Blog Post Two

I feel the use of of now defunct plantations for the purpose of sharing and exploring the history of the United States and slavery is an incredibly good idea with a lot of potential for expressing history in an incredibly unique and realistic way. However, the way in which these two websites and plantations go about doing this is incredibly different. While they do both present themselves as plantations which are now used to explore history, each one approaches it with a different focus. Oak Alley, is more marketed as a luxury experience which allows you to explore the glory of region the plantation is in. It does this by allowing for overnight lodging as well as event hosting. The website actually shows a wedding being hosted at the plantation. On the website they ignore the darker sides of plantation life, mainly the presence of slavery, instead focusing on the positive grandiose aspects of that life historically. While I do still believe there is some historical value in a place like this, mostly in understanding the layouts and landscapes of these plantations, as well as potentially the lifestyle of the owners of these plantations. However, I don’t this that this sort representation of a plantation can be held up as a museum as it mostly ignores an entire half of its own history. The other plantation and website, Whitney Plantation, completely contrasts Oak Alley. Whitney Plantation’s website is much more upfront about slavery, and in fact claims that it has a focus on representing slavery and the lives of the plantation owners accurately. Furthermore, Whitney Plantation advertises its tours and its historically restored buildings, as well as access to a plethora of slave accounts and memorial artwork. Nowhere on the website is the plantations marketed as a sort of resort or event space, rather it is clear from the information presented immediately that this plantation is focused on presenting the history of its grounds. I think that plantations and other historical places have a lot of potential as museums, as long as they are presented accurately and with the goal of exploring the history of these places. The Whitney Plantation is a perfect example of this, but I feel it is a stretch to refer to Oak Alley as a museum as it is ignores much of the more negative aspects of its history and is much closer to a resort or a plantation get away.

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