This is a great place to sink in the past a little. I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't for our tour guide. We stood right in front of her and it still felt as if she was whispering. The best place to hear her was inside the house because it echod a little. She also kept getting "off track", whatever that means. I guess she would keep losing her place. Listening to the history was great but it was even better being around it. I enjoyed the plantation and the grounds very much. It was so beautiful and well kept. It was hard to keep reminding myself of how many hardships happened there. I would recommend this as a must, during a trip to New Orleans.
This plantation was part of my tour through The Old River Road company. Excellent tour and beautiful property. My favorite part was the original slave quarters, which was both amazing yet very touching. Highly recommend!
Besides the obvious association with Hollywood, this plantation had a much deeper display of 'real' plantation life in the small museum that you visit before the house tour. It had the entire history of the place organized in three rooms, based on the family who owned the property at the time. Personal documents, artifacts, and other items gave you a good background for the tour around the grounds. However, the tour is very restrictive in that you could only go with a guide to certain areas and when the guide was finished, so were you! However, our guide, Courtney, was very good, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
First of all be prepared to pay with cash! The lady wasn't very friendly and was short when we asked about the tour. Also once the tour starts you will have to drive in your own car to the plantation. Granted it's not far but just be aware of this. Now the plantation on the outside was breathtaking but on the inside it was ok. Unfortunately we weren't able to see a lot of the inside and you are not allowed to take pictures. Also there is a lot of renovations and a lot of it isn't authentic. The tour guide hardly talked and wasn't very informative. Afterwards you can see the slave cabins but again tour guide just stayed to the side while you looked around. I'm glad I went to see it but I think paying 20 was kind of too much when you don't really get a lot of historical background. Gift shop was very very small and didn't find anything to get.
It cost me 80.00 for 4 of us to take pictures of the exterior of the house. The tour was terrible and consisted of the guide saying, "This is the main house and the kitchen is not attached due to fire precautions. Any questions". There was no historical information given and the furnishings inside the plantation do not match the time period. You can save yourself 20.00 per person by parking outside the gate of the plantation and taking pictures for free from the side of the road, since you are not allowed to take pictures inside the home. Visit Laura Plantation for a very informative and friendly tour!
The main house and grounds were beautiful. It was great seeing how small the house really was. It was also neat seeing the slave quarters and getting a better idea about their living environment. The guide, however, recited from her memorized script. The. Entire. Time. I would be interested to see the Whitney Plantation or some other plantation where more of the slaves' perspective is told.
Had previously visited Oak Alley plantation and thought this one might have a better tour...it did. The guide presented an interesting and historically accurate view of life during both the creole and pre civil war era. The manor house is furnished, although not with pieces original to it. Interestingly, this plantation is privately owned and the owner sometimes lives in one of the out buildings. The visitor center is long on historical documents and short on gift shop glitz, both of which are good things. If I could visit two plantations near NOLA, the other would be Laura, just up the road from Evergreen. It has a more tourist oriented tour and gift shop but has structures and furnishings almost as good as Evergreen. Each is about $20 adult admission.
This was my first visit to a Plantation and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What I found was a family that has preserved the plantation for the purpose of educating the public about it's history complimented by a very well informed and entertaining tour guide who really knows her history of both the plantation and the region. You'll need a rental car to get there but if you can fit this into your New Orleans trip I would highly recommend it.
This was our first visit to a real working (sugarcane, not cotton) Plantation. We all learned many new & unrealized historical facts.There are many building on the National Historical Register. The Grandkids, 8 years (M) & 11 years (F) never lost interest & actually asked questions.Great Tour Guide, She was very knowledgeable.
In 3 days we visited 6 plantations. This in was the worst one by far. It was not worth the money we paid for the tour! The guide was very knowledgeable and she just did not have her heart into her job. Management either needs to give the guides more training or more money, maybe both. I think they need some incentive to motivate them.