Longue Vue mansion is a little pocket of the unexpected. Just 20 minutes from the city center, near the more interesting end of suburban Metairie, is a unique expression of Greek Revival architecture set on an 8-acre estate, constructed from 1939 to 1942 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s like stumbling across a British country-house estate, and while it was never a plantation, it may just satisfy your Tara-esque cravings if you can’t get out to River Road—and it’s a nice place to ramble on a pretty day.

The mansion was designed to foster a close rapport between indoors and outdoors, with vistas of formal terraces and pastoral woods. The charming gardens were partly inspired by the Generalife, the former summerhouse of the sultans in Granada, Spain; look also for fountains and a colonnaded loggia. Unlike some attractions for garden enthusiasts, kids can actually have fun here in the delightful Discovery Garden, with clever and amusing exhibits where kids can play (and maybe even learn).