The most familiar (and easiest to reach) of Louisiana’s plantation homes, Houmas House (daily; $10; 225/473-7841), stands on the east bank of the Mississippi amid 12 acres of manicured grounds. Another of Louisiana’s grandes dames, Houmas House is a dignified complex of buildings constructed over many generations, mainly between the 1780s and 1840s. The main is composed of white columns and rich red-ochre walls supporting a central belvedere (like a cupola) from which the antebellum owners could survey their domain; today, the endless seas of sugar cane have been replaced by the monstrous sprawl of the neighboring Du Pont plant. Once the seat of a massive, 20,000-acre sugarcane plantation, Houmas House may well look strangely familiar: the stately home was used as the setting for Robert Aldrich’s 1965 gothic Southern horror film, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, and Bruce Dern. B&B rooms, and a restaurant, are also available.
Located at 40136 River Road (Hwy-942) near the hamlet of Darrow, Houmas House is just 4 miles west of the I-10 freeway via Hwy-22 or Hwy-44, and is about a dozen miles north of the “Sunshine Bridge” (Hwy-70) over the Mississippi.
