WHITE CASTLE, La. (AP) — Flames ripped through a massive mansion in Louisiana, destroying much of the historic structure that was used as a plantation house when it was completed in 1859, authorities said.
While white patrons who’d been married at the Nottoway Plantation House or followed a cleansed version of its history lamented the fire, Black Americans and their allies took to social media to rejoice, and say that the slaves who worked and suffered on the site were vindicated.
On TikTok, user @stivenireal posted video of people dancing in reaction to the fire. On Instagram, @blackhistorystudies posted an image of enslaved people dancing in a circle as flames engulf the main building.
The fire that engulfed the site on Thursday devastated the building along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle said on social media. Nearly a dozen fire departments from surrounding towns battled the blaze, he said. No injuries were reported.
Before the fire, it was a resort and event venue, and its website described it as “the South’s largest remaining antebellum mansion.” Daigle called it “a cornerstone of our tourism economy and a site of national significance.”
The 53,000-square-foot (4,924-square-meter) home on a former sugar plantation about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans had a three-story rotunda adorned with giant white columns and hand-carved Italian marble fireplaces, according to a description on its website.
According to published reports, the mansion was built in 1859 with slave labor and in 1860, about 150 slaves worked on the site.
“It’s clear this former plantation was not being used to inform the public about the legacy of slavery, but rather to profit off the ambiance of the antebellum era, while whitewashing its horrific legacy,” Dr. Allison Wiltz, a scholar based in New Orleans, wrote on Medium. “No one uses former concentration camps, such as Auschwitz in Poland, as wedding venues,” she continued.
The mansion’s owner, Louisiana attorney Dan Dyess, said in a written statement that the fire had led to a “total loss” after all the time and money he invested in the building.
“We are devastated and heartbroken for this loss,” he said. “This was my dream that has now been dashed.”
Photos from local news outlets showed a giant orange wall of fire consuming the upper portion of the rotunda and sending a plume of thick smoke into the sky.
The fire has been contained, and no other properties were harmed, said Maj. Monty Migliacio of the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office. Other structures on the grounds have been preserved, parish officials said.
“We are at the beginning phases of the investigation, we don’t know how the fire began and our objective is to determine how it started,” Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal Public Affairs Director Ken Pastorick said.
In a statement on Facebook, Daigle touched on the structure’s history of racial injustice during a time when enslaved Black people helped build the home and operate the sugar plantation that surrounded it. In 1860, 155 enslaved people were held at the property, according to National Park Service records.
“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 said.
“Since the 1980s, it has welcomed visitors from around the world who came to appreciate its architecture and confront the legacies of its era,” he added. “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.”
