Driving upriver from New Orleans, Destrehan is the first place where the old Mississippi plantation country comes into view, and it does so in a very ordinary way: between a refinery, a levee and a row of suburban houses. Then you see the long avenue of oaks, the white gallery and the deep roof of Destrehan Plantation, a house begun in the 1780s that is among the oldest surviving plantation homes in the lower Mississippi valley. It has been restored, and visitors can tour the house and its grounds.
The house was built for a planter, but the history around it is larger and harder than the architecture. The plantation grew indigo and later sugar, and it depended entirely on enslaved labour. In January 1811, enslaved people on plantations upriver rose in what is now called the German Coast Uprising, the largest slave revolt in American history, marching toward New Orleans before being put down by militia. The leaders were tried at Destrehan, and a number were executed. The site now presents this history in its tours, and it is worth listening carefully.
The Mississippi is the real organising force here. The river runs high behind the levee, sometimes above the level of the road, and ships glide past above the roofs of the houses, a strange sight. The land is flat, warm and damp, with live oaks draped in Spanish moss, cane fields and the occasional heron on a drainage ditch. The air smells of mud, cut grass and industry. The River Road follows the levee, sometimes beneath it, past plantation houses, small towns and chemical plants, and it feels at once historic and working.
The riding is flat and easy. The road is mostly smooth, with long straight runs, speed limits that vary through the small towns and the odd railroad crossing, and heavy industrial traffic near the plants. In summer the heat and humidity are fierce, and thunderstorms can arrive suddenly, so the cooler months from October to April are better. Watch for loose gravel at the edges, wildlife and slow vehicles.
Fuel, food and everything else are easy in Destrehan and Luling, which together hold more than twenty thousand people. Local cooking is Cajun and Creole, with gumbo, po'boys, boiled crawfish in season and bread pudding, and a cold drink on a shaded porch is welcome.
Give yourself time to walk under the oaks. The shade is real, and so is the history.