Houmas House: The Sugar Palace

Thursday, 28 March
Aviation arbor Famcamp — NAS JRB New Orleans — Belle Chasse, Louisiana
Temps: Lo 44F / Hi 69F (7C / 21C)

A beautiful day of blue skies and sunshine, and rapidly warming temperatures, saw us heading out of town 72 miles (115 km) to Darrow, Louisiana.  Our destination: Houmas House … aka Burnside Plantation.

Louisiana doesn’t lack for old plantations and elegant mansions, and there are certainly ones that are closer to New Orleans than Houmas House.  So, why choose this one?  It wasn’t because it is described not only as the Sugar Palace, but also as the Crown Jewel of Louisiana’s River Road.  Rather, it was because the volunteer at the visitor center in Jackson Square described it as “touchable.”  Meaning, not only was it not stuffy, but photography was allowed inside the house as well as around the grounds.

After Houmas House was purchased by its current owner, Kevin Kelly,
the mansion was restored to the way it looked in 1840.

The 1½-hour drive to Houmas House was an easy one; mostly on I-10W.  We arrived in time for the 9:30a tour, but seeing that it was filled with school kids, we decided to wait an hour for the next tour.  That worked in our favor, actually.  The short video we watched while we waited for the appointed time gave us valuable insight into the history of the plantation.  (You can watch the same video here … there’s a nice reverse-animation showing how the house changed over the years and through different owners.)

Houmas House framed by the remaining eight live oak trees.  Originally, there were
24 of these majestic trees, but 16 of them were removed to accommodate a levy
that was built along the Mississippi River by the Corps of Engineers.

I’ll summarize the history of the property in bullet format (from info on the website):

• The land was originally owned by the Houmas Indians; they received the land through a grant.
• The Houmas traded the land to Messrs. Conway and Latil in the mid-1700s for $150 worth of goods.
• In 1810, General Wade Hampton, a Revolutionary War hero, bought the plantation and began adding on to the original house.
• In 1825, Hampton’s daughter and son-in-law took over the property; the mansion began to take today’s shape; land holdings were increased to 300,000 acres (1,214 km²).
• In 1857, John Burnside paid $1 million for the property; he increased the sugar production, making Houmas House the largest producer in the country; he saved the mansion from destruction during the Civil War by pretending to be British.
• Under the ownership of Burnside’s successor, the plantation produced 20 million pounds (9 million kg) of sugar.

As befitting the mansions of the period, the main hall is decorated with murals.  One of them features Princess Grace Kelly, the current owner’s dog.  The murals were painted by Craig Black, who has been tending the grounds of Houmas House for 35+ years.

• Houmas House fell into disrepair following the epic flood of the Mississippi River in 1927; the Great Depression followed.
• In 1940, the property was purchased by Dr. Crozat as a summer residence; he “Federalized the mansion’s Greek Revival look; his heirs opened the property to tourists.
• In 1963, the Bette Davis movie Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte was filmed on the property.
• In 2003, Kevin Kelly bought the property and restored the mansion to the way it looked in 1840.

Side view of the mansion with the passageway that separated the original building
(ochre walls) from the mansion; later converted to a carriageway.

Although we did the tour of the house after our self-guided walk of the grounds, I’m going to present the interior photos first.  We joined our group at the west garçonniére — essentially a house on old plantations where teen-aged boys lived separate from the family so that they could do “manly” things.

One of the two garçonniéres on the grounds is visible behind the hedge of greenery.

Our guide, Sara, was dressed in period attire and welcomed us warmly.  With a great sense of humor, she made the tour fun as well as informative.  In outlining the rules for the mansion tour, she explained that Mr. Kelly, the current owner, lives in the house.  She emphasized that we were not tourists, but guests in his home, and that we were welcome to touch and feel anything that caught our eye, and even sit on the furniture if we wished to do so.  And on that note, she opened the door, ushered us into the main hall, and started taking us around.

Fine Dining indeed!

Ladies’ Parlor
When none of the “guests” admitted to playing the piano, Sara took to the keys herself.

Gentlemen’s Smoking Room
Note the faux-finish painted moldings designed to add to the “masculine” feel
of the room; only by permission could a woman enter this room.

Odd to see a statuette featuring President Lincoln in a room of a southern plantation.
It’s not original to Houmas House.  The current owner purchased it for mere pennies
(so to speak).  He was attracted to the fine details of what he thought was a pewter
statue.  As it Turns out, it is the only surviving one of five sculpted by Gutzon Borglum,
the artist who carved Mount Rushmore.  Not only that, it is 65 pounds (30 kg) of pure silver.

At one time, this spiral staircase, which goes up to the second and third floors,
was free-standing, with banisters on both sides.

The rear hall, which started out as a rectangle, was made into an oval
by shortening the original room and adding curved walls at either end.

This room, at the top of the spiral staircase, is where Bette Davis stayed
while filming Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte at Houmas House.
The table between the chairs converts to a chair and desk.

View of the grounds and the surviving live oak trees from the second floor porch.

Two of the four bedrooms on the second floor.

the highchair in front of the bed on the left was easily converted into a stroller.

The bed on the right is what is known as a “rolling pin bed.”  Back in the day, mattresses were filled with Spanish moss.  After a couple of sleeps, these mattresses would become lumpy, so they
would take the rolling pin from the headboard and smooth out the moss every few days.

The master’s bedroom … literally.  The current owner’s bedroom is part of the tour!
Sara demonstrates how the steps up to the bed hid the chamber pot in days of yore.

Unusual for its time, the kitchen is attached to the mansion instead of being a separate building.

The kitchen was the last stop on the tour.  By this time, our tummies were reminding us that it was almost noon.  Mui had planned that we would have lunch at Café Burnside.  A few steps took us to the casual eatery, which is located on the grounds of Houmas House.  Three thumbs up for the food; the setting could use a little work … something more in step with the ambiance of the property perhaps.

Clockwise from top left:

Catfish Wade Hampton — blackened fillet of catfish atop Louisiana purple and
tasso rice pilaf, smothered in crawfish étoufée

Louisiana Seafood Pasta — crawfish and gulf shrimp sautéed and served with penne pasta
tossed in Creole tomato cream sauce

Lump Crab and Mango Cake Salad — crispy sautéed, with chipotle remoulade sauce;
served with a bed of organic greens tossed in Steen’s cane syrup balsamic vinegar

Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis

We wrapped up our visit with another stroll through the grounds, enjoying the fountains, the colorful flowers, the birds flitting about and chirping in the trees, the parrot mimicking sounds, and the statues and quirky art placed all around the gardens.

If you can see the rainbow in the fountain, maybe you can find the pot of gold at its end.

Two to Travel provide perspective for the size of this 600 year old live oak.

A variety of orchids add color to the gardens.

Visit the Secret Garden to see the quirky art hidden in nooks and crannies.

Our first glimpse of the grounds of Houmas House is also our last glimpse before we leave.

We left Houmas House very pleased with our visit.  It was most definitely worth the $20 pp admission and the three-hour roundtrip drive.  We could have visited a grander mansion perhaps, but the “touchability” factor made this tour a winner for us.

P.S.  For all you dog lovers out there …

The Royal Wedding of Princess Grace Kelly and King Sam!

I borrowed this photo from the Houmas House website; click here to see more pictures of the “royal wedding.”