After being picked up from your hotel in New Orleans in a 13-seater high-roof van, your enthusiastic historian driver-guide will take you on a scenic narrated drive out of New Orleans, preparing you for a pilgrimage back in time.  After crossing over the Mississippi River on a high bridge, you will arrive at a remote swamp to board a small airboat. With your Cajun boat captain, glide comfortably over marshes and deep into secluded bayous. Discover the swamp’s fascinating fauna and flora, including alligators, turtles, and exotic birds.  Next, you will drive upriver through sugar cane fields to arrive at Laura Plantation. Enjoy a guided tour of this Creole plantation dating back to 1804. Hear the compelling stories of Laura's family saga, as well as stories of the West-African, enslaved people who worked on this sugar plantation. At the end of the tour, visit the museum exhibit dedicated to "Slavery on Laura Plantation" in a restored overseer's cottage. Back on the old River Road, you will pass by Felicity Plantation, where "12 Years A Slave" was filmed, and St Joseph Plantation, where the "Queen Sugar" TV series was filmed. Stop in front of Oak Alley Plantation to admire its parallel rows of centuries-old oak trees. After crossing over the Mississippi River on the Sunshine Bridge, you will arrive at the iconic "Sugar Palace", Houmas House Plantation. Lunch will be served in their elegant dining room, with genuine Cajun cuisine. Then, enjoy a guided tour of the mansion with a guide dressed in Antebellum costume. After the tour, enjoy some free time to stroll around the splendid gardens, before you return to New Orleans. Sample Lunch Menu (subject to seasonal changes) Luncheon includes home-baked bread and butter, iced tea or soft drink, dessert, and coffee.  Choice of Entrees: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad (gluten-free without croutons): Served with tender romaine lettuce, croutons, and parmesan cheese Crown Jewel Hamburger: Grilled 7oz burger topped with cheese, bacon, mayo, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, and onion served with French fries Shrimp Po Boy: Shrimp, crispy fried and served on New Orleans French bread with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and Creole mayonnaise Breast of Chicken (gluten-free without grits): Skin-on breast of chicken, served with stone-ground grits, roasted veggies and rum-spiked Houmas House beehive honey glaze Vegetarian Pasta: Veggies and baby heirloom tomatoes with fettuccine pasta and parmesan cheese Choice of Dessert: White Chocolate Bread Pudding Turtle Creole Cream Cheese Cheesecake

Take a guided narrative tour down to Plantation Country in a 14-passenger bus and explore Laura, Oak Alley, or Whitney Plantation. Enjoy a convenient pickup between 8:00 and 8:30 AM from downtown hotels and head out for a 90-minute tour of the plantation of your choice. At the Laura Plantation, awarded the title of top travel attraction in Louisiana, you’ll visit the Big House, the French Garden, the Kitchen Garden, the Banana Grove, and the original 1840s slave cabins. Take time to browse through local arts, crafts, and souvenirs in the historic Laura Plantation gift shop. Don’t forget to visit the new museum exhibit about the inhabitants’ daily lives on the sugar plantation.   Oak Alley Plantation includes visits to the gracious interiors of the Big House as well as to the Oak Alley exhibit, that shares the stories of those who were enslaved on this sugar plantation from approximately 1835 to the end of the Civil War. Learn about health care, punishment, and life after Emancipation, as well as sugar’s impact on the people of Oak Valley. Finally, visit one of the few remaining 1890s-era forges of its type in Louisiana.   Whitney Plantation is the site of the last surviving example of a true French Creole Barn, what is believed to be the oldest detached kitchen in Louisiana, and an excellently-preserved Creole cottage. Through restored buildings, museum exhibits, memorial artwork, and thousands of first-person slave narratives, Whitney Plantation gives a voice and respect to the slaves who lived, worked, and died here.   Finish your day with a Louisiana swamp tour. The Cajun Captains will navigate their way through the back swamp. Learn about Louisiana Wetlands, the inhabitants of the swamp, and the history of the Louisiana Bayou and swamp exploration days.

Visit Plantation Country to view one of Louisiana's cultural and historic plantations. History, architecture, and stories can be found at each of the plantations that you will visit along the legendary River Road. Take a tour round Laura or Oak Alley Plantations and view a place of historical significance. The Oak Alley Plantation was built in 1837-39. It is famous for its alley of 28 evenly spaced live oak trees, believed to be at least 100 years older than the house itself. Each home is truly a part of historical Louisiana. The Laura Plantation was built in 1805. The “Memoirs of Laura” exhibit will tell guests about the lives of the enslaved men, women, and children.

After being picked up from your hotel or B&B in New Orleans in a 13-seater high-roof van, your historian driver-guide will narrate the scenic drive upriver to 2 historic plantations on the shores of the Mississippi River. On the way, drive along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, through swamps, and sugar cane fields.  After crossing the Mississippi River on a high suspended bridge, drive along the famous River Road and stop to admire the mansions, outer buildings, and oak trees in front of both Evergreen Plantation and Oak Alley Plantation. Your first stop is at St Joseph Plantation for a guided visit of this family-owned, working sugar cane plantation. Here one of the owners will show you around the home and farm which has been in operation since 1877. This plantation, and their sister property "Felicity Plantation" are also the location where "12 Years a Slave" was filmed. Then, continue downriver to Laura, a Creole plantation from 1804. Learn about the 4 generations of women who ran this plantation. Learn how the work of the West-African slaves influenced all segments of the Creole culture, best evidenced today in the local cuisine, music, family-centered traditions, architecture, and lifestyle. At Laura's Slavery Museum Exhibit, hear personal stories of individual men, women, and children who lived there, illustrating how the lives of the enslaved, both Créole and American, were intertwined with those of their owners. On your return drive back to New Orleans, pass by the famous Whitney Plantation, and old cypress swamp groves.