The layers of my plantation visit:

After visiting a plantation back home over Thanksgiving Break, my pictures relate to a myriad of what we discussed in class. For one, this is a sort of space for play. There is a gift shop, re-enactments of plantation life and the grounds are often rented out for receptions. Perhaps you could look at it as a historical theme park. There aren't any rides, but you can still have fun pretending you are in another time period!

Throughout its two-hundred-year history, the main house served as a single family home AND a multi-unit living building. The French aristocratic families that owned it used the main house as a giant family home with rooms for sleeping, eating and entertaining. After an oil company bought it in the early 1900s, the main house became offices. The company built an oil refinery on the land, thus the main house also housed some of the managers living on site. This is a great example of renovating and reusing a house according to the needs of a certain time.

On top of that, the house was renovated in 1850, replacing the French colonial style with the more popular Greek revival. You can see this in the large, white columns. Those were not a part of the original construction and show that even back then people were influenced by housing "eras." Just as the Victorian made way for the bungalow, the Greek revival replaced the French colonial style as what was trendy in New Orleans at the time.

The plantation grounds are also an example of derelict spaces and reconstruction. It was abandoned for a few decades before a local historical society formed and were deeded the land to rescue and restore. After all the outbuildings were torn down to make room for the refinery, the historical society had other plantations donate buildings to be moved and reconstructed on site. The Mule Barn which houses the receptions held at the plantation was built in 1850, but not where it now stands. Here the plantation uses the built environment of other environments, but adapts it as its own for historical representation.