Noticed I'd forgotten to get this into my blog...better late than never!
#20 Plantations.
We were deep in plantation land so head to The Whitney Planation--the only one that focuses on the slaves-side of the story. Our guide's ancestors had probably been slaves on this or a close by plantation. She spoke from her heart feeling the strong need to inform people about slavery...since many schools only briefly discuss it. She emphasized how the north as well as the south benefitted from the slave trade...especially after international trade was outlawed & domestic trade gave rise to breeding houses in the north. Biggest was in Richmond. We walked through a memorial where names & stories where etched in stone wall. Stories told & recorded during FDR's Federal Writing Project. You could feel the heart tugs. Stories of working from "can't see em to can't see em." Inhuman torture --similar to what the Jews experienced under Hitler who studied slave punishment--and how the dead were tossed into the swamps. There was also an Angels Garden dedicated to the over 2000 kids who died in this parish. Clay life size statues of these children were placed all over the grounds. A rusted metal jail which sat next to the auction block screamed of the injustice done. As we left the Whitney Plantation, I thought of the opulent Whitney Inn in Detroit where my sisters & I savored elegant desserts. What contrast!! We headed down the road to Oak Valley Plantation--passing lots of worn down house trailers--made me thing that things haven't improved enough for the manual laborers. The Big House was highlight at the Oak Valley Plantation. Certainly the other side of the coin. A 1/4 mile driveway was lined with twenty-eight 300 yr old Virginia Oak trees and blooming azalea bushes surround the twenty-eight pillared mansion. The gigantic dining table was set with fine china and a large decorative hand pulled fan hun from the ceiling ready to stir up a breeze & keep the flies away. Sugar cane made the family rich & still today is the main crop. Shortly after the Civil War--the house was deserted and later cows bedded down inside. About 100 yrs ago, a Texas couple bought it & returned it to it's glorious state then will it to a foundation after their death.
It was a a day of stepping back in history!
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