General Sherman is playing the long game

[Scooter]

Largest antebellum mansion in the south — built in 1859 with 165 rooms — burns to the ground

The largest pre-Civil War mansion in all of the American South burned to the ground as a devastating fire ripped through the historic wooden structure built nearly 200 years ago.

Flames broke out at Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana, just after 2 p.m. Thursday, drawing engines from 10 local fire departments who were helpless to stop the fire from burning up all 53,000 square feet of the iconic building.

Officials reported no injuries, though one Louisiana fire marshal said it was “the biggest fire” they’d seen in their entire career, ABC reported.

Local politicians in the Pelican State’s Iberville Parish lamented the unrecoverable loss of what was a beacon of a difficult chapter of American history.
“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 said in a statement posted to Facebook.

“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 — equivalent to roughly $3 million in 2025.

The home became a museum in the 1980s opening its grand doors, 165 rooms and acre-plus of floorspace to visitors from around the world to engage in the challenging history 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 statement.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, according to Louisiana fire officials.

They hosted those fucking plantation weddings that clueless white debutantes throw to show how brain dead they are. For that reason also it deserved to be burned to ash and the ground seeded with salt.

[Scooter]

[Bicycle Bill]

They hosted those fucking plantation weddings that clueless white debutantes throw to show how brain dead they are. For that reason also it deserved to be burned to ash and the ground seeded with salt.

If I'm reading you right, because of its history the building was 'evil' and deserved to be destroyed?   Should the sins of the father be visited upon their children, even unto the third and fourth generations?   I think not.

So some bridezilla wants to have a fancy-schmancy wedding and dress up like Scarlett O'Hara?   Big fuggin' deal!   It's just make-believe —– a fantasy for the moment.    What's the difference between something like that and dressing up like Star Wars or Harry Potter characters for a themed wedding, or wearing the traditional white wedding gown and veil (which let's face it, has come to symbolize purity, chastity, demureness, and, yes, even virginity) regardless of the fact that the bride-to-be may have been plowed more frequently than the back forty)?   Not a damned thing, when push comes right down to shove — except to some self-righteous individuals who have decided that their viewpoint should be the only acceptable viewpoint... like a certain orange-skinned demagogue and his lackeys, minions, and followers.

-"BB"-

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm sorry when a historical building is lost, whether it's a mansion or a slave cabin. They are facts of past life and present teaching opportunities. But I'm not "offended" - WTF does that mean, "offended"? Was it arson?

Speaking of arse-ons, burning a book on black history would only deplete my personal library but if Qasim Rashad's cell phone melts overnight that might be amusing though not compensatory.

[Scooter]

So some bridezilla wants to have a fancy-schmancy wedding and dress up like Scarlett O'Hara?

What could possibly be wrong with literally* dancing over the graves of the slaves who were worked to death to keep that plantation running? Do they also provide a staff of Black people to play house n-gg-rs who prepare and serve everyone their food?

Why not hold a wedding at Auschwitz, where the guests are waited on by emaciated Jews with shaved heads wearing prison rags?




*I abhor the misuse of this word to give emphasis to that which is metaphorical, rather than literal. But in this case, it literally is literal.

[MajGenl.Meade]

wow! Talk about projection. Un Canadien errant

[Big RR]

Many historic venues have a checkered past and often host events to support maintenance of the building. I agree with MEade that keeping these histic sites is important and, like it or not, they have to support themselves.

FWIW, I recall Colonial Williamsburg offering some of their venues for weddings and other celebrations as well, and given the time they were built, I have no doubt the venues (at least the original ones) were built using slave labor as well. Hell, so was the White House. And Monticello. And many other historic buildings, but I wouldn't cheer their burning either.

[Scooter]

Some places do it right.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Good for them. Self-righteously priggish statement but I'd like to visit there. Margaretta and I took in the McLeod Plantation down by Charleston SC late last year. Also no weddings hurrah! (since 2019). But I wouldn't be gloating and warming my metaphorical hands if it did have weddings and burned down

"Due to the nature of the site and logistical issues, we do not offer rentals for weddings or events associated with weddings such as rehearsal dinners at McLeod Plantation Historic Site or the McLeod Pavilion. Charleston County Parks does offer a number of other facilities that are ideal wedding venues"

'Logistical issues' - the entire house is dedicated to the history of all the plantation people's lives (and they don't spare the horses). There ain't no room to have parties.

A group of slave quarters at McLeod have been preserved, not least because they became the homes of the "emancipated but not equal" and their descendants right into 1990. Without inside toilets that's a story in itself). Our guide had grown up in one and was very knowledgeable about his own forebears.