Oak Alley Plantation

There's an area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where many sugar plantation owners got so rich in the nineteenth century they vyed with one another to build the most impressive plantation houses, mostly in the 'Greek Revival' style, with Doric columns extended through two or three storeys, as here at Oak Alley plantation. Very attractive, especially when viewed at the end of a 200-year-old avenue of live oaks, like these.
We wanted to hear about the lives not only of the wealthy owners and their families but also about their enslaved workers, so we chose to go to Laura and Oak Alley plantations, both of which have original slave cabins and are able to give some idea about life for the majority of people, who did all the work, including building these grand houses.