[.ca] Vestiges of Grandeur: Plantations of Louisiana's River Road (ISBN 0811818179)

Wonderful Record of River Road:
I was looking at books in a book store in New Orleans when I picked up this book. I was surprised that it had so many Planations in it along River Road. I am a desendent of the St. Joseph's P & M Corp., Ltd. Simon Family. This is the first book with such detail of the Planations along River Road. I had to have a copy.

Spectacular presentation of the River Road Plantations.:
I spent many summers on St Joseph's Plantation which is next to the more famous Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie,La. I was pleased to see that Richard Sexton was able to bring to life the many beautiful plantation homes in his book. The photography is spectacular! I would recommend this book to anyone considering a tour of the River Road. Mr. Sexton accomplished the difficult task of presenting the "grandeur" of planation life in this book.

Most in depth book about River Road Architecture:
I am fascinated with New Orleans and the River Road area and it's history .This has to be one of the best publications about this subject. Sexton seems to capture so much of it's history in the pages of this book, more so than any other author has. The photography is also wonderful and straight forward. I recommend it to any one who wants to learn more about southern Louisiana plantations.

Haunting and Beautiful:
I became facinated with plantation culture as a child and regardless of its wrongs it was a time that we will never see again. The monuments to this time are the great plantation houses that are still being lost at an alarming rate. Some of the greatest examples have already been gone for decades and are all but forgotten like: Belle Grove which was a greater house than Nottoway or Uncle Sam which would have put Oak Alley to shame. Thankfully we still have some traces of that time still with us but what are we doing to save what we have left? That is the nature of this most execellent book and the best to come along for a long time. Not since "Ghosts Along the Mississippi" by Clarence J. Laughlin has this subject been covered with more sympathy for the loss of these treasures from the past. A perfect companion book for "New Orleans-Elegance & Decadence" by the same authors.

A FINE TRIBUTE TO RIVER ROAD!!!!!:
Although I've never been on River Road I feel this book brought me an authentic glimpse of life during the plantation era. The photographs are amazing and the book kept me spellbound for hours!! What fascinanted me most was how some plantations looked as if their inhabitants literally walked out the door and never looked back. Fine furniture, pictures, personal posessions were just left to slowly rot under leaky ceilings and caving roofs. On my next trip to New Orleans I will make it a priority to take a trip down River Road.