Cedar Grove Tchoupitoulas Plantation

When my husband and I bought the plantation in 2006, the owner told us that it had ghosts.  He thought that this was a selling point, however, I was terrified!  So, before we would go to the act of sale, I made my two oldest children, who are adults, spend the night there with their friends.  They hoped to see or hear something but after two nights there was just nothing there.  So, I went to the act of sale.

On our first day there, I walked around the house telling it that we were here to bring laughter and joy back into the house.  I asked it to never scare me or my family.  And, it never has scared us.  However, there are some really fun mysteries about the house that we love to share with our clients.

Mercer Family

For instance, no matter how many times we straighten the pictures at night, the next day we will come to work and they are all slightly crooked.  Another example, is when we have a full dance floor and a guest takes a picture with an amateur camera.  Most times you’ll see orbs hovering over the dancers as if they were dancing happily with them.  When we have family parties or take family pictures, there is a large orb that likes to align itself with my beautiful daughter, Katie.

However, the most common mystery has to do with the train.  There are train tracks that run across the back of the plantation.  Although it is very difficult to find historical information about the plantation, I read that the back acre of the plantation was once used as Waggaman Train Station.  The land was rented by the owners to the United States Government for $1 per year.    There were many weddings over the last 222 years at the plantation.  It was believed that when the train blew its whistle,  the bride and groom were getting a sign from their family members who  passed.  The spirits were wishing them happiness and a long life together.   This was a little hard for me to believe until we started doing weddings in late 2006.  Although, in those days,  I would cringe when I heard the train, there was a rare time that people didn’t come up to me and tell me that they thought it was one of their loved ones giving “a sign”.    Recently, a little grandmother came to me and said, “I know you might think I’m crazy but..”  I replied, “Is it about the train”?  “Yes”!, she said so excited.  “My husband used to work for Union Pacific and during the wedding a Union Pacific Train passed and blew it’s horn!”  “Grandpa was here!”, she told the bride with tears in her eyes.   So when a bride is visiting us and notices the train tracks, she often asks, “Does the train pass during the ceremony?”  My reply is always, “We can only hope so!”

One of our “friends” only shows up once a year.  Her name is Norma Wallace.  A book entitled, “The Last Madame” will give you all of the details about Norma, and her fascinating life in New Orleans.  However in Chapter 18, you will find her time spent here at Cedar Grove.  Norma was a Madame who came to Waggaman with her “girls” to run a brothel out of the plantation.  The Westwego Police would have none of this and for the first time she was jailed in Jefferson parish.   After a few months there, she was released on Oct. 24.  So this is when she visits us.  Usually, the lights just flicker.  However, a couple of years ago on Oct. 24, we were at home because it was a Sunday.  The house phone to the plantation is transferred to our cell phone because there is so much static on the lines that we can’t hear the caller.  The phone rang on that Sunday, and I answered it.  The lady on the other line said, “Miss this is 911” “ Are you in the home alone”?  “The police are knocking at the front door.”  I replied, “No one is inside the plantation.”  “The phones don’t work there and we are at home in Metairie.”  “Miss”, she said, “A lady called from this number.”  After getting our neighbor in Waggaman to open the door, the police realized that there was no one inside.  At 11p.m. that night, the same thing happened.  And, at that point, I realized that this was Norma.  She just wants to be remembered.  And she should be remembered by us.  After getting out of jail, she decided that she wanted to become an honest woman.  So, in May 1964, she opened Tchoupitoulas Restaurant housed in Cedar Grove Plantation.  Mysteriously, I was born on May 16^th 1964 and although I can’t prove it, I bet that is the day she opened her restaurant which would eventually become Cedar Grove Tchoupitoulas Plantation.

For more ‘Secrets of the Plantation’ please call Jill Mercer @ 504-431-5743 or go to www.cgtplantation.com.