The most important pre-Civil Struggle mansion in the entire American South burned to the bottom as a devastating fireplace ripped by means of the historic picket construction constructed almost 200 years in the past.
Flames broke out at Nottoway Plantation in White Citadel, Louisiana, simply after 2 p.m. Thursday, drawing engines from 10 native fireplace departments who have been helpless to cease the hearth from burning up all 53,000 sq. ft of the enduring constructing.
Officers reported no accidents, although one Louisiana fireplace marshal mentioned it was “the biggest fire” they’d seen of their complete profession, ABC reported.
Native politicians within the Pelican State’s Iberville Parish lamented the unrecoverable lack of what was a beacon of a troublesome chapter of American historical past.
“Nottoway was not only the largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South but also a symbol of both the grandeur and deep complexities of our region’s past,” Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle mentioned in an announcement posted to Fb.
“While its early history is undeniably tied to a time of great injustice, over the last several decades it evolved into a place of reflection, education, and dialogue,” Daigle added.
Nottoway was a sugar plantation operated and constructed by slave labor on behalf of John Hampden Randolph in 1859 for roughly $80,000 — equal to roughly $3 million in 2025.
The house turned a museum within the Eighties opening its grand doorways, 165 rooms and acre-plus of floorspace to guests from world wide to have interaction within the difficult historical past embedded in its floorboards.
“It stood as both a cautionary monument and a testament to the importance of preserving history — even the painful parts — so that future generations can learn and grow from it,” parish president Daigle wrote in his assertion.
The reason for the hearth is at present below investigation, in accordance with Louisiana fireplace officers.
