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Nottoway Plantation Tile by the Parlor
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(Moved from GoDaddy)
On Thursday, May 15, 2025, we lost a rich and complex piece of history.
The mansion at Nottoway Plantation, which in recent years operated as a resort
and wedding venue, was destroyed by a massive fire.
I understand that there are many conflicting opinions and emotions about the
loss of Nottoway. And I understand why. I've already had to deal
with PTSD-triggering things on social media that were extremely unpleasant,
and I have no desire to referee any arguments. Now, then.
On the Exploring New Orleans Architecture page of the Parlor, I briefly
discuss Nottoway Plantation. I've been wrestling with whether or not I
should mention another plantation that once stood in White Castle, Louisiana
and was lost to flames more than seventy years ago. Belle Grove.
It's been said that the owners of these two plantations had some sort of
rivalry and that they had their respective mansions built in a way that one
tried to outdo the other. Whatever the case, Henry Howard was the
architect of both plantation mansions, and both are said to have been
perhaps the largest plantations ever built in the South.
It is very hard to find photos of Belle Grove when she was standing at her
best and pretty much impossible to find photos of its interior taken when it
was still an opulent plantation mansion. Some of what is available you
can see on The Queen of the South: Belle Grove Plantation, the page of the
Parlor devoted to what was at least one of the inspirations for the
fictional Fontevrault Plantation in the
Lives of the Mayfair Witches novels.
Nottoway Plantation was, simply put, beautiful. One of its most
iconic features was the white ballroom, a double parlor where just
about every. single. surface was painted white. The plantation mansion
was built for John Hampden Randolph in 1859. The architect was Henry
Howard. Have a look at the short video from Fred T on YouTube to see
Nottoway Plantation as she was.
John Hampden Randolph, who was from Virginia, is said to have named
his plantation for Nottoway County, Virginia. He was also a descendant
of William Randolph and Mary Isham Randolph. When Randolph died in
1883, he was interred in a crypt at a nearby and now long abandoned
church, St. Mary's. Within the last twenty years, Randolph and his
family were moved from the old churchyard to a private family cemetery
established on the grounds of Nottoway Plantation.
I kept thinking John Hampden Randolph was resting in his grave right
by the beautiful home he had built. Now--and I'm saying this no matter
how weird or corny it might sound--his home has joined him in the
grave.
Nottoway Plantation was a piece of history that was as complex as the
home was beautiful. There is no sense in sugarcoating the fact that
there was substantial darkness in the history of plantations in the
American South. If we are going to preserve history, ALL of it should
be preserved. "Warts 'n all".
Nottoway survived into recent years because it was renovated and
repurposed for the public. That includes its history. If we forget the
past, what happened and why, we really are doomed to repeat it.
Therefore, we must never forget the bad in favor of the good.
For my part, I am utterly devastated at the loss of Nottoway
Plantation. We've lost her and I just cannot believe she's
gone...
