We headed out for a tour of
the Nottoway Plantation, located in White Castle, LA. We found that name interesting, as the 53,000
square foot home mansion of a home, is white in color, hence White Castle. Construction of Nottoway was completed in 1859
for an estimated $80,000. John Randolph,
(related to Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, William Randolph Hearst) was
the owner of the plantation back in the 1800’s, and he chose to build Nottoway
right along the Mississippi River so shipping of his sugar cane would be readily available. It was very interesting to see the home, which
has a total of 3 floors, six staircases, 3 bathrooms, 64 rooms, and at one time
there was even a 10 pin bowling alley on the first floor. There are 165 doors and 200 windows, most of
which can also double as doors. The
ceilings are 15.5 feet high and the doors were 11 feet high. We had a few favorite rooms, one of which was
a music room full of antique instruments.
Interestingly enough the girls learned music but the boys were not
allowed, back in this era.
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| Dancing in the Ballroom |
Another
favorite room, is the white ballroom, which is completely white with lots of
window doors which open onto a deck.
Truly beautiful! The reason
Nottoway stands today and survived the Civil War was due to the bravery and
tenacity of Mr. Randolph’s wife Emily.
She remained at Nottoway with a few slaves and the children during the
war, while Mr. Randolph, ever the capitalist, took the farm slaves and moved on
to Texas. A union soldier landed a boat
and carrying a white flag, began walking up to the home, as he approached Mrs.
Emily Randolph realized she recognized him!
He had attended university with her son and had been at many of
Nottoway’s gatherings in the past. The
union soldier realized that there were only women and children at the home and
they were no threat. So, he and his team
then camped in front of Nottoway on the Mississippi river and waved all the
remaining union soldiers and their ships past Nottoway. It is believed that this is what saved this
home from destruction during the war. Today, Nottoway is booked for many weddings,
banquets and you can book a stay at this luxurious resort and experience
stepping back in time.
We returned to Baton Rouge and drove down to have a look at the old state capitol building, which looks like a castle and the new state capitol building, which looks like the Empire State building. We were able to ride the elevator to the top of the new state building for free, which gave us a great view of the city. We learned the story of former Senator Huey P. Long, who was assassinated in the new state capitol building. We even saw one of the bullet holes in the wall.
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Fried Green Tomatoes at Nottoway
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| Old State Capitol |
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| New State Capitol |
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| View from the top with the Mississippi in the background |
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| Oak Tree with 130' canopy |
Hi Tammy. Jess M. told me about your site so I've been reading of your travels. I thought I should let you know that I've been reading. : ) I especially enjoyed this post. I've wanted to visit the deep south for like forever. lol I grew up eating fried green tomatoes every summer because we had a plethora of tomatoes and eating the green ones was often our lunch. So I enjoyed seeing the picture of those. I can't imagine how wealthy people built such huge homes like the one you mentioned. it must've been stunning in its heydey right on the banks of the Mississippi. So are you able to understand the southern accents? Anyway, your children are receiving a fantastic education. : ) Thank you for sharing your travels with us.
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