whitney plantation

whitney plantation印象

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  Reneep30

  Most River Road plantations are all about the house and grounds. This is not. While you do visit the house, the focus is more on the slaves. Two thirds of the walking tour is spent at the 3 memorials erected listing names and origin of slaves. Most touching is the area dedicated to the children of slaves. There is a wonderful sculpture of a Negro angel holding an infant. This is a newly opened plantation. I hope they develop the grounds now that the memorials are done.

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  238aletas

  My family and I recently toured Whitney Plantation and were very disappointed in the history provided by the tour guide. The intent is to explain slavery but it should not delete the history ofthe Haydel family that ran this plantation. Part of understanding how slavery became such an integrated part of this plantation and many others is to also understand the slave owners. The admission fee was quite high for what seemed to be a work in progress. Very little is learned inthe actual plantation house. Most of the tour is centered on granite walls with names of slaves from Louisiana. The walls repeated the quotes from some of these individuals and after a while you lost interest in reading. If this is a museum, then advertise it as a museum, not as the Whitney plantation.

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  cathpah

  Most of the plantations in the area give a tour that mostly focuses on how nice the "big house" is and all the nice things that were owned. Given a plantation was built on the backs of slaves, it's odd that most other plantations try to sweep that under the rug as much as possible and instead just like to talk about those night white people. As a nice white person, that's great and all, but I'd rather here the *real* story of how plantations worked, and that is exactly how the Whitney Plantation does it. The tour guide was great, very knowledgable and personable, and truly friendly and caring. The different areas of the plantation were well done (the ceramic sculptures of children in the church took my breath away, and that's not a phrase I often use). There were a few typos and duplicate quotes etched into some of the 100s of plaques, but that would be about my only nitpick. They're also doing a lot of work to continue to build and improve the plantation, and they've only been opened since December of 2014, so I'm sure it will only get better.The 1.5-2 hour tour was something like $22 for adults and $17 for students, and it was well worth it.

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  CandaceP338

  The plantation tour industry has failed to recognize that the "romance" of the Old South was on the backs of enslaved people. Most plantations focus on the charming lives of the planters, the "massahs," with no acknowledgement of the terror heaped on generations of those who were enslaved. This "Gone with the Wind" version of slavery has a hold not only on the visitors to plantations along Louisiana's River Road, but on our nation as well. We seem to have a collective amnesia regarding the truth of our national history. I was thrilled to tour the Whitney Plantation and hope it opens eyes and hearts by bringing a different narrative to life. Thank you to everyone involved in this ambitious project to help people understand our collective history and our collective responsibility.

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  dominickm881

  I visited Whitney yesterday to see for myself what is a "newly opened to the public" plantation. I regularly visit plantations on River Road as a yearly pilgrimage of the region and the history so connected to New Orleans.Unlike all other plantations that focus on the house itself, the family, the wealth and privilege, Whitney does something no other plantation tour has done by focusing on slavery. If you're looking for the typical plantation tour where the focus is on the ruling class, this is not the plantation for you.It is however a frank and accurate presentation of the other side of the plantation system and tells the stories of the people caught up in horrors of slavery.Clearly this is a bold commitment to the untold side of history. For those with an open mind it will enlighten and educate. It is a powerful look back and at the same time proof of how far we have come as a society. It is worth seeing, if for no other reason than to bring some balance to history we've all been taught.The entire physical development of the plantation is clearly a work in progress but it is worth seeing at this stage for it has a wonderful main house, a barn, a kitchen, a church, slave quarters and many out buildings that even at this stage compare with other river road plantations.

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  LeslieRMH

  We just visited Whitney Plantation today, just a few days after it opened. The tour was very interesting, and the memorials to thousands of slaves are very moving. The tour was almost 2 hours long, and I would have enjoyed more!

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  rlassally

  The Whitney Plantation is the ONLY plantation museum in Louisiana with a focus on slavery and it is a must see if you have the time to venture an hour or so outside the city. We had the pleasure of touring the museum with the academic director, Dr. Seck and also spending time with the museum's owner, John Cummings III. The "big house" is a stop on the tour, but the slaves who toiled to build it and maintain the 1700 acre plantation (not to mention the hardships they endured) are the truly the focus of everything you will see at this historic site.

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  hanalea

  The Whitney Plantation is a recently restored 1800's plantation that has been painstakingly reimagined as a museum of slavery. It just opened on Dec 7-here are some links to it's story:http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/10475371-123/no-lawyer-transforms-whitney-plantationAnd another story on some controversy:http://thelensnola.org/2014/12/01/slavery-museum-at-upriver-plantation-stirs-controversy-on-both-sides-of-racial-divide/Our experience is that this new Museum of Slavery should not be missed. It is less than an hour drive from New Orleans. Some of the highlights include slave sculptures, a wall of slave names and recollections collected during the 1930's from slaves who were still alive. The plantation house itself is 1700's era creole and has been well restored. Most of the slave buildings have been brought in from elsewhere. Holding a dozen slaves in the iron jail in over 100 degree whether is unimaginable.Although the place is in private hands, there is nothing like this in the US. It is a tragedy we have not been adequately capable of facing up to our history with public funds. I don't recommend the Big River Rd on either side of the Mississippi-it is desolate, pocked by dozens of refineries, and a few remaining acres of sugar cane. Get up and back as quickly as possible, on I-10.

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  feministaj

  My partner and I visited this museum, having almost driven past the exit. Whatever compelled us to get off of the highway was magical... and necessary. The tour was amazing in its honesty and compelling in its recounting of the experiences of enslaved people. The history can't be erased and this is a must-see place for anyone in the New Orleans or Baton Rouge area. It is emotional and soul-stirring.

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  miltonaa

  The guide/ tour director was not very competent, could not answer many questions,However her mission to paint the practice of slavery and all its atrocities, which certainly can not be defended, was very biased. At one point she mentioned the 1811 slave revolt, but did not relay to those on the tour about how these slaves went about hacking to death people they encountered. For the owner of this tourist attraction to hide the facts about the slave revolt, just allows them to do just what they are accusing others of doing. And that is to tell just their version of history. While their certainly were thousands of slaves in the south the south did not have the monopoly on slavery. The emancipation proclamation act as written actually freed all the slaves in Confederate held territories ( the south ) before any slaves were freed in the north. Lastly, when the tour guide in her agenda driven closing remarks, suggested that slavery continued into the 1960's, because her Grand Father share cropped a part of a white man owned property she lost all credibility. The cost of admission was far to great for the ($22.00) product offered.