American Queen New Orleans - February 2017 - Oak Alley Plantation

The trip agenda has allowed us to take a break in the middle of the afternoon.  We do enjoy this quiet time.  Once again we are sitting in our cabin watching the shore pass by.  It is raining.  We have been so fortunate with the rain.  Today's schedule included visiting Oak Alley Plantation.  It was a great morning.  Sunshine and clouds were intermittent.  No rain until after one when the boat once again headed down the Mighty Mississippi.  Yesterday I mentioned that a private balcony might have been nice.  Certainly not on this trip.  We would have still been sitting inside our cabin looking at a closed windowless door.

We started our day by eating breakfast in the J.M. White Dining Room.  A wonderful buffet breakfast or one could order off of the menu.  Much, much better than the complimentary breakfast we had yesterday at the Hilton Riverside Hotel.

One can only see a small portion of this dining room.

After eating, we disembarked and walked over to the Oak Alley Plantation.  We had a wonderful tour guide.  Before the Civil War, there were a large number plantations.  Today there are only 19.  One of the reasons is that the French Creole owners signed a letter supporting the Union.  They did this to save their plantations.  Of course, they lost them anyway as they were unable to pay their debts. After all, they no longer had cheap labor after the war.  The Union used this planation as one of their headquarters from early in the Civil War until its completion.

Our tour guide in the parlor.

In the main dining room.  The interesting piece is the one hanging from the ceiling.  It is a shoefly fan which was operated by one of slave children.  It keeps the insects away.

Multi-purpose room.  It used for guests, any one that may be sick, and as a funeral parlor.

The children's bedroom.  Take note of the netting that can be draped over the bed while a child is sleeping.

The master bedroom.  When a visitor came to stay, they were welcomed with a sliced pineapple.  When the hostess was ready for them to leave, she would give them a whole pineapple to eat on their way home.

This house has 16-inch brick walls both inside and outside. The bricks were made by slaves.  A small section of the wall with the plaster removed is shown in this photo.  It took more than a million bricks to build this house.  The slaves also provided the labor for building. The house was completed in two years or so.

A replica of the slave quarters.  Each building had two rooms.  Each room housed 2 to 5 house slaves but could house up to 10 field slaves.  Rooms were the same size regardless of who lived there.

View from the balcony towards the river.  If you look closely, you might be able to see the American Queen.

Moored at Oak Alley Plantation.

Our room is above the Q.  The blinds are open.

When the boat embarks a calliope organ concert is provided by a staff member.

An upclose view of the organ pipes.

Here you can see the steam coming from the pipes.  Don't get the steam confused with the clouds.

This evening we ate our evening meal in the J.M. White Dining Room.  It was a 5-course meal and took 2 hours to complete.  We shared our table with two other couples.  It was a pleasant evening although I think we are probably more the Front Porch Cafe type of people.  We'll probably eat there again tomorrow evening.  I do prefer the J.M. White Dining Room for breakfast and lunch.