Houmas House Plantation and Gardens

At the end of the majestic alley of oaks was the plantation house standing guard over the grounds. Looking down the lush alley we could only imagine how many carriages had traveled to the home. It was not our first visit but each time we are amazed at the grandeur of Houmas House and Gardens. This visit did not disappoint; the grounds a green carpet of lush grass and the sun played on the water in the Fountain Courtyard.

For us today was special; we were meeting our Facebook friends, Sandy and Steve, for lunch at Café Burnside. The cuisine of Chef Jeremy Langlois is unique and true to south Louisiana. Lunch began with Bisque of Curried Pumpkin Crawfish and Corn. Main course was jumbo lump Crab and Mango Cake Salad and Louisiana Seafood Pasta. The crispy crab cake with chipotle Remoulade sauce was set on a bed of greens tossed in a Steen’s cane syrup balsamic vinaigrette. The penne pasta had ample Louisiana crawfish and gulf shrimp tossed with a creole tomato cream sauce. Both entrees had Louisiana flair as well as ingredients with richness and freshness.

Louisiana Seafood Pasta

After excellent food and much conversation we decided to walk the grounds and enjoy the gardens. There is a walkway that rims the property and gives great views of the home. Although the day was warm, the lushness of the grounds and overhanging tree limbs added coolness to our meandering.

John, Sandy, and Steve

Houmas House gets its name from the Houmas Indians who were the original owners of the land. In the mid 1700’s the Houmas sold land to Maurice Conway and Alexander Latil. Latil erected the original house, which today is Latil Landing Restaurant, but has also served as servant quarters. The mansion was begun in 1825 and completed in 1828 and the plantation grew to 300,000 acres. During the antebellum time the mansion was known as “The Sugar Palace”.

Dr. George B. Crozat of New Orleans purchased Houmas House in the 1940s to be a summer home. He renovated the home and property and Houmas House stayed in his family until the late 1990s. The family eventually opened the home to tourists and many movies and TV shows were filmed at Houmas House; the most famous being Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte in 1964 starring Bette Davis.

Houmas House is always an enjoyable stop either for a few hours as we did or for several days. On the grounds there are cottages, restaurants, a gift shop and gardens for visitors to enjoy and dream about by-gone days. As we left Houmas House we once again looked down the alley of oaks and could almost see carriages bringing visitors to the plantation home from a docked riverboat of another era.