If you see only one plantation, make it Laura, simple on the outside but utterly absorbing within. It has no hoop-skirted guides, offering instead a thorough view of daily life on an 18th- and 19th-century sugar plantation, a cultural history of Louisiana’s Creole population, and a mesmerizing, in-depth examination of one Creole family. Much is known about this house and its residents thanks to extensive records (more than 5,000 documents researched in France), including the detailed memoirs of its namesake, proto-feminist head-of-household Laura Locoul. Many of the original artifacts on display—from cookware to jewelry—were saved by employees in a devastating 2004 fire, after which the main house and a slave cabin were accurately restored to the 1805 period. Tours are offered in French daily. Fun fact #1: The beloved Br'er Rabbit stories were first collected here by a folklorist in the 1870s. Fun fact #2: Fats Domino’s parents lived on this plantation.