Oak Alley Plantation Tour from New Orleans

Explore one of the South's most memorable sites - Oak Alley Plantation. Visitors are invited to explore the complex history of its former inhabitants, both the free and enslaved, through interpretive exhibits and play witness to the evolution of this plantation's landscape over time.

Visitors learn about "Life inside the "Big House" on an antebellum plantation for both the planter family and the enslaved. This 1839 Greek Revival mansion was built with success, prestige and power in mind, therefore commanding attention. But there is much more to the story which goes beyond the 'Big House'. Extensive research by the Oak Alley Foundation has revealed the lives and legacies of those who were once enslaved here, shared at the Slavery at Oak Alley exhibit.

Visitor experience to include:

- Sugarcane Theater which shares a film on sugar cane production & displays

- Reconstructed slave cabins and a slavery exhibit with an interpreter

- Guided tour of the "Big House" exhibit

- Exhibit on the subsequent owners following the Civil War

- East and West Gardens - gardens reflective of the 1840s & 1930s

- Blacksmithing exhibit including the plantation's original forge

- The iconic Allee of oaks, created with the use of slave labor sometime in the 1820s-1840s

On your journey to this historic setting, you'll also have the opportunity to enjoy a panoramic view of Lake Pontchartrain as you cross the Bonnet Carre Spillway (the flood outlet of the Mississippi River). Travel past Whitney, Evergreen, Felicity & St. Joseph Plantations, ghosts of the past that front the Mississippi River, where rich crops of sugarcane, cotton, and indigo from these fertile lands once traveled to far ports of trade.

You can purchase a snack, salad or sandwich in the Plantation Café to enjoy at the picnic tables or aboard the coach.