
Outside New Orleans is a unique historical experience, the Whitney Plantation. Imagine a plantation exhibit that focuses on the lives of the enslaved people who produced the crops, instead of focusing on the white plantation owners. It is emotionally challenging to confront the realities of slavery and its continuing impact on American culture. The Whitney Plantation is a don’t miss excursion if you are visiting New Orleans, Louisiana.

New Orleans Plantation from a Slave’s View
Rural plantations that produced sugar cane and other crops were the economic engines of New Orleans until the Civil War. One plantation that has opened its doors to visitors, the Whitney Plantation, is unique. The exhibit focuses on the lives, backgrounds, and working conditions of the enslaved people, not on the owners.
Guided tour of New Orleans Plantation
The Whitney Plantation can only be experienced on a guided, 90-minute walking tour of the memorials, slave cabins, slave jail, church, big house, and grounds. Wear comfortable shoes. Our tour guide was Ali, a Louisiana native whose deep knowledge and lively storytelling helped bring the place to life. Given the emotionally difficult history of slavery, Ali’s sense of humor was welcome.
Statues of Enslaved Children
The spiritually challenging tour of the Whitney Plantation begins with a short video. We learned that the many statues of children on the Plantation represent people who were born into slavery and interviewed in the 1930’s by the Works Project Administration. Those published interviews are first-person narratives of life under slavery. They were children at the end of the Civil War, so their images on the Plantation are statues of children. To symbolize the hopelessness of enslaved children, the statues have hollows where eyes should be. The statues are chilling.

New Orleans Memorials to Enslaved People
Plantations near New Orleans are built on swampy land along the Mississippi River. Enslaved people on the Whitney Plantation built the levees and buildings, cleared the fields, raised the sugar crop, boiled sugar cane in giant cauldrons to manufacture granulated sugar, and endured disease and natural enemies, like mosquitoes and reptiles. Enslaved people on the Whitney Plantation had a lifespan of about 10 years after beginning work.
To help appreciate enslaved people as individuals, the Whitney Plantation issues each visitor a lanyard with the name of a freed slave, an image of the statue representing that person, and an excerpt from an interview.
On my lanyard, Henrietta Butler remembered her childhood in slavery: “My damn ol’ missus was mean as hell; I know ever’ night I had to wash dat ol’ woman’s foots an’ rub dem ‘fo I could ever go home to bed…They made my Ma have babies all de time. She was sellin’ the boys and keepin’ the gals.”

The Whitney Plantation has carefully researched Catholic Church records and legal documents to identify the names and origins of enslaved people who worked on the Plantation. A memorial wall lists their names and sometimes where they were from, including individual African countries or American colonies. I was most moved by the granite inscriptions that included the words of freed slaves.
Cabins of the Enslaved People
The walking tour includes the wooden cabins enslaved people lived in, usually 8-10 people in each small cabin. These are real cabins, although some were moved from a different Louisiana plantation. Beyond the sugar cane fields are swamps. Enslaved people who escaped and lived in the swamps were called maroons. The tour included descriptions of physical punishments for the “crime” of escaping, which might be hard for younger kids to hear.
Our tour guide Ali told us his least favorite part of the walking tour was the slave jail, a freestanding metal room used at slave markets to hold enslaved people before an auction. The slave jail would not have been not on the Plantation grounds, located instead at a slave market, perhaps in New Orleans. (This metal jail was made in my home state of Pennsylvania.) I cannot imagine how hot it must have been inside a metal room exposed to the Louisiana sun.

