The Nottoway Plantation, a monument to Southern grandeur built on the backs of enslaved Black people, has been destroyed by a fire that raged for nearly 40 hours beginning late May 15. The inferno gutted the 160-year-old estate-turned-resort, once the largest antebellum mansion remaining in the South.
Staff at the renamed Nottoway Resort noticed smoke in the south wing on the night of May 14. The fire quickly spread through the 64-room, 53,000-square-foot property, including a three-story rotunda. It had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Despite efforts from multiple fire departments, the structure was lost.
While the Iberville Parish government grieves the destruction of what it calls an economic “cornerstone,” others see poetic justice in the ashes of a plantation that never meaningfully confronted its legacy of slavery. Built in 1859 by sugar magnate John Hampden Randolph, the estate was powered by the forced labor of more than 150 enslaved people, a fact often glossed over in tourist brochures.
“The loss of Nottoway is not just a loss for Iberville Parish, but for the entire state of Louisiana,” parish President Chris Daigle said in a statement. “It was a cornerstone of our tourism economy and a site of national significance. Its absence will be felt deeply—by our community, our state, and by the many who found meaning in its preservation.”
In recent decades, the property was marketed as a wedding venue and luxury getaway—complete with plantation balls—without so much as a public reckoning with the atrocities committed on its grounds.
Once a house of horrors, the Nottoway Plantation eventually rebranded itself as a museum, only to be repackaged again as a luxury resort. What was once a site of brutal human trafficking became the Nottoway Resort, complete with wedding packages, guest suites, and even a tennis court. Plantation tourism disguised as Southern charm.
While the Iberville Parish government bemoans the loss as a blow to the local economy and a piece of “national significance,” others aren’t mourning. For many, the destruction feels less like a tragedy and more like a reason to celebrate.
One social media user points to the lack of acknowledgment of the property’s racist past as a reason for indifference.
“#Nottaway burning? I have nottacare. Rebranding a plantation as a resort is wild and diabolical. They don’t even acknowledge the history of plantation on the website. They referred to it as a” southern mansion,” they wrote.
Posting a video of the conflagration, another X user remarked, “It’s about time.”
Some insinuated that the blaze appeared art-like and even evoked the textile art of Eboni Hogan for reference.
“Watching it burn brought to mind Eboni Hogan’s textile piece (the first image),” the X caption read.
Another X user noted the property’s horrific past and disrespectful and tone-deaf present.
“Generations of human beings were held captive, tortured, raped, mutilated, and worked to death in plantations. Let the sadistic ghouls who wanna hold their weddings and parties at Nottoway find another concentration camp for their happy occasion.”
Fire marshals are still investigating the source of the Nottoway Plantation fire. While it is unclear whether the fire was intentional, it is safe to say that many do not care.
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