This first written record would lay around for many years until discovered in St. Louis by Joel Shanler Harris who would publish the story after creating the legendary character Uncle Remus, to tell the time old tale of cunning and deceit. We wandered through the old plantation from its stately manor house to the still standing, original slave quarters as our presenter guided us through the history that surrounded the shabby dilapidated buildings scattered about the yard. Now just beginning a twelve year restoration project, Laura Plantation gave us a glimpse of reality rarely available in these grand estates that dot the shores of the Mississippi. We had visited such splendid mansions as Oak Alley and Nottaway, during a previous trip, and while gracious beyond imagination, they could not hide a certain commerciality present in their presentation. Laura Plantation was raw, un-retouched to the point of being unsafe to enter many of the outlying structures. Created in 1804 by a Frenchman, Guillaume DeParc out of a land grant for serving in Washington's Revolutionary Army, it remained a Sugarcane Plantation until sold by his great granddaughter Laura Locoul in 1891. Laura moved to St. Louis where she wrote "Memoirs of Laura", a 150 page history detailing plantation life, family fights and the horrors of slavery. It was discovered along with over 100 photographs taken, up to 1891. The Memoirs were never published and have now been acquired by the Marmillions who are finishing up the last bit of work required to publish her writings.
It is always fascinating to me, going through old mansions that have been able to acquire or maintain memorabilia from the original family, which allows us to revisit some of the unusual customs of the day. In this case as we approached the front of the house; there was the main front door, double doors to the left and double doors to the right, which all opened off the front porch. In the days of the original plantation guests were not taken into the house through the main front door, but either to the left (by the lady of the house) or to the right (by the gentleman). By taking the guests to the left or right the owners took them into their own private bedchamber which showed the guests that they were special or friends. If the guests were only casual visitors then they were taken in through the back door. In those days the Master and the Mistress lived on separate sides of the house with the main parlor between. One of the major things that led to the demise of the large plantation houses were children. When the parents died, the children would live in the house in separate areas. Finally, when one would decide they wanted their own place they simply cut off their section of the house and moved it elsewhere. This happened to the Laura mansion. Originally it was in a U shape until one of the brothers moved his arm of the "U" to another plantation. Our guide Andrea Meek took us outside to where the slave quarters were. She explained that each morning the bell was rung signaling the beginning of the work day. At this time several small slave children who were too small to do any other kind of work, went to the kitchen with buckets. They were given the rations for each slave family for the day. They would get a bucket of lard, butter, and clabber (thickly curdled sour milk) for each of the over 150 slaves that lived on the plantation. After that the slaves went out to their respective jobs. The work areas were partitioned off. The slaves were assigned to a particular section and were not allowed to go to any of the other sections without permission. Laura's mother, Elizabeth, was very strict with the slaves. She ruled the plantation with an iron hand. After she got too old to run the plantation any longer, a small house was built in the back for her to live in.
The tour and the people we met were very thorough. I really got a feeling of what the Laura Plantation must have been like in its hey-day. We had a great time and I would recommend it to anyone going through the area. 

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Good Luck! Have Fun! and Stay Safe!

Laura