Louisiana's Nottoway Plantation burns, prompting a reckoning

A fire at the Nottoway Plantation has revived a conversation about how properties born from slavery should be viewed — and how they should function today.

When Tammika Thompson first heard about the fire at Louisiana’s Nottoway Plantation on May 15, she felt a surge of energy in her body as she recognized why the name was so familiar. 

Her father’s family traces its roots to White Castle, where the plantation is based, and she believes some of her ancestors were enslaved there.  

“It’s personal for me,” Thompson said. “There’s literally a heat I feel.” 

She wasn’t the only one with a strong reaction. As images of the inferno and its aftermath circulated, some took to social media to bemoan the loss while others celebrated its destruction. 

The plantation, roughly 25 miles from Baton Rouge, was billed as the largest antebellum home still standing in the American South. And like so many other symbols of its era, it has become a Rorschach test for how residents grapple with the region’s history. The fire there has revived a conversation about how properties born from slavery should be viewed — and how they should function today.