LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / August 7, 1999

ST. JAMES – Hidden jewels among the trees – that may be onecharacterization of St. Joseph and Felicity plantations along River Road onSt. James Parish’s west bank.Overshadowed by neighboring Oak Alley Plantation, St. Joseph and Felicity,located immediately downriver from Oak Alley, may be stepping out of the shadows before too long, hosting tourists and attracting more income and jobs to the parish.

Stanley Waguespack Jr., 78, who for the past 10 years has served asmanager of St. Joseph Planting and Manufacturing Co., said he hopes tocomplete negotiations soon with a New Orleans bus tourism company to bring visitors to the massive 1820-era plantation house.

Built by a French doctor, Cazimir Bernard Mericq, the central part of St.

Joseph consisted of a large ballroom and four adjoining rooms on its upper floor.

When the doctor died in 1857 the house was sold the following year by his widow to Alexis Ferry, whose wife was Josephine Aime, a daughter of the immensely wealthy St. James Parish planter Valcour Aime. They addedtwo additional rooms to either end, bringing the house to its present dimensions.

Following the Civil War and the accompanying misfortunes of the Reconstruction era, the plantation eventually was sold in an 1877 sheriff’s sale to Edward Gay, who in turn sold it to Joseph Waguespack, ancestor of Stanley Waguespack Jr.

In 1901, the corporation was formed to administer the plantation’s sugar cane operations, with Stanley Waguespack Sr. as manager, a position heheld until his death in 1964. At that time, management passed to theeldest son, Harold, and in 1989, to Stanley Jr.

St. Joseph Plantation contains massive, high-ceilinged rooms, an interiorstaircase and a gallery encircling the house. There are numerousoutbuildings surrounding it, all closed to the public, with one notable exception.

The St. Joe Plantation Store has been a River Road landmark since itopened in the early 1870s and remains the only such plantation store in continuous operation since it opened.

The St. Joe store, tended by Maria Simon for the past 14 years, sellseverything from aspirin to cookbooks and ice cream to souvenir mugs. Itremains the only store for several miles around, still serving local residents.

Stan Jr. and his wife, Irma, live in adjoining Felicity Plantation, alandmark in itself, though it will remain closed to the public.

Invisible from River Road behind a stand of trees, Felicity was built in 1846 as a wedding gift by Valcour Aime for another daughter, Felicite Emma Aime, and her husband, Septime Fortier.

The two-story wood structure has six large, square wooded pillars at its front and wide central halls with high-ceilinged rooms.

Again, with Reconstruction hard times, the estate was sold in 1873 to Bank of The Americas, later to Eugene Tercuit in 1888, to Raphael Bettron in 1889 and to Saturnin Waguespack who, in 1901, brought it under the administration of the St. Joseph corporation.Along the River Parishes, many plantation houses are on display for tourists, including Destrehan, Ormond, Laura, Evergreen, Oak Alley and San Francisco. Before long, their ranks will be joined by St. Joseph – anotherwindow to an earlier era.

Back to Top

Back to Leisure Headlines

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher