On Thursday, May 15, the historic Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana caught fire.
The 53,000-square-foot mansion was built in 1859 by enslaved people for John Hampden Randolph. Prior to the blaze, the property was used as a wedding venue.
Staff members said they quickly exited after seeing smoke emanating from one of the second floor rooms and then, when they returned, they found the entire room up in flames. What initially caused the fire is still under investigation.
According to local reports, the fire reignited around 6 p.m. on May 15, 2025, engulfing large portions of the landmark estate. The home was burned completely by 10 p.m. Thursday. No one was injured in the blaze.
Nottoway was built by more than 150 enslaved Black people who were owned, whipped, starved, raped, and worked to death.
These individuals:
- Cleared land, planted and harvested sugarcane, and worked in boiling houses where sugar was processed under extreme conditions.
- Built the mansion itself—brick by brick, with skilled labor done by enslaved masons, carpenters, and artisans.
- Maintained the house, cooked, cleaned, laundered, cared for the Randolph children, and tended the estate grounds.
They lived in slave quarters—cramped wooden cabins without plumbing or proper insulation—while the Randolph family lived in marble-floored halls with gas lighting and imported furniture. So when people feel no sympathy about a place like that burning, it’s not about being hateful, it’s about refusing to mourn a monument to human suffering.
Read more about the history of the Nottaway Plantation at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation.
If we’re going to talk about ‘preserving history,’ then let’s preserve all of it. Stop glorifying plantations. Respecting history starts with honesty, not nostalgia.
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