Nottoway Plantation in Louisianna was a 2-night stay on my family’s way to New Orleans, LA.  It was actually added on to my plan just over a week before we left for our vacation.  We live in northwest Oklahoma and my original plan was to drive to Dallas and stay with family for a night or two, then head to New Orleans, but our family was out of town that weekend.  So, after doing some research on plantations near New Orleans I thought it would be a great idea to stay at a plantation and go down the river road and visit some of the other plantations that are set up along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

We left our house at 5:00 am because the drive is estimated to be over 13 hours.  My husband drove us straight there, only stopping for bathroom breaks, food, and gas.  We made it to Nottoway plantation at 7:00 pm and checked into our cottage.  Nottoway Plantation is the oldest antebellum mansion in Louisiana.  It’s a stunning mansion with beautiful grounds and lots of amenities if you’re staying the night.

Where We Stayed

There are several options when booking a room at Nottoway Plantation.  You can book a historic room, cottage, the carriage house, or a suite. Sometimes they have deals on Groupon, so don’t forget to check there also.  I booked directly from their site. I would have loved to stay in the plantation, but they were full up by the time I booked. Our cottage was beautiful with 2 queen beds and a spacious bathroom.  There were two rocking chairs on the covered front porch with a ceiling fan.    In the end, the cottage was probably the best choice for my family.

10 Pleasant Ways to Enjoy Nottoway Plantation and Area

1. Sitting on the covered porch in the rocking chairs.  The rocking chairs were an excellent touch, and my daughters and I loved relaxing in the comfortable rockers and enjoying the peaceful scenery.

Where and What We Ate

2. We ate dinner our first night at the Plantation Restaurant.  It was pricey, but we were tired, hungry, and no desire to go back out and find something to eat. We made reservations at 8:00, then decided to explore the plantation.

Everything on the menu sounded excellent!  It was really hard to choose.  My youngest ordered fried crawfish and french fries from the kids’ menu, I ordered Shrimp & Crab Tagliatelle Pasta, my husband ordered Prime Rib, and my oldest ordered Seared Salmon Salad. Our servers were great and our food came to our table promptly.  We all enjoyed our meals!  Not an unhappy person at our table, and we all left with very full bellies.

3. We also ate at Le Cafe on Day 2.  All of us had the jambalaya with cornbread.  It was so delicious with just the right amount of spice.  They serve a few other things, have drinks, and snacks.  It’s perfect for a quick snack or meal during the day.

What We Did

4. We explored the plantation grounds.  The plantation grounds were spacious with lots of massive Oak trees, beautiful flower gardens, a pond with a bridge, a vegetable garden, a mini hedge maze and more. We had fun exploring and taking photos.  My oldest and I walked around the grounds and took some photos after dark.  The front of the mansion was stunning with the columns and dual sweeping staircases. On day three my entire family walked around the grounds one more time, just letting it all sink in.

5. We took a tour of the plantation.  On day two my daughters and I took a tour of the plantation.  Our guide was dressed in period clothing and grew up in the area. We learned about the family who built the plantation.  Our guide told us about the construction of the plantation, how the wife saved the plantation during the Civil War, the losses the family experienced, slavery, and a lot more.  My favorite room was probably the white ballroom.  It was interesting to learn how they kept the plantation cool in the summers, and warm in the winters.  I highly reccomend taking the tour and learning more about the plantation and life in the early days of the plantation.

6. We visited other plantations.  I imagined rows of plantations along the Mississippi River, but that is not the case.  I know that originally there were a lot more plantations along the river, but many have been destroyed either by the civil war, fires, or neglect, among other things.  My youngest daughter struggled to make it through the tour of Nottoway Plantation, so my main goal when visiting the plantations was to get photos of them.  I was hoping to get away with one more tour of Oak Alley Plantation.

If you plan to visit the plantations on the river road, plan ahead.  You will need a lot of time, probably at least two days, to see all the plantations.  You will need even more time to take tours of all of the plantations.  I would advise choosing your favorites.  If you have children, they may be able to handle one or two tours before they are restless and ready to do something fun (for them).

• Houmas House Plantation was our first stop. As we soon learned when we visited this plantation, most plantations were surrounded by a fence, and you have to pay to enter.  This is not true with Nottoway Plantation.  You are free to walk around and take photos of the grounds and the mansion but pay for the guided tour.  Instead of doing the plantation tour, we opted to do the self-guided garden tour.  Houmas House is a Greek Revival Mansion and the grounds and gardens represent it well. You will not regret visiting the gardens at Houmas House Plantation, they are breath taking to say the least.

