Welcome to History

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By Christopher Kyte, President

We offer a number of voyages on the Lower Mississippi between Memphis and New Orleans as well as roundtrip journeys from New Orleans. The American Queen truly explores the heart of Dixie and our guests love it. Among the biggest attractions are the antebellum plantation homes. In fact, they are so spectacular and so important to America’s history, that we have dedicated calls in two locations solely for the purpose of bringing people face-to-face with these amazing structures and their even more amazing histories. One not only starred in well-known movies but was the birthplace of one of the best-known pecans in America while the other survived the turbulent 1800s thanks to a big ego and eclectic personality.

Oak Alley Plantation, a classic Greek-revival style antebellum home located in Vacherie, LA, is perhaps the best known surviving site of its kind and is now protected as a National Historic Landmark. It’s no wonder it has been called the "Grande Dame of the Great River Road." The plantation takes its name from the canopy of 300 year-old oak trees stretching for a quarter mile from the home to the Mississippi River, creating a gorgeous, shaded alley. Unknown by many, the trees date to the early 18th century, long before the home itself, which was constructed between 1837 and 1839 by George Swainy for Jacques Telesphore Roman.

Originally called Bon Séjour, Oak Alley was an antebellum sugar cane plantation. Like many such buildings at the time, it owes its architectural style to the local French Creole who, in turn, who were being influenced by the homes that were being built as Caribbean plantations. Miraculously, Oak Alley escaped the Civil War without physical damage but the end of slavery destroyed the plantation financially and it was eventually sold repeatedly, falling into disrepair. The Stewart family, the last people to live in the home, repaired it and donated it to the Oak Alley Foundation to be preserved and opened to the public.

Since that time, the plantation has steadily gained fame with starring roles ranging from the Tom Cruise movie Interview with the Vampire to Beyonce’s Déjà Vu music video. Oak Alley has been featured on both the TV soaps Days of Our Lives and the Young and the Restless.

Despite its many owners and media exposure, one of Oak Alley’s most influential residents was Antoine, a field slave. In 1846, he developed the “paper shell” pecan which could be cracked open with one’s bare hands. Later known as the Centennial Variety, it became the predominant pecan crop of Louisiana.

Great plantations don’t just spring to life; they grow over time from often humble roots. Houmas House owes its existence to the Houmas Native Americans who were initially given a land grant for a lush, fertile plain perfect for the growing of crops. The area’s fertility was a result of being situated between the nurturing floods of the Mississippi River to the south and Lake Maurepas to the north. By the mid 1700s, the property had been sold to Maurice Conway and Alexander Latil, who built a French Provincial house and established a sugar crop. By the time the property became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the plantation was producing sugar regularly.

The current mansion got its start when Revolutionary War Hero General Wade Hampton bought the property in 1810. The mansion was finished in 1828 and eventually became the hub for a sugar empire of more than 300,000 acres. The original building became staff living quarters and was connected to the new mansion with a breezeway.

The most colorful period in Houmas House’s history began in 1857 when it was purchased for $1 million by Irishman John Burnside who grew the plantation to become the country’s biggest sugar producer. If it were not for Burnside’s claim of immunity as a British citizen, the advancing Union forces certainly would have burned the home to the ground during the Civil War. He went on to build his own railroad to bring his sugar to market and, a confirmed bachelor, reputedly offered to pay cash to any parents in the parish who named their sons “John.” A fan of horse races, he once stabled a thoroughbred in his billiard room.

A terrible flood in 1927 preceded the Great Depression and the Houmas House fell on hard times. In 1963, the film Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte starring Bette Davis was filmed on site after the building was fully restored and it is currently the home of Kevin Kelly and open to the public as a reminder of another era.

Both these homes are immensely popular and virtually every voyage on the Lower Mississippi includes at least one on the itinerary. Even more impressive than their histories are the people that currently run them. You are greeted like a guest, treated like a treasured friend and leave as family. And that’s what traveling through the heart of Dixie is all about.