Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation

Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation is located in Thibodaux, Louisiana. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation
Ruined mill at the plantation
Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation is located in Louisiana
Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation
Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation is located in the United States
Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation
LocationAlong Laurel Valley Road, about 2.3 miles (3.7 km) east of Thibodaux
Nearest cityThibodaux, Louisiana
Coordinates29°48′04″N 90°46′45″W
Area1,230 acres (500 ha)
Built1850
Architectural styleAmerican Renaissance, Queen Anne Revival
NRHP reference No.78001426[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 24, 1978

History

The plantation was originally owned by a French Acadian named Etienne Boudreaux. He was one of thousands of petit habitants who made their way to southern Louisiana after being expelled from Nova Scotia. Boudreaux bought a Spanish land grant about two miles south of Thibodaux along Bayou Lafourche in 1785.

Not much is known about the Boudreaux family, but the 1810 census lists 13 people living at the residence, nine males and four females. The Boudreaux family home, built in 1816, is the oldest surviving structure on property.

The property that came to be known as Laurel Valley Plantation was officially sold to Joseph W. Tucker in 1832. Tucker was a Virginian, who bought about 5,000 acres of land along Bayou Lafourche. It was at one time the largest producer of sugar in Lafourche Parish, and a mill was built on the property for this purpose.

As many as 135 slaves lived and worked on the property prior to the Civil War. While the main house built by Tucker was burned by Union soldiers during the Civil War, shotgun houses (built circa 1895) and Creole cabins (built circa 1845) remain on the property. The mill stopped production in 1926, and sustained significant damage during Hurricane Betsy in 1965. In 2021, the plantation extensive sustained damage during Hurricane Ida and lost more than a dozen of the original buildings. However, Laurel Valley was able to reopen again 1 month later and currently offers guided tours of the property.[2]

Laurel Valley today

With about 40 original structures remaining it is the largest surviving 19th- and 20th-century sugar plantation complex left in the United States[3] and is still a working sugarcane farm.[2] The general store on the property is open to the public, displaying tools and farm implements used in the cultivation of sugar cane as well as locally made arts and crafts.[3] The store wasn't originally at the plantation, it had to be moved there. Its proprietor was Leon Z. Boudreaux.

Laurel Valley Plantation was added as a historic district to the National Register of Historic Places on March 24, 1978.[1]

Contributing properties

The historic 1,230 acres (500 ha) district comprises about 80 buildings and structures dating from c.1850 to c.1910:[4][5]

Along LA 308

Main House Complex

Single family Creole houses area

Creole double houses area

Production Complex and Shotgun houses

Several movies have been filmed at Laurel Valley, including Angel Heart, Crazy in Alabama, A Gathering of Old Men, Interview with the Vampire, A Lesson Before Dying, Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White, and Ray.The Depeche Mode Music Video "Freelove" was also filmed on the plantation.[6][7][8][9] [10]

The history of the Laurel Valley Plantation was told in an episode of "Mysteries of the Abandoned" (S06E02).

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "Heart of Louisiana: Laurel Valley Plantation". Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  3. "Laurel Valley Village Plantation: Louisiana Travel". Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  4. "Laurel Valley Plantation" (PDF). State of Louisiana's Division of Historic Preservation. Retrieved July 12, 2018. with four photos and a map
  5. Anne Harmon, Mina McKee, Donald Naquin, Dr. Paul Leslie, Betty Maggio (September 1977). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form: Laurel Valley Plantation". National Park Service. Retrieved July 12, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) With 15 photos from 1977.
  6. "Angel Heart (1987) - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  7. "Crazy in Alabama (1999) - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  8. "Laurel Valley Village Sugar Plantation & Museum". Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  9. Nicholls State University yearbook, La Pirogue, 1989
  10. The Highwaymen https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1860242/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
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