The Nottoway mansion, the largest and oldest remaining plantation house in the U.S., burned to the ground, and descendants of slavery are celebrating the fall of this sadistic big house-turned-resort.
The White Castle, Louisiana plantation was built in 1859 by the back-breaking labor of enslaved people. News One reports the romanticized hall of horrors was engulfed in flames starting Thursday, May 15. First responders put out the initial fire, but it reignited elsewhere in the 64-room house.
Even though the property sits near the banks of the Mississippi river, firefighters didn’t have enough water to stop the ravenous flames. By about 10 p.m. the roof collapsed, leaving the 53,000-square-foot building reduced to rubble.
Iberville Parish President Craig Daigle released a statement on Facebook about the local loss of the home, which seems dedicated to tourism more than anything else.
“Nottoway was not only the largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South but also a symbol of both the grandeur and the deep complexities of our region’s past. While its early history is undeniably tied to a time of great injustice, over the last several decades it evolved into a place of reflection, education, and dialogue,” Diagle wrote.
What kind of reflection is happening while promoting the venue for “a murder mystery dinner theater?” Or a “luxurious wedding?” The blood-soaked savagery of chattel slavery is clearly still all fun and games to the current owners of Nottoway despite all that so-called “reflection, education, and dialogue.”
“Since the 1980s, it has welcomed visitors from around the world who came to appreciate its architecture and confront the legacies of its era. It stood as both a cautionary monument and a testament to the importance of preserving history—even the painful parts—so that future generations can learn and grow from it,” he continued.
Mind you, neither Diagle’s statement nor the Nottoway website mentions a single word about the enslaved people who built the property.
Check out more details about Nottoway’s history and the reactions to it going up in smoke after the flip.
