Tour Dine or
Stay at Nottoway
Plantation
By Debi Lander
P
lantations were a way of life
in the South before the Civil
War. While tobacco was
profitable and cotton was
king, in Louisiana they grew
sugar. A strip in south Louisiana
along the Mississippi River, from
New Orleans north to Baton Rouge,
had the highest concentration of
millionaires in America. These
owners used the Mississippi River
to export their product abroad.
I recently stopped by Nottoway, one
of the grand old southern estates, a
former sugarcane plantation called
the White Castle. The location later
became known as White Castle,
Louisiana. It’s the largest surviving
antebellum home in the South with
stately live oaks dripping Spanish
moss and boxwood gardens. It
immediately brought the song
“Summertime” to mind. The
destination offers visitors a glance
into the affluent lifestyle during
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