Destrehan Plantation

Destrehan Plantation, established in 1787 by the Destrehan family along the Mississippi River, is considered the oldest documented plantation house in the lower Mississippi Valley. Its history includes the 1811 German Coast Uprising, the largest slave revolt in United States history, whose captured participants were tried on the property. The plantation now runs The Hauntings of Destrehan, an after-dark tour with help from NOLA Ghost Riders that uses dowsing rods and EMF readers. Local news has reported visitors describing a rocking horse that moves on its own and the figure of a boy on a window ledge, and the tour also tells of shadowy figures, footsteps, children's giggling and piano notes. The ghost stories sit alongside the plantation's historical interpretation of the lives of the people enslaved here.