Michel Doradou Bringier, one of Emmanuel Bringier’s sons, married Louise Elizabeth Aglae duBourg de Sainte-Colombe in 1812. She was fourteen years old  when she married, was born in Jamaica, and was educated in Baltimore by nuns. She was also the niece of the Bishop of New Orleans, Louis William Valentin duBourg.

The War of 1812 took Michel Doradou away from the plantation. He nobly served with General Andrew Jackson and returned in 1815, at about the time construction was being completed on his manor house. He named it The Hermitage after General Jackson’s Tennessee home, to honor his much-admired commander. To his French Louisiana relatives and neighbors, the home, of course,  immediately became “l’Hermitage.”

Elizabeth outlived Doradou by thirty years; he died in 1847. She had grown from a child bride to a self- confident plantation mistress, managing the business successfully through the Civil War times. The house was fired upon by Federal troops but survived intact, being hit by only one cannonball.

After the war, Louis Bringier, one of Michel and Elizabeth’s sons who had served as a Confederate army colonel, took over the plantation’s operation. Against all odds and with the help of Some of the former slaves who now worked as free persons, he successfully produced profitable sugarcane.

Eventually Duncan Kenner of Ashland, who had married into the Bringier family acquired the property. In the 1880′s it was acquired by the Maginnis family, then by the Duplessis family, then by the LaSalle family, and in 1959 by Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Judice of New Orleans. The Judices have completed a faithful and beautiful restoration.

Designed with splendid simplicity The Hermitage is built of thick “brick-between-post” construction and  smoothed over with plaster. Massive Doric columns and wide galleries sweep around the house. Two dormer windows are perched on a typical hipped roof. The interior is beautifully furnished with decor and furniture in the pre-Civil War style.

Evidence suggest that the house had been remodeled in 1849, probably by the noted New Orleans architect James Gallier Sr. The encircling galleries originally had brick pillows below and wooden colonettes above, typical of the time of its construction. They were replaced by the well-proportioned pillars as seen today.

The Hermitage is open by appointment for group tours. For more information on The Hermitage Plantation visit the Hotel Monteleone.

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 settling in the Feliciana country. They prospered in Louisiana, probably building more large plantation homes than any other single family.

Greenwood, with the exception of the twenty-eight brick columns, was built of lath and plaster. The Doric columns, thirty feet tall, rise from an elevated porch to hold a large roof entablature unusually decorated with triglyphs and other designs. Within the four corner columns, roof drains feed below-ground brick cisterns. A belvedere straddles the roof. Originally about forty outbuildings and 100 slave cabins were on the grounds.

Judah P. Benjamin, the noted Confederate statesman and a close friend of Barrow, advised his friend to sell the property because of the approaching Civil War. At a great loss Barrow sold the plantation intact to the Reed family. Federal troops did overrun Greenwood, destroying most of the outbuildings, but sparing the main house for use as a hospital. The Reed family retained the property, living there and maintaining the home until 1906. Greenwood was then sold to Mr. and Mrs. Frank S. Percy, who restored it and eventually opened it to the public.

In 1960 tragedy struck: A huge fire destroyed the house, leaving only the twenty-eight columns standing. Greenwood remained a ruin until 1968 when the charred remains and 300 acres were purchased by Baton Rouge attomey Walton J. Barnes and his son Richard.

The two men then began a most ambitious project: a reconstruction of the house as it originally was. Since no plans existed, the Barneses duplicated the structure by researching hundreds of old photographs and by interviewing those who had visited and lived at Greenwood.

Greenwood once again lives! Its twenty-eight majestic white columns are reflected in the original pool, dug to provide the clay for the columns’ bricks. The interior once again boasts an impressive central hall that is seventy feet long, with a curved wooden stairway at one end. Its furnishings reflect the style of the 1830s. Silver doorknobs and other hardware, ruined in the fire, have been remade.

The house has been used as a locale for several movies. The most notable to date is “North and South,” a televisian miniseries about, a family during the Civil War.

Greenwood is open to the public daily for tours. For more information on the Greenwood Plantation view the Hotel Monteleone listing.

The plantation first raised indigo, corn, and rice. But Soon they converted to growing sugarcane, a much more lucrative crop after Etienne deBore discovered an inexpensive method of granulating sugar in 1795. During Destrehan’s lifetime the plantation grew extensively.

Like many planters along the Mississippi, Destrehan was as interested in having a large family as he was in producing sugar. The solid brick garconnieres, somewhat attached on both sides of the main house, were additions to accommodate the increasing family. These two new units, though slightly asymmetrical in size, conformed so well with the original West Indies-style architecture, they seemed part of the structure.

In 1823 Stephen Henderson, a wealthy Scotsman, took Destrehan Plantation over. He married Lelia Destrehan; her death preceded her husband’s though she was only half his age. Henderson died in 1838, leaving a most complicated will. Because the will was contested by his surviving relatives, most of its provisions were set aside by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Henderson had directed that upon his death his slaves be emancipated, given an acre of land, a mule and a cow, or, if they chose, given passage to Liberia. The litigation over this and other then controversial philanthropic provisions in the will continued for years, and most of the estate went for legal fees.

