Travel Secrets by V

There are many plantations that one can visit while in New Orleans. One of the plantations that I decided to visit was Oak Alley Plantation. The reason why I chose this plantation over others is simply because I have always been a fan of Anne Rice and this is where they filmed some scenes for Interview with the Vampire. As well as Midnight Bayou, Knight Rider, Primary Colors, A Long Hot Summer and more. With a signature alley of oak trees, this plantation is simply picture perfect and doesn’t disappoint.

Complete with a blacksmith shop, Civil War tents, a sugarcane exhibit, the big house, a garden, slavery exhibit and more! One of the most interesting facts here is that a slave created “paper shell” pecans here. And that’s how Oak Alley Plantation became a historic landmark. All because a gardener innovated the grafting of Pecan trees.

The Birth of Centennial Pecans aka:”Paper shell” pecans

A gardener slave named Antoine 38 who lived at Oak alley successfully managed to graft pecan trees at the plantation. The result was a pecan with a shell so soft that it could be cracked with ones hand. After it won the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, it became known as the Centennial variety pecan.  However Antoine’s trees were eventually cleared out for sugar cane production instead. The last centennial variety trees were at the Anita plantation but the 1990 water break washed away all that was left and no tree remains.

Bon Sejour becomes Oak Alley

Originally named “Bon Sejour”, by French Creole Valcour Aime when he purchased the land in 1830.By 1836 he exchanged the land with his brother in law Jacques Telesphore Roman who turned it into a plantation. The mansion was completed in 1839 using Greek revival architecture. Twenty eight columns were installed to correspond with the twenty eight oak trees that form the alley. Eventually it was renamed Oak Alley after the path created by the double oak trees that were planted long before the house was built.

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