For Sale: French Creole Home on Banks of the Mississippi River

Built in about 1787, Ormond Plantation is one of the earliest, and now, one of the oldest sugar plantations left along the Mississippi River. The two-story, brick-between-post, six-bay main part of the house was built with plastered brick columns on the ground floor and wooden columns on the second floor gallery and with a traditional hipped roof. The taller two wings, generally referred to as garconnieres, were built, it is thought, around 1830.

The home sits amid live oaks with a two- or three-acre lawn in a bend of the river, near the business center of Destrehan, a charming residential community about 25 miles north of the city and nine or so miles from the New Orleans Airport.

Built by the d’Trepagnier family through the 19th and early 20th centuries, the home was associated with many other prominent families of early Louisiana, such as the Butler family, a marriage into the Destrehan family, and later owned by the LaPlace family, who in 1900 sold it to five Schexnaydre brothers––all of whom lived there with their families.

After several years of neglect through the depression and World War II, it was not until 1943 when a local family, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Brown of Brown’s Velvet Dairy in New Orleans, purchased the property, added modern amenities and conveniences, and restored it to be much as it is today. They are credited for connecting the garconnieres to the main house. A subsequent owner did additional work and made changes and sold it again in 1996 to its current owners.

There are 16 acres, several outbuildings, including a horse stable and utility buildings.

The home is open to visitors on tour, with a restaurant, a full liquor licensed bar, six bed-and-breakfast rooms, and extensive wedding venue facilities.

The estate is offered turn-key at $2,900,000.