Roadhouse 4 Us: Oak Alley Plantation in Wallace, LA

Since the plantations were 1.5 hours away from our campground, we needed to squeeze in visiting 2 in one day since they were only 15 minutes away from each other.

The 2nd plantation we visited was

the Oak Alley Plantation.

Ever see the movie 'Interview with a Vampire'?

This is the plantation in that movie.

It's also been used for many other filming opportunities.

Once you see the oak tree covered path that leads up to the Big House, you'll understand why it's so wildly popular.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Yay to Scott still being 5!!

I was happy that there were the slave's

houses were still on display.

Don't know who this man is, but

I thought it was a cool pic.

Slave houses.

I.just.can't.even.

Children's shackles

We learned about yokes in the book,

'Farmer Boy'.

To see one in real life was pretty cool.

Name's of slaves that lived there.

First time my boys learned about Outhouses.

A crib.

Sage walked the long path to get some pictures of it with the Big House in the background while Scott and I waited in line for the tour. He did a good job taking the pics.

This is Jessie.

She was our tour guide for the Big House.

They all dress in period clothing.

Sage made friends with a little boy named Michael.

He hung out with him throughout the tour so you may notice that all the pictures are of Scott. (I have to stay close to Scott :-)

This is a fan above the dining room table.

It was the job of a slave to gently pull the rope to make it swing back and forth to keep the family cool while eating and to keep the flies off the food....BUT

the slave couldn't pull too hard to avoid blowing out the candles that were right underneath the fan.

A bowl of ice sometimes would be placed underneath the fan to help cool off the family even more.

The ice was shipped from Alaska wrapped in hay.

We were told that the average height of a man back then was 5'2 and women were under 5'. The tables, chairs, and door knobs were all lower than what we are used to today.

However, the silverware was huge.

Since the silverware was made from actual silver,

it was a sign of wealth to have big silverware.

They also would have their silverware engraved with their initials on the backside, hence why the silverware was placed upside down to show the initials....another sign of wealth.

Here is a teeny tiny bowl/spoon of sugar or salt.

See the rolling pin on the bed?

It was the job of a slave to roll out the bumps and lumps in the mattresses every day which could take up to 2 hours for each bed.

Once it was rolled out, no one was allowed to sit or lay on the bed until bedtime.

French Creole people were superstitious.

When someone died in the family,

they placed a black veil over the mirrors in the house.

Reason being was because they believed that if the spirit saw their reflection in the mirror, they would be trapped and not be able to 'cross over'. They uncovered the mirrors when they felt like the spirits had finally 'crossed over'.

Also, when someone died in the family, the women had to wear all black for one year. If another person died within that year, she had to start the year all over again.