St. Joseph Plantation

The basics

Constructed in 1830 with the use of slave labor, St. Joseph Plantation was—and remains—part of the long legacy of the American sugar industry, a profitable and potent fuel for the global slave trade. Spanning 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares), the plantation was one of many located in the environs of New Orleans, and it was host to dozens of enslaved people who lived in abject conditions. Visitors can learn more about this grim history when visiting the plantation home (which hosts exhibits of farming equipment and historic artifacts like tokens used to pay sharecroppers), as well as the barebones structures where enslaved people lived, a blacksmith’s studio, and other locations scattered across the property.

St. Joseph Plantation can be visited on a range of history-themed plantation tours that depart from New Orleans. It’s also possible to organize an independent visit. Its sister plantation, Felicity, can be visited on request.

Things to know before you go

• Children, students, and seniors receive discounted entry, while kids aged 6 and under can visit for free. Tickets for the grounds only are also offered.
• The plantation has recently served as a filming location for works like Twelve Years a Slave, which expose the brutal history of slavery in the South.
• Owing to its historic architecture, only some of St. Joseph Plantation is accessible to wheelchair users and those with limited mobility.

How to get there

St. Joseph Plantation is located at 3535 Highway 18 in Vacherie, Louisiana, some 53 miles (85 kilometers) west of New Orleans. If driving, the trip takes roughly 1 hour via I-10 W and LA-3127 N; parking is offered on site. There are limited public transportation options available, though guided tours make visiting easier.

When to get there

St. Joseph Plantation is open daily, and guided tours are offered roughly hourly from morning until mid-afternoon. Tickets can be pre-booked by phone or purchased on site. Throughout October and November, the plantation also organizes mourning tours, which explore the ways that deaths were mourned in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Museum of Slavery

Gain insight into what life was like for the enslaved people who spent their days working in the fields and homes of plantation owners at the nearby Whitney Plantation’s Museum of Slavery. Through first-person narratives, the museum aims to present a true picture of the often terrible conditions in which the enslaved people lived and the many hardships they had to endure.