The largest pre-Civil War mansion in all of the American South burned to the ground as a devastating fire ripped through the historic wooden structure built nearly 200 years ago.
Flames broke out at Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana, just after 2 p.m. Thursday, drawing engines from 10 local fire departments who were helpless to stop the fire from burning up all 53,000 square feet of the iconic building.
Officials reported no injuries, though one Louisiana fire marshal said it was “the biggest fire” they’d seen in their entire career, ABC reported.
Local politicians in the Pelican State’s Iberville Parish lamented the unrecoverable loss of what was a beacon of a difficult chapter of American history.
“Nottoway was not only the largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South but also a symbol of both the grandeur and deep complexities of our region’s past,” Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle said in a statement posted to Facebook.
“While its early history is undeniably tied to a time of great injustice, over the last several decades it evolved into a place of reflection, education, and dialogue,” Daigle added.
Nottoway was a sugar plantation operated and constructed by slave labor on behalf of John Hampden Randolph in 1859 for roughly $80,000 — equivalent to roughly $3 million in 2025.
The home became a museum in the 1980s opening its grand doors, 165 rooms and acre-plus of floorspace to visitors from around the world to engage in the challenging history embedded in its floorboards.
“It stood as both a cautionary monument and a testament to the importance of preserving history — even the painful parts — so that future generations can learn and grow from it,” parish president Daigle wrote in his statement.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, according to Louisiana fire officials.
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