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Cajun Pride Tours for a 'Swamp & Plantation Tour' cost us $90 per person for a day out of New Orleans exploring the countryside.
Our driver, 'Caesar', an Afrian American, had a rather fast southern drawl, using repetitive sayings, it really did take some fine ear tuning to comprehend! There was a lot lost in translation!!! However, as we drove through the French Quarter, Caesar was quite happy to tell us that a "month or so ago there was a killin' on Boubon Street, that's the way they deal with stuff down here, they use guns and plento of 'em". Caesar wasn't so happy about the crime, he had some nephews caught up in it, but he stayed clean and clear. The more he talked about the "killin'", the faster he spoke, and the harder it was to comprehend and the more the mini bus swerved! Caesar was full of information about New Orleans and loved to share it with us.
Caesar told us; the hospital had so much mould after Katrina it's been condemned and now New Orleans has a new hospital which is one of the biggest in the states, Cyclone Katrina had done alot of damage but also brought a lot of good as new houses were built and people compensated, people were buried above ground in mausoleums in the cemeteries due to the water levels and cyclones as coffins would just rise to the surface after a good storm (we drove past many of the cemeteries), the low lying bridges or viaducts were the longest in the world, that he was a Baptist who didnt go to church but most African Americans in New Orleans were Catholic due to the French, that he could show us the spot where the televangelist Jimmy was caught in a low lying dump with a prositute hoping he wouldn't be caught out, and he certainly thought we should be visiting 'Laura' instead of 'Oak Valley' plantation as it was more authentic as it belonged to a free slave who kept slaves and Oak Valley just had the trees! Caesar was full of information, opinionated, and delightful.
Cajun Swamp Tour as about 11/2 hours drive northwest of New Orleans. A property of 50 acres, privately owned wildlife refuge in the heart of the Manchac Swamp. It is an environmentally managed site where no animal was harvested for its skins or meat, and the area was protected. We had a 1 hour 45minute boat tour on a flat bottom boat through the swamps. 'Brandon' our tour guide, had a sense of humor and made the trip enjoyable.
The waters of the swamps were full of alligators of various sizes, from small reptiles to those which were metres long , and they were everwhere They were on the banks, on logs basking in the sun, and they were in the water (some were even swimming behind the boat as if they were a puppy dog on a lead going for a walk). Brandon obviously had his own way of attracting them to the boat for the tourists, he stopped the engine, called them by name and they appeared. There was 'Leftie' who was missing his left foot, 'Peanuts' who was slightly crazy and couldn't be trusted, and a number of others whose names now allude me. Standing on a ledge out of the boat, Brandon happily fed these snappers, and they did jump and snap, pieces of fresh chicken. Having kept all his fingers over the past 4 years, Brandon was confident that today's feeding frenzy would also be uneventful - and it was, as no injury or loss of limb occurred. To proove to us that alligators had no interest in human flesh, he enticed them to come close and stroke their under jaw. It was only later that he showed us the photo of a recent bite that went straight through his finger and told us his wife has insisted he insure his hands. Insurance for an alligator feeder is not cheap at $243 a fortnight!
Apart from alligators, we also saw a wonderful assortment of bird life from cranes to egrets, a raccoon that had a liking for white marshmallows pitched to him by Brandon, turtles motionless on water logs soaking up the summer sun, and a wonderful lush green landscape that framed the swamp waters. It was lovely with beautiful scenery around every bend. Brandon was informative about the environment. He alsohad brought on board a number of reptiles for us to see and handle; six different turtle types, a white snake boa, and an alligator whose jaw was tightly taped shut! Nearly all on the boat handled the reptiles, including us. the small alligator was just a baby who had been rescued and currently being nurtured to a bigger size, so we were told to handle him as a baby, especially if he started to squirm. I held him close and stroked his back and he was calm.....just like my grandson!!!
Travelling to Oak Alley Plantation we passed by fields of sugar cane, a crop that had been grown in this area since settlement and which the slave trade had planted and harvested. We had had alot of difficulty in New Orleans choosing a plantation and finally decided upon Oak Alley Plantation from a recommendation from the concierge, we were not disappointed.
