The roof of Laura Plantation was destroyed but the walls were still standing and the floors were largely intact. Several of the furnishings were salvaged and sitting outside the plantation, built in 1805, late Monday.
An internal alarm at the plantation went off at 8:40 p.m., but a site manager who checked it did not notice anything awry, said St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin. An hour later the alarm went off again, and the person who returned found the building on fire.
Firefighters got the call about 9:40 p.m. and officials said the fire was under control by about 11:30 p.m., though firefighters were still battling pockets of flames in the roofline at midnight.
The fire was believed to have started in the back of the plantation, where there was a kitchen and an office.
Norman Marmillion, who bought and largely restored the house 11 years ago, arrived to find it engulfed in flames
``It was my worst nightmare,'' he said, holding a sword from the Battle of New Orleans that was salvaged from the house. ``It was all in flames, the roof was gone. All I could see was red glare and smoke. We got there and we thought we lost the place.''
Marmillion said he planned Tuesday to tour the site to determine the damage and what he would do next.
Laura Plantation, popular for its focus on slavery and storytelling, sits on 13 acres of River Road in Vacherie, halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The main house is surrounded by fields of sugarcane and there are 11 National Register structures on the site, including an overseers' cottages, carriage houses, barns and a water well.
The site is also home to the ``Maison de Reprise,'' built in 1829 as a retirement home for the women owners of Laura Plantation.
No injuries were reported.
Information from: The Times-Picayune
