jul 2010

L’Hermitage Plantation

The prominent French Louisiana family of Emmanuel Marius Pons Bringier practiced an interesting tradition. They gave a plantation, complete with manor house, as a wedding present to each child. The Hermitage was one of those presents. Michel Doradou Bringier, one of Emmanuel Bringier’s sons, married Louise Elizabeth Aglae duBourg de Sainte-Colombe in 1812. She was […]

Read More
10 Jul 2010

Greenwood Plantation Felicianas

Greenwood, the largest plantation house in the Felicianas, is a restructure. William Ruffin Barrow built the original in 1830 on the 12,000-acre sugar and cotton plantation he purchased from Oliver Pollack, who had acquired the land by grant from the Spanish government. The Barrow family, originally from England, had emigrated first to the Carolinas before […]

Read More
6 Jul 2010

Destrehan Manor

Destrehan Manor overlooks the east bank of the Mississippi River several miles above New Orleans. In a contract, translated from French and still on file at the local courthouse, it is written that in 1787 “Robert Antoine Robin de Longy and  Charles [Pacquet], free mulatto, have agreed … that the said Charles, carpenter, woodworker and […]

Read More
24 Jun 2010

Magnificent Chretien Point

In 1776 a Spanish land grant awarded Pierre Declouet a rise of ground about eight miles from what is now the city of Opelousas. Hippolyte Chretien, one of three brothers from France, purchased the property in about 1800 to raise cotton, the popular crop of the area. Stories mention the friendship that Hippolyte had a […]

Read More
21 Jun 2010

Catalpa Plantation St. Francisville

This charming Victorian cottage was built by William J. Fort in 1885 to replace the I original house, which was destroyed by fire. William Fort came to the Feliciana country from the Carolinas with skilled servants to erect the first Catalpa. The Forts raised both cotton and sugar. They were successful planters and shared their […]

Read More
19 Jun 2010

The Shady Retreat, Bocage Plantation

Bocage translates to Shady Retreat. The plantation home was built in 1801 by I Marius Pons Bringier as a wedding gift to his daughter Francoise and her husband Cristophe Colomb, an alleged descendant of the famous explorer. Bringier, head of the wealthy and powerful Bringier family, owned several plantations along the Mississippi River in South […]

Read More
19 Jun 2010

The American Castle

Nottoway also referred to as the “American Castle” is the largest of the existing plantation homes, was built in 1857 near Bayou Goula on the west bank of the Mississippi. Nottoway has sixty-fIve rooms and almost 65,000 square feet! In 1841, John Hampton Randolph, a descenqant of a famous Virginia family, left Woodville, Mississippi, to […]

Read More