Laura Plantation

One of the things that I like to do is to take little day trips to see some of the New Orleans places of interest. One of those trips this past summer brought me to Laura Plantation, one of the more unique Louisiana antebellum homes, just a few miles from Oak Alley Plantation, on the Old River Road near Vacherie, LA.

Laura is a little different than most of the Louisiana antebellum plantations, in that it is built in the French "Creole" style, rather than in the style of the English or American antebellum homes common throughout the area. While it has the wide veranda that most plantation homes had, the ceilings were not quite as high, and the architectural style is noticeably different.

The home was just recently opened to the public, and restoration is in progress (with much yet to be done). It is a worthy project, for too much antebellum history has been already lost. According to Mr. Norman Marmillion, owner and manager of Laura, "Twenty five years ago, before we knew anything about Laura or her Memoirs, we wanted to save this small place. It was because of those last houses you can see in the back. We have four of the old slave cabins standing. There were once 69 cabins and people lived in those houses until 1977."

Upon entering, you see a sign that proclaims Laura to be "The American Home of Br'er Rabbit" (remember Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris?). At the time of my visit, I was more interested in photography that day, and, suffering from the effects of the oppressive summer weather that we have, I didn't complete the guided tour (although my wife did). It was my loss. The information that I later obtained from Mr. Marmillion proved to be very interesting.

As Mr. Marmillion went on to explain, "…in 1871, a neighbor of Laura's, by the name of Alcee Fortier, just 18 years old, came into the cabins here and on neighboring plantations. Here he wrote down the stories he heard the workers telling their children in Creole French. Fortier recorded some 20 stories about Compair Lapin and Compair Bouki (the clever rabbit and the stupid fool). Twenty-five years later, Fortier was president of the American Folklore Society and Dean at Tulane University. He published his stories, calling them "Louisiana Folktales." One year later, these stories were adapted and published by his friend and colleague in Georgia, Joel Chandler Harris and, from that day, the English-speaking world has known these stories as the "Tales of Br'er Rabbit."

Like so many who grew up here in New Orleans, I knew that there were slaves here at one time, and that they were brought here from Africa. But Africa is a big place, and little attention was given to "where in Africa?" Mr. Marmillion goes on, "…Almost 280 years ago, the first slaves (brought) to Louisiana were from Senegal and, for 60 years, most all were from Senegal. Today, in that same country in West Africa, 3rd grade students must learn French. They are taught from a textbook written in 1953 by a schoolteacher who later became president of that country, Leopold Senghor. As a young (man), Senghor went around collecting Wollof folktales, stories he was sure that all Senegalese children knew. To teach his country's children French, he translated them all into French. Senghor's textbook is in our gift shop. It is 82 stories of Lapin & Bouki, the same tales collected here, almost word for word, 130 years ago, including the one most Americans know best, the tale of the Little Tar Baby."

I did come across a reference in an Internet article to Mark Twain "awaiting the arrival of the author (Joel Chandler Harris) from Atlanta" (1882). Since Mark Twain was a Mississippi River Pilot, it's possible that Harris visited the plantation, also.

Laura Plantation slave quarters