  

  

  

  

• St Joseph Plantation was our next stop.  I wanted to stop at Oak Alley Plantation, but my husband’s back was hurting and he was not ready to do a tour, so we passed it and went on to the next plantation, St. Joseph.  This plantation was open and not surrounded by a fence.  They offered tours, but the girls and I just walked around and took photos.  We went into the gift shop and talked to the two ladies running the place.  No one else was there, so we visited with them for a while.  I explained that my youngest would not handle another tour, they understood.  We talked about visiting New Orleans and they told us a few things that would be fun to visit with a 5-year-old.  They were so nice and helpful and I was very grateful for the excellent information they provided.
• Whitney Plantation.  We stopped at Whitney and visited their gift shop also, buying drinks and snacks.  They only sold tickets for the tour, so you could not walk the grounds without a ticket for the tour.  I do know that this tour offers more information on slavery in the South than other tours and there was a small museum in the gift shop you could view for free. The entire place was surrounded by a fence, so we could not even see the plantation.
• Evergreen Plantation.  We stopped and went into the gift shop at this plantation, but like Whitney, you had to pay for the tour to get in.  Luckily we were able to stop on the side of the highway and I jumped out and took a photo through the fence.
• Oak Alley Plantation was our last stop on the way back to Nottoway.  Here’s where time catches up with you.  Most plantations close at 5:00 pm or earlier.  This was the case with Oak Alley, there was not enough time for us to do the tour and view the grounds. So, we did not do the tour.  I did have my husband stop on the highway so I could get a photo of the Oaks.  I was a little bit upset about missing the tour for this plantation, but maybe we can come back someday and hit everything we missed.
• San Francisco Plantation.  We actually stopped by this plantation on day 3, before we headed to New Orleans.  We were able to get a few photos, without paying for a tour. This is a stunning plantation!  You don’t want to miss a photo op of this mansion.  As we left the grounds we noticed a sign to stop by the gift shop to pay the entry fee.  Oops, we missed that, but I did not feel too bad because we were there maybe 5 minutes and took just a few photos.

8. We swam in the pool and relaxed in the hot tub.  My youngest daughter’s favorite part was the pool. After visiting the plantations, we went to the pool to relax and cool off.  I was really surprised when we got in the water and it was warm, not hot, but warmer than I’m used to when I get in a pool in Oklahoma in the Summer.  My daughter made a little friend and had a lot of fun. I visited with a nice couple who were at the plantation for a weekend getaway and only lived 30 minutes away.  She also recommended some things to do in New Orleans with kids.  We came back out later in the evening, after eating dinner, with her daddy and got in the hot tub and pool.  It was a nice relaxing time.

9. We walked to the Mississippi River.  Just across the road from the plantation lies the Mississippi River.  When we came around to the front of the plantation we saw a huge riverboat docked.  We walked up to the top of the levy for a better view.  I was in awe of this huge cruise ship on the river.  It never really occurred to me that you could take a cruise on the river like this.  We talked to a lady who worked for the cruise ship and was directing people to the plantation tour.  She was really friendly and told us the ship was headed to New Orleans and came from Iowa.

10. We went on a swamp tour.  The swamp tour was about an hour drive from Nottoway Plantation.  We actually did the tour on our way to New Orleans, but you could easily do it if you were not heading into New Orleans.  I booked our tour, Cajun Pride Swamp Tours, ahead of time through Groupon.  If you’ve never used Groupon before, you really need to check it out, especially for vacations.  You can also read my post that explains several ways you can use Groupon to save money when you travel.  You may even be able to book your hotel, or even Nottoway Plantation through Groupon.

Our gator tour was a lot of fun, even though it rained through most of the tour.  It was so nice to have that cool down. The staff and our guide were very friendly and I would highly recommend booking a tour with them.   The girls loved watching the gators eat marshmallows that our tour guide threw out often.  We also came across a bunch of raccoons who also loved the marshmallows.  My youngest was a little nervous about holding a gator, but she was willing to do it sitting in her sister’s lap.

Conclusion

I want to conclude by saying we had such a fabulous 2 days in this rural part of Louisiana and I am so glad that we decided to make this stop before we headed on into New Orleans. Have you visited Louisiana and any of their beautiful plantations?  Tell me about your visit in the comments below.

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