"Laura Plantation"
Date
of Creation: 1989
Laura Plantation, the site of an early Indian village, was
settled by immigrant families in the 1780's. In 1804, the 12 thousand acre
tract was granted by the United States to the former Spanish commandant of
Pointe Coupee, a French native, and his wife, a native of Natchitoches,
Louisiana. They built the main house, a raised creole cottage, in 1805.
The family ran the sugar plantation and a liquor distribution business
until the plantation was sold by Laura Locoul (the plantation's namesake and
great-granddaughter of the original owners) in 1891 to Thomas Waguespack who
continued both the sugar plantation and the liquor business.
Before the
Civil War, 500 people called the plantation home. The war left its mark.
Cannonballs are still embedded in its walls and the secondary house, Maison de
Reprise, built in 1829, is referred to as "l'hopital".
The house was
partitioned and renovated to its present-day appearance in 1905. The property
was sold in 1981. Laura, on the River Road in Vacherie, is one of the sites
where the folktales of Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox were recorded in America. It
is on the National Register of Historic Places. Located 3 miles south of Oak
Alley Plantation on Hwy 18 in Vacherie, Louisiana.
| black & white - $ 50.00 | handwatercolored - $ 100.00 |
| black & white print with matting - $ 70.00 | handwatercolored print with matting - $ 120.00 |
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J Benoit, WFA and may not be used, transmitted, or reproduced in any form
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