Whitney Plantation

Whitney Plantation, at 5099 Highway 18 in Wallace, Louisiana, in St. John the Baptist Parish along the Mississippi River about an hour's drive west of New Orleans, is the only plantation museum in Louisiana devoted to the history of slavery. The property was established in the 1750s by German immigrant Ambroise Heidel and grew indigo and later sugar cane, becoming a major sugar enterprise under the Haydel family, who held enslaved people on the site until the Civil War. After the war, the plantation passed through several owners and was renamed for Harry Whitney in the 20th century. It was purchased by the trial lawyer John Cummings, who spent years and a large sum on restoration and opened the site as a museum in December 2014. The museum is built around the experiences of the enslaved rather than the planter family. The tour is a guided, outdoor walking experience of roughly two hours that moves through the restored Big House, a kitchen, original slave cabins, a blacksmith shop, a plantation store, an African American church relocated from elsewhere in the parish, and a series of memorials. These include the Wall of Honor, granite slabs engraved with the names of thousands of enslaved Louisianians, the Field of Angels memorial to enslaved children who died in the parish, and sculptures of children by the artist Woodrow Nash. The memorial to the 1811 German Coast uprising, the largest slave revolt in United States history, is also on the grounds. Interpretation draws on oral histories from the 1930s Works Progress Administration narratives and on court and property records. Architecturally the site features Creole and Greek Revival buildings dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries. Because the site is emotionally demanding, visitors typically budget a half day including travel, and tours should be booked ahead.