The first glimpse of this plantation is of its magnificent 300 year old Virginia Live Oaks. It is a quarter mile alley, was planted in 1700, and there are 28 oaks planted in two equal rows spaced 80 feet apart leading to the river. They perfectly form a majestic frame to the Big House, which was built much later. Native to this area, the oaks thrived and by 1722 it was noted the trees were already mature in stature. The ninth tree from the Big House is the largest oak on the plantation, named Josephine Armstrong Stewart, this oak has a girth of 30 feet and a 127 foot spread of limbs. There is green growth seen on the limbs and trunks, which is called resurrection fern which is an air plant that grows on the bark of large trees.
The oak tree can live for 600 years so these have reached midlife, a bit like me! They were simply stunning, a photographers paradise as every angle revealed another aspect of their beauty. Serene, stately, imposing, and had weathered the storms of migration, slavery, a civil war, modernity and the forces of nature, these trees were the main feature of this Plantation. If only they could talk, the tales they could share about life on this property, the people who had come and gone, the masters and slaves, those who had rested under their branches on hot summer days, those who had died through neglect and abuse, those who had lived a life of luxory on the back of those who laboured in the cane fields. These trees are the ones that have stood the test of time, still gracefull and giving rest to those who shelter in their branches.
The Big House is big, it was built as a gift from Jacques Telesphone Roman, a wealthy Creole sugar planter, to his bride Celina. A Greek Rival style principal house took 3 years to build, by slaves under the direction of George Swainey, with building materials found or manufactured on the property. It was completed in 1839. It had 4 large entertaining rooms at ground level, 4 bedrooms on first floor, and further rooms on the 2nd floor that formed the attic. Only 4 original items remain in the building, two of them in the children's bedroom.
Celina had 6 children, but 3 died when they were very young. Life was hard for familes as many children succumbed to disease and infection. Jacques died young, and Celine lacking business skills and with a penchant for spending, sent the property into bankruptcy. All had to be sold to pay debts. A civil war broke out and the property further declined. In the early 1900's cows took up residency in the house for some years and managed to utterly destroy the marble floors. The last resident owner, Josephine Stewart, restored the property to its former glory and created beautiful boxwood gardens. It was Stewart who had no heirs, who decided to bequeath the property, which is why it is open to the public. The Big House had been beautifully restored.
We were given a guided tour by a young woman dressed in period dress of the time. Explaining each room, some pieces of furniture, life of the owners and their demise, it was an excellent way to see the house. The formal sitting room where guests were entertained, especially suitors seeking a spouse, was plush and ornate. The "courting candle" was fascinating and would have created a sweat in any young man's life. The dining room with the enormous hand drawn fan over the dining table was a tangible reminder of slaves and their roles.
A house slave would stand at the corner of the room operating the fan while the owners entertained their guests over dinner. It sounds an easy job, but negotiating this large fan from the corner making sure there was sufficient air over the table for comfort, but not too much that snuffs out the candle light, would not have been easy. The main bedroom, the children's bedroom and the utility guestroom serving as a guest room, a birthing room and death room, were all exquisitely restored.
When our guide opened the doors on the first floor so that we could step out onto balcony, it was then one could see and feel the grandeur of this home. Those magnificent oak trees stretched out before you, and back in the time of the Romans, they would have gazed upon the mighty Mississippi River. today our line of sight was stopped at the grassy levy bank that protected so many in New Orleans and beond from river floods. We took photos and some more photos of these trees.Walking around the entire balcony of the Big House one could imagine anothervtime, another way of living in the deep south.
Once back on the ground we opted to walk between the oaks, taking lots of photos, and at the white railed fence, slip between the rails to cross the road and climb the levy banks to gaze upon the river. It was at this point, standing on the levy, that i could fully appreciate the difference of heights between water and dry land. It was obvious the river was higher than land and without the levy the Big House would be flooded.
For the next hour we wandered the grounds, visited the reconstructed slave quarters and read about their lives, and wondered how slavery could have existed as long as it did in a country built upon religious freedom and equity for all. So many questions, so much sadness. This was a beautiful plantation to visit but it raised mixed emotions. The place was built by slaves who had no rights or freedom for the wealthy elite to enjoy a privileged life. Perhaps the real value of visiting Oak Alley Plantation is to take time to remember the men, women and children who laboured as slaves, not as free persons, and to give them honour and respect with the passage of years.
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