Practical Tips for the Whitney Plantation
Stop in the visitor’s center before the tour for images and text about the history of slavery to put the plantation visit into context. I was surprised to learn about the roles of African leaders, the Catholic Church, and other institutions in creating American slavery.
The bookstore is excellent. It includes books collecting the Works Project Administration interviews with people who survived slavery, as well as a history of the Whitney Plantation itself.
Be sure to book the tour at least a day in advance. The Whitney Plantation is about 45 minutes outside New Orleans. No taxis or Uber return from there to New Orleans.
We did not have a car in New Orleans, so we booked a ride with Legendary Tours (504-471-1499). Legendary Tours picked us up at our New Orleans hotel, drove us to and from the Whitney Plantation in a clean air-conditioned van, and added a stop for photos at the beautiful nearby Evergreen Plantation. The friendly driver also threw in restaurant tips – a gracious extra that captures the wonderful New Orleans concept of “lagniappe.”
A visit to the Whitney Plantation outside New Orleans is a fascinating, must-see experience. It requires confronting the worst period of American history. Yet the visit was both heartbreaking and uplifting, perhaps because the Whitney is careful with facts, careful to acknowledge widespread complicity in creating slavery, and careful not to demonize.
Have you visited a plantation near New Orleans or elsewhere? Tell us about it in the comments.

Ginger Bressler says
My husband and I just toured this plantation 2 days ago. This was the most interesting and informative tour I have ever been on. Ali, our tour guide was quite the history buff, and, was very learned about the history of slavery. The whole experience really awakened our sense to the plight of the enslaved. I do intend to go back and tour it again. Everyone should see this.
Ginger Bressler says
Fascinating!
I’ve been to New Orleans, but, had no idea that this place existed. Thank you so much, Sarah, for posting this very informative article. I’ll be sure to pass it on.
Kim Orlando says
So much more to learn- well said Sarah! I have not been to NOLA and know I have to go. Soon. Thank you!
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
I hope many people will visit this brilliant museum. It grapples with the horrors of this history, using first person memories from survivors of slavery (their words engraved in stone), and teaching facts that were new to me, such as that the kidnapping in Africa often targeted skilled farmers who could be enslaved to produce crops, like indigo or rice, in Louisiana and South Carolina. Fascinating history, I hope you get to go.
And New Orleans! That’s a great city. Check other posts here for things to do, places to eat in New Orleans.
Elaine J masters says
My few days in New Orleans were packed and I never made it out to the old plantations. Heard about this and it’s achingly beautiful. So important that those horrible times are marked for posterity in such an artistic and vivid way.
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
I agree, this is difficult history to confront, but truth is the first step toward reconciliation, and reckoning with our shared American past.
Alice Teacake says
I would 100% go here. I believe in educating myself whilst travelling to really understand more about the history and culture I am in. This place is a welcome alternative from the usual and I appreciate you sharing it with us! Tough…but necessary to go and see.
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
I agree – difficult. emotionally challenging, but important to better understand the most hideous part of US history. I’m now reading the book written about the founding of the museum. Thanks for commenting.
Megan Jerrard says
What a confronting experience – but I believe these kind of museums, or plantation in this case, are necessary and essential for preserving our history, even the worst parts. Because if we forget, we’re all too likely to repeat history. I would like to think we’ve progressed as a society to think this kind of mentality wouldn’t be repeated, but it’s these preserved experiences which keep us humble and remind us of the importance of equality for all.
Thank s for the tip on booking in advance, I wouldn’t have guessed that Ubers and taxi’s don’t go back!
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
Yes, I agree with you that preserving the worst parts of our history, and honestly confronting the horrors, are a way to avoid repeating history. This plantation museum is in the spirit of the South African Truth and Reconciliation approach to confronting the horrors of apartheid.
Hannah @GettingStamped says
We are hoping to get back to the USA on a road trip soon. Will def have to add the New Orleans plantations on our route.
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
This planation museum, the Whitney, is unlike other plantations. It focuses on the view of the enslaved people, not the view of the slave owners. It reminded me of the Apartheid Museum in South Africa and its approach to confronting the horrors of apartheid.
ROSHNI RAY says
A very interesting read about the lives of enslaved people in a plantation 🙂
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
It is a fascinating place. Amazing history, and from a completely different perspective. I’m reading the book about the making of the museum now – also fascinating.
Meg says
I recently visited the Museum of Rural Life in Baton Rouge . It was time very well spent, but I wish I had known about the Whitney Plantstion. Thanks for writing about it.
Sarah Ricks, Philadelphia SheBuysTravel says
It’s a new museum, only a few years old. I’d return in a heartbeat. So much more to learn.