On May 15, 2025, the South’s largest surviving antebellum house burned to the ground, sparking debate over the legacy of American chattel slavery. Only a smoldering façade remained, inspiring celebration and memes shared on social media by people glad to see the symbol of human subjugation reduced to rubble and ashes.
Completed in 1859, the 53,000-square-foot home included 64 rooms with 165 doors and 200 windows. Designed by Henry Howard in Greek Revival and Italianate style, the home is listed as the “Nottoway Plantation House”—not “resort”— on its National Register form.
On section eight of the application and under the section marked “Significance,” the applicant checked “agriculture” and “architecture,” even though “education” was listed as an option. “Nottoway is nationally significant in the area of architecture,” the applicant wrote. “With 64 rooms, seven interior staircases, and five galleries, it is certainly one of the largest extant antebellum plantation houses in the South.”
The plantation house’s original owner, John Hampden Randolph, owned over 7,500 acres in Iberville Parish and more than 200 African Americans as chattel property, which makes him an oppressor—not “a prestigious sugar cane planter.” During the Civil War, Randolph took them to Texas, where he continued their forced labor.
“He was really in the top echelon of slaveholders,” Albert Samuel, a Southern University Professor, said. “He was one of the richest men in the South, if not the United States.”
Positioned along the Mississippi River, Nottaway began as a cotton plantation but became a sugar plantation once Randolph realized he could make more money. Referencing the harsh labor conditions of African Americans forced to work on sugar plantations, Samuels said, “Oftentimes, these enslaved people had a lower life expectancy. So being sold down the river was like a death sentence.”
More than 100 years removed, the economy of Iberville Parish still benefits from their enslaved labor. So, let it burn.
Thought to be the result of an electrical fire, the destruction of the Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana, is a timely reminder of America’s attempt to ignore its own history. It’s not a “mansion” or the “main building” as is being reported; it’s the “big house.” It’s not a “resort” but a plantation. No number of “amenities” is going to change that.
Adding a flatscreen television, an iron and a coffee pot doesn’t change the fact that it was built by enslaved and, might I add, very skilled labor. The guest “cottages” are still slave cabins; a different paint color doesn’t make a difference.
Not used for educational purposes, the Nottoway Plantation’s website is also telling. The webpage labeled “About Nottoway Plantation & Resort” reads, “Nottoway is one of the South’s largest historic mansions, located on the famous River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. The mansion’s massive white columns and grand balconies stand guard over the Mississippi River, while on the north side, the spectacular three-story Rotunda overlooks sweeping, oak-draped lawns.”
Speaking of trees, under the website’s history tab, there is no mention of chattel slavery or of the African Americans who were forced to labor on the sprawling property. Instead, 11 trees named for the children of the owners, their age and trunk diameter are listed: Ella Eugenia, age 162 and 6’3”, Algernon Sidney, age 153 and 5’11”, John Hampden Jr, age 145 and 5’7”, Moses Lidell, age 143 and 5’6”, Mary Augusta, age 136 and 5’1”, Cornelia, age 128 and 4’11”, Sarah Virginia, age 122 and 4’8”, Anne Caroline, age 120 and 4’7”, Peter Everett, age 118 and 4’6”, and Julia Marceline, age 109 and 4’2.”
It’s no wonder then that many African Americans posted memes of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman smiling, of African Americans playing cards at a table, of Angela Bassett from a “Waiting to Exhale” scene, and of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez of the music group TLC outside in front of the burning plantation. R&B singer Usher’s “Burn” often accompanied the posts.
Some people expressed sympathy for brides who had upcoming weddings scheduled at the plantation. But there was immediate pushback online.
“Having weddings at plantations is like having weddings at former concentration camps. If you don’t see it this way, it’s because you don’t see Black people as human,” Dana White (@ItsDanaWhite) tweeted.
Nottoway Plantation housed a heinous history of crimes against humanity for which no one was ever punished. “The saddest part about that Nottoway plantation burning down is that it didn’t happen 175 years ago with owners inside,” @bibliofowl tweeted.
Because there were no “good slaveowners.” There were no “happy slaves.” But if you believe there were, then I have a “mansion” to sell you.
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Director of The Raceless Gospel Initiative, an associate editor, host of the Good Faith Media podcast, “The Raceless Gospel” and author of Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church.
