Early in the Morning

We had an early start, 7 am, for a busy day.  Our first stop was at Houmas Plantation where Judy Davis, our guide, rang the bell used to call the slaves home at the end of the day.  She told us the history of the house in a lovely combination of fact and humor.

The area was home to the Houmas Tribe, claimed by LaSalle for France and then taken by England.  General William S. Hampton purchased the original 1775 brick colonial house.  Sugar cane made Hampton the wealthiest man in America.  His son expanded the home into a Revival Mansion worth $1.6 million.

It was later bought by Irish immigrant John Burnside who turned it into a show house known as The Sugar Palace. The gardens are a thing to behold. 

Burnside left his $5-6 million estate to his friend Miles Byrd who left it to his daughter.

Judy started with an explanation of the faux granite painted exterior that was the style of the day.

The entry hall murals, while not original, depict the plants and animals of the area.  They were painted by Craig Black, the estate gardener.

  
Other paintings in the home include an original Gauguin.

The black boy statue in the entry hall is from a store front in town.  It indicated that the store accepted both white and black customers.

The dining room set belonged to President James K. Polk.

The German Steinway is one of fifteen in the US.  Our docent played and sang Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte for us.

 
The movie was filmed at the estate, and one bedroom, the Betty Davis suite, has paraphernalia from when she stayed there.

These tapestries were made by nuns at the Urseline Convent in New Orleans.

Gutzon Borglum created this sixty-four pound sterling silver sculpture Lincoln in Repose.  It represents the Lincoln family connection to the South.

A display case contains a voodoo mask and a vampire kit.

We walked through the office of Kevin Kelly, current owner of Houmas House.  A rare and real  Tiffany lamp rests upon his desk.  The shade has over 1200 individual pieces of glass. 

 An entrepreneur with many businesses, he has turned the former kitchen into a top rated restaurant and is in the process of opening an inn on the grounds. 

The gardens are lovely.  Many blend ponds, flowers and bits of whimsy. 

These live oaks are 400-600 years old.

We ate lunch at Perique, much less fancy than Commander’s Palace but very good.  The restaurant specializes in donuts which were our dessert.  The owner, Charles Martin, is a professional photographer and talked with us about his craft.  He recently published an award winning photo book on the process from planting seeds to drying leaves of Perique, a tobacco unique to the area.  He commented that donuts were often his entry into places that were difficult to get permission to photograph.

Our last two stops were photo ops.  First was Oak Alley, the most photographed plantation in the South. 

Next was Home Place whose architect was Charles Parquet, a freeman of color.  Built in the 1780s, it is the oldest plantation on the Mississippi.  It is awaiting funding for restoration.