Owner & Guide Discuss The Impact & Change Of French Way Of Life & Society In An Area That Existed Before The USA
Drive an hour outside New Orleans across the Mississippi into St. John’s Parish…and you will find a place trapped in time. The essence of New Orleans Plantation Country is one of old school beauty, history and beyond. Many plantations have a unique story all their own. Laura Plantation in particular through the efforts of owner and historian Norman Marmillion brings the education and stories of an undeniable Creole family detailing the sociological, psychological, familial and physicality personifications that defined this area. On the porches of Laura Plantation, The Buzz sat down with Vermillion as well as exceptional guide and PR guru Joseph Dunn to discuss the scope, intimacy and power of Laura Locoul and the plantation that bears her name.
The Buzz: Joseph…having just completed this in-depth tour filled with a dearth of stories, the psychology of the people who lived on this plantation you described really gives this place a sense of character.
Joseph Dunn: One of the overall things we have to understand is that the people who were living here were living within a cultural and historical context. It is far removed from anything we can imagine [today]. What we try to do here is to leave them within their world and interpret them within the context of their world and bring no judgments about who they are. [We are just telling] the story in a way that the historiography shows us that things actually happened here.
The Buzz: History can keep changing. How do you have to look at the continuing perspective at Laura Plantation?
JD: We’re constantly learning not only about the people who lived here but we also have to look at the fact that within the United States…everything that we learn about the United States…everything we learn about Louisiana…is now interpreted from a white/Anglo-Saxon/Protestant perspective. What we are able to do here since we know so much about these people and we are able to situate them within this very French/Creole context is to interpret Louisiana from a French Louisiana perspective opposed to a white/Anglo Saxon/Protestant perspective. It is the very reason we use specific kinds of words like “American immigrant” and “sale of Louisiana” because, for these people, that was their relationship in terms of what was happening to them within their world.
The Buzz: Norman…the personality of Laura Plantation is visual and aural but also has a story behind it. Can you talk about the experience from Laura’s perspective?
Norman Marmillion: Our whole focus, as far as the experience here, is to let people come in, whether they are from the US or outside, [and to let them] know that there was another world in South Louisiana apart from the white/Anglo Saxon/Protestant world…and it is Creole…the way we were before we were the United States. It is a blending…a non-racial culture. For Americans and others to hear this is quite a surprise. We try to show...[through] the course of the tour, we give 14 stories of one family…a family that was pretty MUCH here from the beginning…and stayed Creole. I’m Creole. My family’s been here for 13 generations. My parents were the first to speak English…so I was in it. But we see it disappearing…and we said “Let’s get people to come to Louisiana!” and understand that we are a world apart. We have always been different from the rest of the United States…and our culture is quickly disappearing. Very few people speak French [here] anymore. They don’t have the same family values that we had. So through the course of the tour, with these 14 stories…each story represents an aspect of my culture which is not the American culture. Whether it is architecture or the roles of women or the relationships between free people and slave people who live in the same family and the same house… that’s what we want to bring you. We want you to leave with the understanding that this is not like the rest of the United States.
The Buzz: How did your association with Laura Plantation come about? Were you a part of the original family?
NM: I am not related to Laura’s family except through distant cousins. We are all related out here. (chuckling) I’m related because my family was in New Orleans before there was New Orleans. I am related to everybody…black…white…Indian…you name it. I came here because I have a degree in history and I wanted to save my culture. When I went to live…I’ve lived with the natives in Central America…and I’ve lived in California…which has no culture. So when I came back, I realized, “Oh my God. We do have something unique here!” So I put it upon myself to tell that story. So for ten years, I was president of the historical society for this whole river region. And, in that period of time, we started to collect information about what life was like here…and how it was different from the rest of the United States. And then, when you read the book we did (“Memories Of The Old Plantation Home”), you’ll see how we found the book Laura wrote…and how we went and found 5000 pages of documents about this family which is pretty much as Creole as you can get. And from that, we interpret…and we bring out the stories.
The Buzz: How did you find all these documents relating to the family?
NM: We [just] found them. We didn’t know they existed but we were looking for a photograph of the front of the house that was old. In the introduction of the book, we talk about how we never stopped looking. Then we found the 5000 pages of documents. We just come back from Paris in April finding 700 more documents and photographs…portraits…paintings…everything (laughing happily) about this family…but the free part of the family and the enslaved part of the family. It was like “Whoa!” So we have so much information. It is a shame you are only here for a short period of time because you only get a glimpse.
The Buzz: Joseph…one thing you talked about that described the situation for many is that, in that time, “integration does not mean equality”. This differentiation in terms of history is very important for people to hear and understand. Can you speak about this…the interaction of white…black…and then Creole?
The Buzz: As we discussed Norman….from your perspective…this part of Louisiana is changing but not changing…just as the United States is always changing but not changing. This plantation, specifically if you look at the old initial plantation maps, was one of the biggest in the area.
NM: A lot of things have changed here over the years. A lot hasn’t. Laura will say, in her book, “The Civil War came…and the Civil War left…and nothing changed at this place.” This is a very isolated area of the state. It is a very undeveloped area so when you talk to people out here who have been here for 10 generations and they grew up in the Creole community…it is still here. You will come to these parts…and live here…and say “It’s the United States.” But, in two or three years…you will say “You know…this is not it. My children are not allowed to marry these people!” (chuckling) “[It’s] because they don’t know you!” (smiling)NM: The way I was able to get this property is that I talked to the owners who were going to tear everything down and plant sugar cane. I had to show them I was related to them…and when I told the man that my family was from the part of France his family was from…then he accepted. He said, “We do not do business with people we do not know”. And so [it continues], although 100 years ago, in the 1920s, the oil and gas industries…and the petrol/chemical industry…came here and took over the old plantations basically. The plantations sort of left and the oil and gas industries came in. They are the big guys now…but it is still the same society. We have all problems we had before…[including] the class society. There is a very class conscious society here. It is still, even though we have made a lot of progress…it is still a racially divided polarized society. So we are able to tell these stories about these relationships…of people…free and slaves…and women…because we think those are the issues we are facing today. So every story you hear on this tour has some relevance to today…not because it happened…but because it is still important for us today.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.
Make Sure To Stay At:
St. James RV Park, only 14 miles away, offers easy access to Hwy. 70 and both sides of the Mississippi River. The area is known for plantations and being part of the petrochemical corridor.
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