In 1839 Judge Pierre A. Rost, another son-in-law of Jean Destrehan, acquired Destrehan Manor. Rost began an extensive renovation, altering the house’s West Indies appearance to conform with the then-popular Greek Revival style. Great white pillars were formed by covering the earlier wooden colonettes with brick and plaster. The original bousillage entre poteaux (Spanish moss and sand between posts) walls were lathed over, plastered, and scored to resemble granite stones.

One of Destrehan’s outstanding architectural features is its high-peaked West Indies-style roof. Three smallish dormer windows and two asymmetrical chimneys jut out from the roof. The original heart-of-cypress, handhewn beams are visible throughout the house. Also in the house is a large marble bathtub said to have been a gift from Emperor Napoleon I to Jean Noel Destrehan.

Many noted guests were entertained at the manor house during the years the Destrehans and their descendants occupied the property. Two of the most famous were the Duc d’Orleans, who became king of France, and the renowned pirate-hero Jean Lafitte, whose ghost appears during stormy nights pointing to where he hid some of his treasure.

Union forces seized the house during the Civil War and turned the property into a Freedman’s Bureau colony, housing hundreds of newly freed slaves. The property was returned to the Rost family through presidential intercession in 1866, and remained in the family until 1910.

Since 1914, Destrehan has been the property of various oil refining companies that still utilize some of the acreage. In 1972 the manor house, devastated by neglect, vandalism, and the elements, was donated to the River Road Historical Society. This dedicated, nonprofit group began an immediate restoration of the manor house and several acres of picturesque grounds. Today, Destrehan Manor House is open daily to the public. All proceeds from admissions, annual festivals, and profits from the charming antique and gift shop are dedicated to Destrehan’s continuing restoration.

For more information on the Destrehan Plantation read more at the Hotel Monteleone.

Stories mention the friendship that Hippolyte had a with the brothers Jean and Pierre Lafitte, who used Chretien Point to conceal and move some of their smuggled cargo – and slaves. These tales are credible because Chretien accumulated hundreds of slaves to work his ever increasing cotton-producing acreage in a seemingly short time.

In 1812 during the Battle of New Orleans, Hippolyte Chretien and some of his neighboring planters joined the pirates Lafitte and General Andrew Jackson in this fight, which defeated the British. One of the gentlemen that fought with Chretien was a man known only as Senor Neda. Neda’s daughter Felicite married Hippolyte Chretien II and became one of Louisiana’s first “liberated” , women. Behaving very unconventionally for her time, Felicite was active in the management of plantation business, smoked cigarettes, and even was adept at card gambling. Felicite increased the plantation holdings by whatever methods she could. She acquired much property because of her proficiency at cards as well as her dealings with New Orleans bankers and businessmen, almost unheard-of activities for a woman at that time. Her courage and self-sufficiency were more than helpful because her husband and one of her two sons died from yellow fever shortly after the house was completed. She unearthed his money, which was buried on the grounds, after convincing Hippolyte’s faithful servant, Pajo, to reveal its hidden location.

This remarkable lady also possessed physical courage: It seems she herself thwarted a robbery attempt by shooting a thief in the head and frightening off his accomplices by confronting them with the possibility of a similar fate.

During the Civil War, a battle fought on the plantation grounds was led by Federal general Nathaniel Banks and Confederate general Alfred Mouton. Hippolyte Chretien III, though sick and feeble, saved the house by giving a secret Masonic sign that was honored by General Banks, a fellow Mason. Though the house was spared, the rest of the plantation buildings were destroyed by Yankee forces.

Hippolyte III inherited the plantation and lived at Chretien Point with his wife, Celestine Cantrell, and their son Jules. Jules was a multitalented young man, and unfortunately the family was more interested in the creation and appreciation of the arts and not in the practical science of management. After several crop failures the family attempted rice production, which also failed. The property was eventually lost to the mortgage holders. Jules became a traveling salesman of kitchen utensils.

The house was restored to its original magnificence in the late 1970s. The six-brick Tuscan pillars at front are based on square foundations that anchor the wide, wooden, balustrades gallery; the pillars rise two stories to the eaves of the hipped roof. Round-headed French doors and windows are features in each room. Chretien
Point’s great room is graced with unique mantles of verde-antique Italian marble with Ionic capitals and shelves of black onyx. Ceiling medallions are elaborately a carved. Exterior walls are eighteen inches thick and the house measures sixty-three feet wide by forty-seven feet deep.

Sadly, the original furnishings were destroyed by fire after they were moved to a small hotel, which was operated by one of the Chretien heirs. The present owners, the Cornay family, have again beautifully furnished the house and graciously opened it to plantation tours.

For more information on tours visit the Hotel Monteleone’s attraction listing of the Chretien Point Plantation.

The house was elegantly furnished, but the true beauty of this estate was its grounds. A parklike atmosphere was created using exotic plants, flowers, and fruit trees that were developed and nurtured in a large hot house. The extensive garden included a pool, a deer park, shady sitting areas, peacocks, pigeons, and other exotic animals.

