Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

If you’ve ever googled “southern plantation” you’ve probably seen an image of Oak Alley.  It is the quintessential plantation with, as the name implies, a long approach path with 300 year old oaks lining both sides.  It’s all quite majestic!

Here’s the distant view, in which the oaks nearly obliterate the view of the  home.  This would be the view that greeted you if you came to visit by boat in the mid-1800s.

Click on any image for a larger view
Aren’t those oaks magnificent?

Moving closer, you can finally see the house itself.  Like other southern Louisiana homes of the time, it has very tall windows to allow for breezes on hot summer days.  And the wrap-around porches allow the windows to stay open during rain showers.

This is the view looking from the manor’s balcony back toward the Mississippi river.  It’s out of sight, however, just past the grassy levee.

Built in the mid-1800s, Oak Alley is still in very good condition.

On our visit, the dining room was set for about 20 people.

Our guide pointed out that the table and chairs are lower than modern day ones.  This reflects the average heights of the day:  under 5′ for women, and 5’4″ for men.

Dealing with the summer heat was always an issue and this room had a simple but effective tool:  a ceiling fan.

A rope led from the fan across the ceiling and then down to a chair in the corner.  A slave child would have been given the task of pulling on the rope in order to keep the fan moving.  This not only kept the diners cool, but it also kept the flies and other insects from landing.

More photos in the next post.

Ellen Lindner