Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana

Oak Alley’s trees are between 250-300 years old. This picture perfectly describes the name. Beautiful. There are 28 trees, to match the 28 columns on the “Big House”. Hurricanes and tropical storms have damaged some of the trees but none down the alley. 

I zoomed in, hopefully, to show the massive root systems.

The mansion was started in 1836 and is constructed of bricks made on site by slaves. Completed 3 years later for the Jacques Roman and his family. 

The plantation produced sugar cane with over 220 slaves working from approximately 1835 to the end of the civil war in 1865. 90 slaves lived on the plantation at the height of wealth and cane production. 

Slave housing

Slave sick room

Names of the slaves registered as working on the plantation

Jacques Roman died in 1848 of tuberculosis and the estate began to be managed by his wife, Marie Roman. She did not have a skill for managing a sugar plantation and her heavy spending nearly bankrupted the estate. 

Jacques and Marie’s bedroom 

Main living area 

In 1859 her son, Henri, took control of the estate and tried to turn things around. The plantation was not physically damaged during the civil war, but the economic impact of the war and the end of slavery made it no longer economically viable.  

Nursery

Henri became severely in debt, mainly to his family. In 1866, his uncle, Valcour Aime and his sisters, Octavie and Louise, put the plantation up for auction and it was sold for $32,800. 

Owner after owner could not maintain the estate and In the 1920’s , the estate fell into disrepair. 

Gardens 

Andrew Stewart purchased the estate for his wife Josephine. The house was restored and modernized. Before her death, Josephine set up a foundation to keep the Oak Alley history alive and it has not been lived in since the 1970’s.