Leon C. Vial, Sr. (1878–1939).
Located in Hahnville on La. 18 (River Road). Home of General Richard Taylor, son of Zachary Taylor, Louisiana statesman and member of 1861 Secession Convention. Commanded Louisiana District, 1862–64; defeated Banks at Battle of Mansfield, 1864. Federals plundered home in 1862. (Erected by Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry in 1961.) (Marker missing in 2010)
Owner of Fashion Plantation.
Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, b. 1826, d. 1879, was the owner of Fashion Plantation. He was the son of President Zachary Taylor and the brother-in-law of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Taylor was a U.S. Senator, 1856–1860; a colonel in the Louisiana Ninth Infantry (appointed by Governor Moore); was appointed brigadier general in 1861; fought with distinction under Generals “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee; was a member of Louisiana Secession Committee and chairman of the Committee on Military and Naval Affairs; and enacted the Conscription Act to enlist aid to fight Union troops. He is interred with his wife at Metairie Cemetery.
Fashion Plantation was located in Hahnville and was owned by former U.S. President Zachary Taylor, although he never resided there. It was inherited by his son Lieutenant General Richard Taylor in 1851. General Taylor served with distinction in St. Charles Parish and throughout the south in the Confederate Army. Fashion Plantation was plundered and destroyed by Union troops. Personal accounts attest that it had been one of the most splendid in the area. The Mississippi River claimed the original site. Fashion Plantation residential developments are now located on the remaining portions of the plantation.
LaBranche Dependency House
Family LaBranche Dependency House
Only remaining building from the original plantation. Located in St. Rose on La. 48 (River Road). This late 18th and early 19th Century Creole house is of statewide significance because of its exceptional Federal woodwork and its rarity as a plantation dependency. Listed on National Register of Historical Places.
Home of M. O. LaBranche. La Branche Plantation. The German Zweig family surname was Gallicized to LaBranche. Octave was the son of Alexandre LaBranche. He was a member of Captain Trudeau’s Troop of Horse and a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans. Octave served as speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1827 to 1829. The LaBranche family and Fr. Paret enjoyed a warm relationship. The LaBranche’s owned several plantations. The house pictured was located in the present St. Rose area. Watercolor by Father Paret.
Judge Jean-Louis LaBranche Plantation. Judge Jean-Louis LaBranche was born in 1805 in St. Charles Parish. A major crevasse occurred on May 8, 1858, at this site, followed a few days later by another levee break in the same area. On February 13, 1869, the L’Avant Courseur reported, “The hard times, the family losses, the brutalities of subordinate officers who acted like military police in St. Charles during and after the war, and finally the recent death of his aged mother all took their toll on Judge LaBranche’s fragile constitution.” He died on February 7, 1869.
Estate of Jean Baptist LaBranche. After Widow J. B. LaBranche (nee Marie Trépagnier) died in 1868, her three sons, Judge Jean-Louis, Euphemond, and Cyprien, inherited the Jean Baptist LaBranche Plantation. By 1850, it was one of the German Coast’s most prominent and successful. Note the Spanish style dependency building. This is the site of the present-day Esperanza Plantation owned by Judge Edward A. Dufresne, Jr.