Cottage Plantation Ruins
Cottage Plantation was an old plantation that lasted until the 20th century in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The ruins can be found on River Road, about 6 miles south of Baton Rouge. This area is known as Duncan’s Point, a promontory that goes out into the Mississippi River. The first owner of this land built a small cottage there for the summer. In the year 1825, Abner Duncan purchased a large amount of the land there from Armand Duplantier. He built a huge manor house after this named Cottage Plantation. Soon after, he gave the estate to his daughter Frances and her husband Frederick.
The couple would then go on to make the plantation one of the most successful sugar plantations in the area. One day, a man named Angus Holt showed up at the porch asking for food and a place to sleep. He was invited in by the Conrad’s because something about him seemed intriguing. He then became the personal secretary of Frederick. During the Civil War, Union riverboats fired at the plantation. Frederick and Holt were taken as prisoners during the war, and Fredrick died before the war ended.
When Angus was released following the war, he returned back to the plantation to find most of the Conrad family either dead or scattered. As a tribute to the family, he undertook the responsibility of manager for the plantation. This was a position Holt kept until 1880, well, as a human being that is. His ghost has seemed to never stop working for the Conrad family, as his apparition has been seen walking in the hallways of the manor house. In 1960, the plantation was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. As people look at the ruins, the ghost of Angus Holt may be seen walking through them.
There are other ghosts that are experienced at Cottage Plantation. The steamboat Princess exploded in the Mississippi as it was headed towards New Orleans in the 1800s. Seventy people were killed in the blast and about 100 others swam to shores by the plantation. White sheets were brought out to the lawn covered in flour in order to help save the burn victims. Despite this and doctors rushing to the scene, nearly everyone died on the lawn. To this day, the sight of white powder rise into the air on any given night. This is also accompanied with bloody sheets, giving a memorial to all those who died in the tragedy.
(Source: Dwyer, Jeff. Ghost Hunter’s Guide to New Orleans. 2007.)
I enjoyed this article. As I know the story my Great, Great Grandmother Anne Mather(married name Hicky) was the sister of Frances Mather(married name Duncan)wife of Colonel Abner Duncan who build the Cottage Plantation home as a wedding gift for their daughter Frances Duncan who married Frederick Daniel Conrad. I thank you Anne Mather Fowler McCammon