Vestiges of Grandeur: Plantations of Louisiana's River Road [Hardcover]

Richard Sexton (Author, Photographer), Alex MacLean (Photographer), Eugene Darwin Cizek (Introduction), Eugene Cizek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

In an evocative sequel to the acclaimed New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence, author and photographer Richard Sexton returns with an in-depth visual journey through the hidden mansionssome inhabited, many now long abandonedof Louisiana's River Road. Bordering the Mississippi, these antebellum landmarks were once the epitome of gracious living in the Deep South. Over the past century, these grand dwellings have slowly succumbed to time, humidity, and the reclamation of the land: first by nature, then by real-estate developers who built subdivisions, oil refineries, and strip malls where curtains of Spanish moss once swayed from the live oaks. This collectionfeaturing over 200 haunting color photographs with extensive captions explaining the architectural significance and history of each structureis a beautiful elegy for a rapidly disappearing landscape and its ghosts.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In 1716 John Law, in what McCaffety calls a "real-estate scam," persuaded the Duc d'Orleans to sell shares for a French settlement. A flood wiped out the settlement in the first year, but the colonists continued to come. By the mid-19th century, New Orleans was the busiest port in the world, with a strange alchemy of European, Carbbean, and American influences in character and architecture that is totally unique. NPR's recent report on the damage done in Louisiana and particularly in New Orleans by the voracious Formosa termite makes viewing these two books of stylish photography even more poignant. Award-winning photographer McCaffety (Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans) lovingly records scenes of luxury and decay in the Vieux Carr or the French Quarter of New Orleans. McCaffety offers the reader views that elude the countless tourists. We are privy to private, antiques-filled residences, walled courtyards with balconies and fountains, lush tropical gardens--what she calls "the city's hidden memory." Sexton's work looks at "the River Road," a stretch of highway that links New Orleans to Baton Rouge. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has identified the area as one of the most endangered historic sites in the United States. Law's influence was shown here also, as he was given a charter to increase the French population to 10,000 in a ten-year period. Likewise, a distinctive architecture evolved here: the plantation on the river with a dominant main house. Much of the style is still around, and with aerial photographer Alex MacLean, Sexton captures the grandeur. We see standing chimneys from lost glorious homes, stately houses still active and enjoyed, and plantations of historical note. Sexton also shows other notable architecture and its geography--tenement "shotgun" houses, cemeteries, churches, steamboat landings, levees, swamp, sugarcane, and massive oaks hanging with Spanish Moss are occasionally interspersed by abandoned oil refineries and massive new petro-chemical operations. Both of these books are essential regional purchases, but they are also highly recommended for architecture, photography, and history collections everywhere.
-Joseph C. Hewgley, Nashville P.L.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

No one interested in Louisiana history should fail to get a copy of this book. It's not just pretty pictures. This might be the one coffee-table book that you want to give as a Christmas present this year. Do yourself a favor and take a look at it. -- Baton Rouge Advocate

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811818179
• ISBN-13: 978-0811818179
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 10.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Dazzling!, November 22, 1999

By 

A New Orleans Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vestiges of Grandeur: Plantations of Louisiana's River Road (Hardcover)

This book is a fitting tribute to the critically endangered structures along the Great River Road of Louisiana. The author's prose is as evocative as his astonishing photographs, perhaps because the subject matter is so close to his heart. It is both fine art book and invaluable reference work for anyone intrigued by a uniquely American phenomenon. Vestiges of Grandeur is truly haunting, even after you've finished perusing its lush, colorful pages.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To my knowledge, the single best book of its kind ever done., January 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Vestiges of Grandeur: Plantations of Louisiana's River Road (Hardcover)

Richard Sexton's VESTIGES OF GRANDEUR is stunning, beautiful, and evocative. This has never been done better, if indeed it's been done at this scale at all.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and Beautiful, June 14, 2000

By 

James D. Porter (Waco, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vestiges of Grandeur: Plantations of Louisiana's River Road (Hardcover)

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.