What a wonderful tour! Emicka was our driver, and she was outstanding. Funny, smart, and entertaining. She went above and beyond what one would expect from a tour bus driver. She turned what I expected to be a rather long and tedious bus ride into something fun, and informative. Tour bus itself was punctual, safe, and pleasant.
We did the two plantation tour of the Laura and Oak Alley plantations. We were surprised at our reaction to them. They are two very different plantations, and offer two very different tours. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the Laura plantation. Our guide, Pam, was outstanding. Her tour was a performance, and a good one at that. She gave us the complete narrative of life on the Laura plantation for both the owners and the slaves, as well as the behind the scenes drama. No detail was too scandalous to omit, and she provided a authentic and real context to what life was like on this plantation. We left this tour wanting to learn more. Needless to say, we felt so connected to this plantation, that we purchased the book written about it by Laura herself.
On the other hand, we left our tour of the Oak Alley plantation feeling empty. The tour of the house of this plantation provided little, if any, back story to what life was like back then. The main house itself is much more polished and sanitized compared to the Laura main structure. Which is great for pictures of a fantasy life on a plantation, but provided little to no context to what life was really like. For example, the relevant role that enslaved people played was basically skipped over during the tour of the main house, and segregated to a tour you could do on your own (although there was a separate guide available by the slave houses to answer questions, but no formal tour). One left this plantation with little to no knowledge of who developed and built it, and what their lives must have been like.
So if you are interested in learning about what life was really like on a plantation in the 18th & 19th centuries, I strongly suggest you visit the Laura plantation. But if you are just interested in the fantasy life of living on a plantation for your Instagram account, I think you will prefer the Oak Alley plantation. But whichever tour you decide, I suggest you book via Cajun Tours with Emicka!
