Fire decimates Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana: What we know so far

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5. Most of the plantation homes remaining are used for this purpose

I toured Nottoway about 20 years ago. They were quite candid about the property's checkered history, including the reason it was still standing when most of the other plantations in the area had been burned by the Union army. The owner was connected and had negotiated separately with the northern army to spare the place. The slave homes were as-is and on the tour. Nobody was living in style in the grandiose mansion, as the whole thing was operated as a museum. Some of it was impressive; Nottoway was the first structure with inside running water in the state, possibly in the whole South. But the human costs were not glossed over, including the massive amount of exacting skilled slave labor which went into its construction. It's a shame that it's gone like this after so many years, because it was an interesting intersection of craftsmanship and horror.