Ashland Plantation
Ashland Plantation, also known as the Belle Helene or Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation, is a historic building, built in 1841, that was a plantation estate and home of Duncan Farrar Kenner. Located in Darrow, Louisiana, in Ascension Parish. The manor house is an example of antebellum Greek Revival architecture. The plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Location The Ashland estate is located south of Geismar, Louisiana on Highway 3251 (Ashland Road), shortly northeast of its intersection with Louisiana Highway 75. The entire property of the estate belongs to and is surrounded by the Shell Chemical, LP, Geismar plant. History By 1830, William Kenner and his brother-in-law Philip Minor consolidated 1,800 acres of land to form a sugar plantation. After William died, his two sons Duncan Kenner and George R. Kenner inherited the property. In 1840 the Kenner brothers acquired the Oakland, Belle Grove, and Pasture Plantations. Kenner was a man of considerable wealth and holdings. He acquired land and property that included not only what was to be named the Ashland Plantation and mansion that he built for his wife, Anne Guillemine Nanine Bringier, but also interests in the Bowden (1858), The Houmas, the 1400-acre