NOLA - Nottoway - Grounds tour

Ok, so you have already seen this picture.


But have you seen these?


John and his kingdom...


(Guess he should have proofed this blog entry before I posted it.)


View from the front doors of Nottoway (the Mississippi is across the road.)


Front porch at Nottoway - in need of some occupants.


Don't mind if I do!


And John's "surprise" picture of me as we tour the grounds.



Okay, let's reorient ourselves here. This is the view of Nottoway from the road.





Here is that lovely curved portion of the building (sorry, I am not an up on the architectural lingo needed to accurately describe this "curvy" part.)


Going towards the right hand side of the property, here is the view of the house from the grounds.

Now, if you kept backing up to get a better view of the right side of the house, you would run into this:

The family cemetery.



Which wasn't actually there when the Randolph family lived in the house.
But they are there now!


Here is the iris pond.

And from the opposite shore.


Close up of the fountain.


Here is the Overseers Cottage, view from the iris pond side.


And the other side of the cottage.


Gardens next to the Overseers cottage. The on-site restaurant cooks with its own home-grown ingredients.


Now, we are looking at the backside of the house. This brick sidewalk leads to the restaurant and museum, as well as some of the mansion rooms.



And if you side step a few paces, (so you are still facing the back of the house), you come across this little fenced garden with a hedge maze and bell in the center.


The pool and cabana. Fancy, eh?



Outside the pool area.


I guess this used to be a restaurant and is now a reception hall (one of two that we could see).


Courtyard outside the reception hall.


View of the "left" side of the Nottoway Plantation house. This is the main garden area.


Just behind the statue is the veranda for the Mary Augusta Randolph room - our favorite!




Beautiful grounds, aren't they? But wait... do you want to see the garden area at night?






We would like the thank the Louisiana weather for providing the beautiful thunderstorm clouds you see pictured here.

Thanks for taking the tour!
Come back real soon - ya hear!

NOLA - Nottoway Tour - Inside

Let's take a not-so-quick tour of the Nottoway Plantation House.
(Seriously - this is going to take at least two blog posts. You have been warned.)

If you would like to read a history of Nottoway and the Randolph family, visit the Nottoway Plantation website:
http://www.nottoway.com/html/nottoway-plantation-history.htm


On with the tour!


Grand Entrance

Grand entrance as seen from the end of the hallway.

Following are some pictures of the amazing plaster work in the Grand Entrance.
We really like casements, moldings, etc. So, there are going to be lots of these pictures.






Dining Room

At the far end of the Grand Entrance and the to the left, is the dining hall.







Beautiful plaster work in the dining room.



White Ballroom

One side of the ballroom - faces the Mississippi river.

And the opposite side of the ballroom.










Gentleman's Study






Cornelia Randolph room



...with nicely updated bathroom.
One of the nicest features of this plantation house is that you can stay in the mansion house itself and wander the corridors at night without wrestling through a tour group.
I don't care who you are - that is PRETTY DARN AWESOME!



Music Room



Third Floor Gallery



View of the Mississippi from the third floor porch.


Awesome room I can't remember the name of




John liked the tea set pattern...


Random contraption - I believe it is a child's buggy??

On the porch:

Eeekk!!! Ghosts!

Ok. You got me. Its just the Louisiana humidity.




Well, there you have it - the house and some of the top level porch views. There were a number of other rooms in the house that we didn't get a chance to take pictures of. Better go and take a tour when you are in the neighborhood eh?

Our next installment of Nottoway will be the grounds. They are well worth the wait, I promise!