Louisiana Plantation Homes - Oak Alley & Nottoway

History is something that has always fascinated me, especially when it comes to Louisiana history and life in the 1800's. Lucky for me, my friends also share in the same love and on Saturday, we visited a couple of Louisiana plantation homes along River Road - Nottoway and Oak Alley!

I've made it a mission to tour as many plantation homes as possible and I've shared a few of my experiences here in the past:

• Shadows on the Teche Plantation Tour
• "The Shadows" Vlog
• Evergreen & San Fransisco Plantation Home Tours
• Houmas House & Bocage  (& an overnight stay for our 5th Anniversary)
• Houmas House Vlog #1
• Houmas House Vlog #2 

Our first stop was at Nottaway, a gorgeous plantation home located along River Road in White Castle, Louisiana. I hadn't visited Nottaway since I was a freshman in high school (we did this one year for our summer family vacation), so I was curious to see the changes made to the grounds and overall area. Well, they've made a lot of them over a 20 year time span, that's for sure, and it all looked amazing!

We loved hearing about the home and its origins!

The white ballroom is one of the draws to this beautiful and opulent home!

They still host events in this room to date. Wedding, anyone?

So, I had this amazing idea of creating a "jump shot" in front of the home. It took several attempts, but we finally got it!

This plantation home also serves as a "hotel" with rooms you can rent for an overnight stay. The grounds are full of activities that range from biking to swimming, and even swinging! No swings were broken in the making of this ridiculous photo.

After spending a couple of hours at Nottoway, we left and went on our way to our second plantation home of the day, Oak Alley. I'd visited Oak Alley as a very small child with my parents, so I had zero recollection of this home. I was excited to see it again, though!

The draw to this home is for sure the alley of oaks that line the front! They are over 200 years old!!

But first...before touring the home, we needed a bite to eat!

Oak Alley also has a very nice restaurant with a full service menu on their grounds. We all ordered something different and mine was delicious! I had the open face roast beef poboy.

After lunch, we shopped for a few minutes in the gift shop, then headed to the home for our tour. To be honest, I was not as impressed with this home tour as I have been with others I've taken in the past. The guide sounded like she was reciting from a memorized script. Although she was very knowledgeable when we asked her questions, I still felt as if this tour wasn't as personable as ones I've taken in the past. It was a beautiful home regardless, and I still loved learning about the history, I just feel as if the tour guide can make or break a tour for you and this one wasn't my favorite on my list.

I absolutely loved all of the beautiful flowers at each home!

I have a picture like this as a four or five year old at my parents house somewhere, so I had to recreate it!

These oaks line the back of the home and are about 170 years old!

After leaving Oak Alley, we decided to drive about an hour to the nearest town for dinner. If ya'll have been a blog reader for a little while, you know my obsession with McAlister's and my sadness when they closed down in my hometown. Well, we found one on the way home and HAD to stop. It did not disappoint!

We also stopped for dessert at a little place we found a few years ago that serves both Hershey's Ice Cream and Great American Cookies! This is our group tradition every time we are together here, so we couldn't pass it up!

Our day was filled with a lot of fun, laughter, history, and lots of memory making! We are already talking about the homes we would like to tour next and I can't wait!

Anniversary Weekend & Natchez

Happy Tuesday! Today is one of my favorite days – it’s our Anniversary! I can’t quite believe that 8 years has come and gone already!  We’ve shared so many fun memories and special moments together, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

As mentioned yesterday, we took a run-trip this past weekend and decided to stop in Natchez, MS to tour a few plantation homes.

Our first stop was a home I read many things about, called Longwood. Construction began about a year before the Civil War broke out. During that time, construction halted “momentarily”, then never began again. The home remains in its unfinished form today. It’s a sad story but definitely a unique one!

Most plantation homes were made with brick, then white stucco was placed on top. This home would have looked completely different (all white) had construction began a year earlier!

The detail is amazing!

The bricks used to build the home were created in that very yard!

 

Although photos aren’t allowed in the “basement” where the family lived, they are allowed in the actual first level of the unfinished home.

Entry way

Looking up! The plans called for a five story grand octagonal home that was never finished.

After leaving Longwood, we grabbed lunch at Fat Mama’s Tamales (YUM), which was recommended to us by one of the runners at the race.

Our food was delicious!

Our next stop, Stanton Hall, was described to us as Natchez’s “grandest” home.

I absolutely love the detail that was put into creating this home!

We did tour the inside but weren’t allowed to take photographs.

Overall we had a great time!! I loved visiting new places I’d never been before and enjoyed meeting new people. Spending the weekend out of town with Jason was nice, too! :)

Do you like to visit new places/tour new areas?