Invasion by Union troops during the Civil War destroyed the original house and its grounds. Almost everything edible was foraged by the hungry army. Fort died during this time, but his widow, Sally, held on to the property; she determinedly rebuilt the house almost immediately after it burned. Fortunately much of the furnishings were saved and are still in use today. Other fine pieces were acquired from Rosedown Plantation when it sold in 1956. Sally Bowman Fort was the daughter of Sarah Turnbull of neighboring Rosedown, and James Pirrie Bowman, of nearby Oakley.

Two notable features of this estate are the unusual elliptical alley of moss-draped oaks, a beautiful corridor to the house, and the steadfast ownership (the property remained in the same family since first built). I visited Catalpa in 1985. It was then occupied by Mamie Fort Thompson and Sadie Fort, both great-granddaughters of William J. Fort.

The thirty-acre gardens have been returned to their parklike beauty, with plantings of hydrangeas, azaleas, camellias, and a large variety of trees and plants natural to the area. Though this restructure is not strictly antebellum, Catalpa is one of the most charming of the Louisiana planters’ homes open to visitors. It is about three miles out of St. Francisville and is open daily for tours.

For more information read the attraction listing at the Hotel Monteleone on the Catalpa 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 Louisiana.

Francoise, at the time of her wedding, was only fourteen years old; her husband Cristophe was thirty-one.  Cristophe was quite a remarkable character: He was invalved in the French Revolution and escaped from his native country to flee the guillotine. His departure reportedly led him to his uncle’s island plantation in Santo Domingo, where a slave uprising forced him to flee again – this time to Philadelphia and then on to a French Louisiana.

Cristophe and Francoise’s relationship was very unusual for the time, but it was harmonious. Fanny, as she was popularly known, had inherited the Bringier aptitude for business, and ran the plantation. Cristophe’s talents, however, were in the arts: He was an accomplished singer, musician, poet, and dancer. The usual roles were thus reversed in this marriage. Fanny directed I the work in the cane fields and sugar mills, while her husband wrote poetry and entertained at their social gatherings. He even had a fancy boat built for himself, with a silken canopy and friezing on the sails. His slaves rowed the boat along the bayous and waterways, taking Cristophe to relatives and friends.

The two-story house itself is almost square, constructed of wood on the upper level and brick on the lower level. Its front gallery is supported by six large square pillars and a pair of smallish pillars at the center, forming a novel facade. A high entablature with Empire details hides the roof and most of the chimneys. After a fire in the late 1830s Bocage was extensively remodeled, emphasizing Greek Revival and Empire detailing. Bocage and many of its counterparts fell to decay and abandon after the Civil War. It was rescued by Drs. E. G. and Anita Crozat Kohlsdorf, who restored the home and gardens to their former glory. Their restoration included furnishing the house with elegant antiques. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Genre are the present owners; Mrs. Genre . is the niece of the late Anita Crozat Kohlsdorf.

For years the house has been open to plantation tours by appointment. It is located about two miles north of Burnside along the east bank of the Mississippi.

For more information on the Bocage Plantation visit the Hotel Monteleone.

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 build this huge dwelling. The empire of plantations he created eventually amounted to more than 7,odo sugarcane-producing acres.

Randolph and his wife had eleven children, eight girls and three boys, making them known for their large family as well as the vast sugarcane operation. A large family required a house of suitable size, and the affluent planter began work on Nottoway by soliciting designs from the prominent architects of the day.

The winning proposal came from the distinguished New Orleans architect Henry Howard, who designed Madewood in Napoleonville and many other notable structures. Randolph liked this plan, a magnificent Italianate, primarily because it was quite different from the Greek Revival mansions Randolph’s fellow planters were building.

Nottoway has a large stucco-covered brick basement supporting two main stories. Twenty-one tall, squarish columns support iron-railed galleries on the first and second level. A tall entablature almost completely hides the hipped roof. Two grand, curved stairways rise from the front entrance. Nottoway boasts of some imposing interior furnishings: 200 large windows, some with curved glass; large stately doors with hand-painted door knobs and sterling silver hardware; and the large, first-level, sinuous ballroom finished completely in white, including mantles, chandeliers, Corinthian columns, and even the floor! The beautiful room served its purpose well: Seven of Randolph’s eight daughters married, their weddings occurring in the famous white ballroom. Other notable features in Nottoway were running water and indoor bathrooms on each floor! The fireplaces burned gas manufactured on the plantation site.

The house and family survived the Civil War, but after the death of Mr. Randolph in 1887, Mrs. Randolph sold Nottoway to Dr. W. G. Owen. An Owen descendant recently sold the house to Arlin K. Dease, the same gentleman who restored Mount Hope and The Myrtles. Dease immediately began to restore the home and opened it to the public for the first time in 1981, offering overnight accommodations. Dease has since sold the house to the present owners who continue to operate Nottoway as a house and museum with bed and breakfast accommodations and catering services for almost any event.

For more information read the Hotel Monteleone’s listing of the Nottoway Plantation Restaurant & Inn.