The property at Oak Alley Plantation is something to behold. One of dozens of Louisiana plantations along the Mississippi River that once oversaw the farming of sugar cane, this house features 300-year-old oaks lining the walk. The history of the Creole family who owned the home is also intriguing; ice was imported, at a cost of thousands of dollars per week, for their regular dinner parties. And the fact that you can drink a mint julep throughout the tour is hard to resist.But no matter how hard they might try, and how sweet the drink, none of it works. History gets in the way.And then the mint julep isn’t so sweet; none of it it is.

A partial list of slaves who lived and died at the Oak Alley Plantation

It becomes a dark place with a dark past, and nothing, not even the lovely avenue of trees, can change any of that.