May 16, 2009 Dansk tekst til venstre English text on the right Dagens baghave: Backyard of the Day: Laura Plantation, Vacherie, Saint James Parish, Louisiana Laura Plantation is located at 2247 Highway 18 in Vacherie, Saint James Parish, Louisiana.   Vi satte næsen efter New Orleans i dag, og standsede på vejen i Vacherie for at besøge den gamle sukkerplantage Laura Plantation. Plantagen er grundlagt i 1805, og slægten der ejede den var en gammel fransk creole familie (dvs. af spansk, fransk, afrikansk og/eller indiansk afstamning fra før amerikanerne købte Louisiana i 1803). We headed out for New Orleans today, and stopped on the way in Vacherie to visit the old sugar plantation known as Laura Plantation. The plantation was established in 1805, and the family that owned it was French Creole (meaning of Spanish, French, African, and/or Indian heritage from before the Americans bought Louisiana in 1803).     Magnolieblomst ~ Magnolia flower     Huset er bygget af Guillaume Duparc, plantagens grundlægger, og er bygget på murstensstøtter for at undgå oversvømmelse, når floden går over sine bredder. Fordi huset står mere eller mindre i mosedynd med grundvand bare en meter under jordoverfladen, går støtterne langt ned i jorden, og er pyramideformede, så de danner et solidt grundlag. The house was built by Guillaume Duparc, founder of the plantation, and was built on brick columns in order to avoid being flooded when the river rises. As the house is built more or less on swamp land with ground water just three feet below the surface, the pillars go far into the ground, where they flare out like pyramids, forming a solid foundation.

De gamle sukkerkedler står med blomster ~ The old sugar kettles hold flowers now.     Guillaume Duparc døde i 1808, og efterlod plantagen til sin unge enke, Nanette Prud'Homme Duparc, som drev plantation videre i mange år. Da det blev tid til at lade plantation gå videre til næste generation, valgte Nanette at lade den gå til datteren Elisabeth, fordi det var creole tradition at lade firmaet gå videre til det kvikkeste barn, i stedet for, som englænderne gjorde det, den ældste. Elisabeth accepterede meget modstræbende sin post, og blev resten af sit liv aldrig et rigtigt glad menneske. Hendes barnebarn Laura sagde senere om sin bedstemor, at "hun blev ondere og ondere for hver dag hun blev ældre." Guillaume Duparc died in 1808, and left the plantation to his young widow, Nanette Prud'Homme Duparc, who continued to run the plantation for many years. When it was time to surrender the plantation to the next generation, Nanette chose to hand it over to her daughter Elisabeth, because Creole tradition would be to choose the brightest child rather, as the English would do, the oldest. Elisabeth accepted her assignment very reluctantly, but was never really a happy person after that. Her granddaughter Laura later said about her grandmother that "she got meaner and meaner each day she lived."     Spisestuen ~ The dining room     Elisabeth Duparc Locoul endte med at udpege sit barnebarn Laura Locoul som sin efterfølger, og på den måde endte det med, at Laura Plantation blev drevet af kvinder i 87 år. Laura, som havde set hvor hård en kvinde hendes bedstemor blev, efterhånden som årene gik, og som ikke kunne holde ud, at slaverne blev behandlet så dårligt, var ikke interesseret i at følge i hendes fodspor, og efter ti år solgte hun plantagen i 1891. Familien tilgav hende det, men hvad de aldrig kom over var, at Laura giftede sig med en amerikaner, en protestant oven i købet, ved navn Charles Gore. Laura Locoul Gore døde i 1963 i en alder af 102 år. Elisabeth Duparc Locoul eventually selected her granddaughter Laura Locoul as her successor, and thus the Laura Plantation ended up being run by women for 87 years. Laura, who had seen what a hard-hearted woman her grandmother became as the years went by, and who could not bear how poorly the slaves were being treated, was not interested in following in her footsteps, and after ten years she sold the plantation in 1891. The family forgave her for that, but what they never got over was Laura marrying an American, a Protestant even, by the name of Charles Gore. Laura Locoul Gore died in 1963 at 102 years of age.

Sovekammer ~ Bedroom             Da plantagen blev grundlagt i 1805, var der syv slaver her. Efterhånden som driften blev udvidet, skulle Elisabeth bruge flere, men da mænd var dyre og unge piger billige, købte hun i 1830 tredive unge piger, og lod naturen gå sin gang. Ti år senere havde hun slaver i 65 slavehytter, som den på billedet herover, og da borgerkrigen brød ud, havde hun 186 slaver. Slavehytterne på Laura Plantation blev senere berømte, fordi det blandt andet var her, de afrikanske folke-eventyr om Bror Ræv, Bror Bjørn, og Bror Kanin blev fortalt og genfortalt, og senere skrevet ned og oversat til engelsk. When the plantation was established in 1805, there were seven slaves here. As the plantation grew Elisabeth needed more workers, but since men were expensive and young girls cheap, in 1830 she bought thirty teenage girls and let nature take its course. Ten years later she had slaves to fill 65 slave cabins, and by the time of the Civil War, she had 186 slaves. The slave cabins at the Laura Plantation later gained fame, because it was one of the places where the African folk tales about Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Rabbit were told and retold, and later recorded and translated into English.

Fortsæt turen ~ Continue the trip More Louisiana Travel Information Here YESTERDAY A BIT LATER