2247 Highway 18
Vacherie, LA 70090
30.008502,-90.725387
As unfortunate as it was, slavery was a regular fixture of everyday life for much of the south during the 1700’s and 1800’s. Without this massive workforce, much of the south would have starved and been homeless. Many, if not all, of the grand plantations of the south were built by the hands of slaves. These same hands would harvest crops from thousands upon thousands of acres of farmland. Fortunately, many now recognize the hard work that these poor souls were forced to put forth, as they played a crucial role in building the south. Yes, slavery was wrong and many were mistreated, but diaries from former slaves have acknowledged that such was not always the case. Not all plantation owners were violent sadists who gained great pleasure in the misuse of their slaves, such as the previously mentioned Madame LaLaurie. In many instances, even once slavery was abolished, some black families actually chose to remain on the plantations that they called home for so many years. Especially in the case of the house maids, who had literally raised many of the plantation owners’ children; they were often considered a part of the family.
For many of these massive plantations, workforces commandeering hundreds of slaves were needed to keep the homes and land operating. To house such large groups, slave quarters were built in numbers that often caused them to become their own small villages of sorts. To the rear of the larger homes, these quarters were placed in rows with a main road down the middle. As with our next location, where slave quarters grew to fifty or sixty, these makeshift communities would have their own cooking areas, farmland, livestock and even commissaries.
