Once the largest sugar producer in antebellum Louisiana, this River Road estate now operates as a hotel and restaurant where staff report a girl in a blue dress, a Yellow Fever apparition, and 16 drowned workers who never surfaced from the 1927 flood.
40136 Highway 942, Darrow, LA 70725
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Overnight accommodations and dining available; daytime tour and grounds admission fees apply. See website for current rates.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths between structures on relatively flat grounds; some antebellum interiors have period-era stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1840 · One of the largest sugar-producing plantations in antebellum Louisiana under owner John Burnside · Main house built 1840s in Greek Revival style, connected to earlier 1790s Creole structure · Property affected by 1858-1860 Yellow Fever epidemics and the 1927 Mississippi River flood · Restoration beginning 2003 produced the documented paranormal sighting accounts
The land that would become Houmas House was among the earliest parcels granted along the German Coast of the Mississippi River north of New Orleans. Spanish land grants in the late eighteenth century established the agricultural basis of the property, and successive owners — including Wade Hampton II of South Carolina and John Burnside, an Irish-born merchant who purchased the estate in 1857 — expanded both the sugar operation and the physical plant. Burnside's tenure made Houmas House the center of one of the largest sugar operations in the antebellum South, reportedly producing nearly 20 million pounds of sugar annually at its peak in the early 1860s.
The main house visitors tour today was constructed in the 1840s in the Greek Revival style, connected to a smaller 1790s structure at the rear. The combination of the formal two-story Greek Revival facade with the older Creole rear quarters is characteristic of Louisiana River Road estates and reflects the layering of multiple periods of construction.
The 1858-1860 Yellow Fever epidemics that periodically swept Louisiana's river parishes claimed lives across the Ascension Parish area; some accounts associate unidentified burials on the plantation grounds with epidemic deaths, though primary records are incomplete. The 1927 Mississippi River flood devastated this stretch of River Road; the Houmas House legends connect 16 workers to that disaster, claiming they drowned attempting to salvage or profit from fallen oak trees, with their bodies never recovered.
The estate changed hands several times in the twentieth century and was substantially restored beginning in 2003 by new owner Kevin Kelly, whose renovation project produced the most-documented paranormal accounts associated with the property.
Sources
Houmas House has maintained its own paranormal documentation on its website since approximately the mid-2000s, which gives its ghost lore unusual verifiability compared to most plantation sites. According to that documentation, the girl in the blue dress first appeared to renovation workers in 2003. Multiple workers independently reported seeing a girl, appearing to be perhaps eight to ten years old, descending the main staircase and disappearing before reaching the ground floor. No individual disappeared from the property and no historical record has been located to identify the figure. The venue presents her as one of the property's resident spirits without attributing her to a specific death.
The 'Gentlemen' legend refers to 16 workers said to have drowned in the 1927 Mississippi River flood while attempting to profit from oak trees knocked over by floodwaters. The venue's account holds that their bodies were never recovered, and that figures consistent with this group have been reported on the grounds. No newspaper record of the incident has been independently located, though the 1927 flood did cause extensive death and displacement across the lower Mississippi valley.
A Yellow Fever apparition is described as a figure seen in the areas of the house associated with sick rooms during the nineteenth-century epidemic periods. Staff accounts also include Civil War soldier figures encountered on the grounds after dark. None of these accounts appear in historical newspapers or judicial records; they derive from staff reports documented by venue management.
Notable Entities
Docent-led tours of the main house and grounds cover the property's 250-year history as a sugar plantation and the documented renovation encounters of 2003, including the widely reported girl-in-a-blue-dress sightings on the main staircase.
Guest rooms and cottages are available for overnight stays in the plantation estate. The main house's documented paranormal reputation makes it a draw for travelers interested in the property's history.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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