No Sugar-Coating: The Plantation History of Audubon Park
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the land that is now Audubon Park was the Boré Plantation and the Foucher Plantation. Popular histories often credit Étienne de Boré, an enslaver and the first mayor of New Orleans, with establishing the sugar industry in southern Louisiana. This historical narrative ignores the grueling and deadly work that the sugar industry required of enslaved people. This tour reframes Boré’s contributions to the sugar industry and centers the work of enslaved and free people of color who made the industry’s growth possible.
Access: Walking
Distance: ~1.5 miles, ~30 minutes
Tips: If you are planning to walk this route, be aware that certain sites described in the tour no longer exist, and that images from other plantations and sugar operations have been used to illustrate the author's points.
Stories 6
Audubon Park’s Enslavement History
Today, Audubon Park is a space dedicated to leisure in New Orleans. Every day, hundreds of New Orleans tourists and locals enjoy the public jogging path, lagoons, picnic shelters, golf course,…
Sugar Granulation on the Boré Plantation
Antoine Morin, a free man of color, invented a sugar granulation process that launched the greed of Étienne de Boré and the intense labor demanded from enslaved people.
The Boré Plantation: Sugar Production and its Impact on Slavery in the 19th Century
Today’s Audubon Park was once the location of the Boré Plantation. In the late eighteenth century, Étienne de Boré converted his plantation crop from indigo to sugar cane due to significant financial…
Stories of the Enslaved Within Today’s Audubon Park
Basile, Achilles, Congo and many other enslaved people labored on Étienne de Boré’s plantation within today’s Audubon Park. Alongside planting and harvesting sugar cane, enslaved labor on the Boré…
The Forty Artisans of the Boré Plantation
In October of 1796, General Victor Collot, a spy for the French colonial government, arrived in New Orleans after a military expedition down the Mississippi River creating maps of Spanish land…
Frontin, An Enslaved Child from the Boré Plantation
On January 21, 1783, Étienne de Boré, an enslaver and owner of the Boré Plantation located within today’s Audubon Park, visited a public slave auction in order to sell two enslaved boys. Alexandro…Tour curated by: Taylor Lindner, Kalie A. Dutra, & edited by Kathryn O'Dwyer