A sugar plantation; an abandoned investment property; a cattle ranch; a landscape of defiance in the face of the Army Corps of Engineers–Oak Alley has been many things in its over 200 years of history. Today it is a historic site, dedicated to preserving and interpreting each chapter of this plantation’s memory. Our mission, established by Mrs. Josephine Stewart is as follows:
Oak Alley Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public non-profit trust organized and operated exclusively for charitable, literary and educational purposes. Its trustees are charged with maintaining and preserving the mansion (Big House) and surrounding sixty-three (63) acre National Historic Landmark site for public exhibition as an historical monument to the times and area in which the property was built and for the instruction, education, enlightenment, information, edification and cultural benefit of the citizens of the State of Louisiana, the United States and the public generally.
Open to the public since 1976, our institutional values include complete respect for the National Landmark with which we have been entrusted. This not only is evident in our dedication to it’s preservation and maintenance but in our complete adherence to narrative integrity, in deference to this iconic historic site whose past includes serving as a place of enslavement even as it was celebrated for its stunning landscape.