Parlange Plantation House


  • Vicinity: Jct of LA 1 and 78
  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Building

The Parlange Plantation House, built about 1750, is a classic example of a large French colonial plantation house in the United States. Exemplifying the style of the semitropical Louisiana country house, the Parlange Plantation House is a two-story raised cottage. The main floor is set on a brick basement with brick pillars to support the veranda of the second story. The raised basement is of brick, manufactured by slaves on the plantation. These walls, both inside and out, were plastered with a native mixture of mud, sand, Spanish moss and animal hair, then painted. The ground story and second floor contain seven service rooms, arranged in a double line. The walls and ceiling throughout the house were constructed of close fitting cypress planks. The house was once surrounded by a formal garden that was destroyed during the Civil War. During this conflict, Parlange alternatively served as Union headquarters for General Nathaniel Banks and his army as well as Confederate headquarters for General Dick Taylor. Built by Vincent de Ternant, Marquis of Dansville-sur-Meuse, the Parlange Plantation House remains largely intact.

Vincent de Ternant received the plantation grounds from a French land grant and developed the 10,000 acres into an active plantation facing the False River. When de Ternant's son Claude inherited the plantation, he changed the cash crop from indigo to sugarcane and cotton. When Claude died his second wife, Virginie remarried another Frenchman, Colonel Charles Parlange, from whom the plantation took its name. Together they had one son, also named Charles, who survived the Civil War to begin a distinguished career as a State Senator, United States District Attorney, Lieutenant Governor, Federal judge, and finally Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. When Virginie died, Charles and his wife moved to New Orleans and Parlange was left to tenants for the next 20 years until Charles' son, Walter, left New Orleans to return and take up the life of a plantation farmer. Today 1500 acres surround Parlange, which is still used as a cattle and sugarcane plantation. - NPS


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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1750/00/00 Parlange Plantation House, built about 1750, is a classic example of a large French colonial plantation house in the United States.
1859/01/29 Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau Born Virginie Amelie Avegno is born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Anatole Placide Avegno and Marie Virginie de Ternant of Parlange Plantation, a descendant of French nobility.

Data »

Particulars for Parlange Plantation House:
Architectural Style American Colonial
Area of Significance Architecture
Criteria Architecture-Engineering
Sight Category Building
Other Description French colonial plantation
Level of Significance National
Owner Private
Historic Use Single dwelling



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration:

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name:
Registry Address:
Registry Number: 70000258
Resource Type:
Owner: Private
Architect: unknown
Architectural Style: Colonial, Other
Attribute: French colonial plantation
Other Certification: Designated National Landmark, National Landmark boundary approved
Nominator Name: National Historic Landmark
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: National
Area of Significance: Architecture
Applicable Criteria: Architecture-Engineering
Period of Significance: 1750-1799
Significant Year: c 1750
Historic Function: Domestic
Historic Sub-Function: Single dwelling
Current Function: Domestic
Current Sub-Function: Single dwelling

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