The Queen of the South: Belle Grove Plantation

The Mayfair Witches Parlor

The Queen of the South: Belle Grove Plantation

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The "Queen of the South"

Only Moor One Pirogue at a Time at the Newel Post, Please...

...or we will have a TRAFFIC. JAM.

Whaaaaaa...? The above animations are ones I created from historical photos of Belle Grove Plantation with the help of Lunapic. I wanted to show what the now flooded Fontevrault might have looked like as Mary Jane and Mona Mayfair made their way towards it in the night in Taltos...

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A Ghost Along the Mississippi

Belle Grove Plantation mansion in Iberville Parish, Louisiana was built in 1857 for John Andrews, who had come from Virginia, and sold to Henry Ware in 1868, was abandoned by the 1920s, and burned in 1952. By the end of the 1950s, it had been completely demolished.

Belle Grove Plantation

Belle Grove was a sugar plantation in White Castle, Louisiana. Its history of owners seems to be more complex than it appears, and untangling the genealogy of the families who owned and operated this plantation has been interesting as well as filled with "wut?" moments here and there. Well, for me, anyway.

Like anything else about the history of the plantation and the long gone mansion built on it, it's hard to summarize because each time you're sure about something, you learn something is different than it first appeared.

See, I thought credit cards were the real Antichrist, but then I got my first kidney stone and...

Anyway.

Other things are easier to summarize, such as the brief overview I've given of its history. However, there are a lot of details in that history, a history that may or may not include James Gallier, the New Orleans architect whose home played Lestat's New Orleans home in AMC's Interview With the Vampire series.

The Library of Congress link below also mentions James Gallier, born Gallagher (1798-1866). James Gallier was a noted Irish-American architect in New Orleans in the 19th century. He is often credited with having designed Belle Grove, although it would have been more likely that his son, who followed in his footsteps, would have designed Belle Grove.

Many sources credit Henry Howard as the architect of Belle Grove. Although long gone, Belle Grove was and is considered to be the largest plantation mansion ever built in Louisiana, and even the South.

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A Belle Grove Mystery

"Belle Grove" appears to have been a very popular name for antebellum plantations. Like John Hampden Randolph, who named his plantation Nottoway for the name of the county in Virginia his family was from, John Andrews was also from Virginia. And in Virginia were the following plantations: Belle Grove near Middletown, Virginia and Belle Grove Plantation in King George, Virginia.

Suzanne Mayfair

Which brings us to this short article from one of the videos on YouTube about Belle Grove. The Belle Grove plantation this page of the Parlor discusses is the one that was located in White Castle, Louisiana. However, the article states a crevasse opened at a Belle Grove plantation in Kenner, Louisiana.

Google Maps informs the Parlor that Kenner is approximately 65 miles away from White Castle by car (and, no doubt, depending on who's driving). White Castle is in Iberia Parish, whereas Kenner is in Jefferson Parish.

So, considering the fact that there are already three antebellum plantations named "Belle Grove", was/is there yet another plantation of the same name in or around Kenner, Louisiana?

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The Belle Grove Gallery

There are a few excellent videos that also show images of Belle Grove and summaries of its history. I've created a playlist on the Parlor's YouTube channel of the handful I've been able to find.

There are not many photographs of Belle Grove Plantation available today. I have yet to find any photographs of its interior when it was occupied. I've begun to collect good copies of images of Belle Grove, which I've colorized. Four of them begin the gallery of Belle Grove images below. More will be added over time. Here are some images that have survived over time...

Belle Grove ca 1930s

Belle Grove ca 1930s or 40s

I colorized the original black and white images above, as well as the sepia image that the animation at the top is made from. There are more to come, as well as more information that has become available about Belle Grove in recent years.

For now, if you look at the fourth image, you can see two men standing by the house. In this image, you get a much better idea of how truly massive this house was. It isn't hard to see that it isn't described as the largest plantation mansion ever built in Louisiana--or the South--for nothing.

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