Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, LA
N 30° 00.400 W 090° 46.583
15R E 714475 N 3321606
Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana.
Waymark Code: WMXW1X
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/05/2018
Views: 7
From Wikipedia:
Oak Alley Plantation is a historic plantation located on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in the community of Vacherie, St. James Parish, Louisiana, U.S. Oak Alley is named for its distinguishing visual feature, an alley or canopied path, created by a double row of southern live oak trees about 800 feet long, planted in the early 18th century
Architecture
The design is Greek Revival architecture. The mansion has a square floor plan, organized around a central hall that runs from the front to the rear on both floors. The rooms feature high ceilings and large windows. The exterior features a free-standing colonnade of 28 Doric columns on all four sides that correspond to the 28 oak trees in the alley. Oak trees such as these are a common feature of antebellum mansions of the Mississippi River Valley.
Constructed of bricks made on the site, the 16" walls are finished with stucco on the exterior and painted white to resemble marble, and the interior is plastered. The roof is made of slate and originally had four dormers, one on each side of the hipped roof.
During the restoration in the 1920s, rooms at the first floor rear were partitioned and adapted as a kitchen. Also, the staircase was moved from the southwest corner to the central hall, and the black and white marble floors were replaced with wood floors. Finally, the number of dormers on the roof was increased to three on each side.
Grounds
Garden in the back of the house
The grounds include a formal garden, that was installed by Josephine Stewart, that separate the mansion from the old garage. The old car garage is the temporary site for the sugarcane Theater, where the history of sugarcane cultivation is explained through a video and exhibits. A blacksmith shop and the Stewart graveyard are also on the grounds