The Magnolia Plantation at Cane River Creole National Historical Park is set to reopen Monday/NPS

The Magnolia Plantation at Cane River Creole National Historical Park in Louisiana is set to reopen Monday after crews were able to clear downed and hazard trees that Hurricane Laura littered the park grounds with.

The park called in members of the National Park Service Arborist Incident Response team to remove a significant number of downed and hazard trees after the hurricane hit in late August. The crew spent 10 days clearing trees and debris from LA Highway 119, along historic fence lines, and throughout the Magnolia Plantation grounds. The storm uprooted several large trees and broke major limbs in dozens more.

“More tree damage was sustained at Magnolia than at Oakland, which complicated clean-up efforts. The crew used two aerial lifts, two tractors with grapples, a wood chipper, and multiple dumpsters to clear all the hazard trees from the high visitor use areas,” said Cane River Creole Superintendent Carrie Mardorf. “As Magnolia reopens, visitors should be aware that there are still some areas outside of the visitor use zone that need to be cleaned up. We’re working to get a contract in place to remove the remaining trees from the property.”  

Beginning Monday, the park will offer access to the following buildings at Magnolia, with limited occupancy.

• Visitor restrooms at the Magnolia Store

In addition, the following spaces continue to be available:   

• Magnolia Plantation grounds
• Magnolia trails
• Magnolia visitor parking lot
• Magnolia Plantation overseer’s house
• Magnolia Plantation blacksmith Shop
• Magnolia Plantation slave/tenant cabin
• Magnolia Plantation gin barn

Other sites at Cane River Creole National Historical Park are open, including Oakland Plantation, which is offering guided and self-guided tours of the grounds and an outdoor gift shop.  

The National Park Service encourages visitors to plan their visit by checking the park’s website and social media for current conditions and travel tips. The CDC has offered guidance to help people recreating in parks and open spaces prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Park staff asks the public to recreate responsibly by following CDC and state and local guidance, social distancing, and wearing a face covering when social distance cannot be maintained.