History of Whitney Plantation
Whitney Plantation opened to the public as a museum on December 7, 2014. The plantation’s restoration was funded by the museum’s founder, John Cummings. A trial attorney from New Orleans, Mr. Cummings owned and operated the property for 20 years, from 1999 – 2019. He restored the plantation over a period of 15 years before opening it to the public.
In 2019, John Cummings donated the museum, which is now a 501(c)(3) governed by a board of directors. In its first five years, the museum has welcomed over 375,000 visitors from all over the world.
Today, Whitney Plantation educates the public about the history of slavery and its legacies. Click the links below to learn more about the enslaved people who worked the sugar, rice and indigo fields here, as well as the plantation’s owners who grew wealthy off their labor.