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ELMWOOD, THE COWAND PLANTATION
Located at North Beach Boulevard between Boardman Street and Leonhard Avenue.
On lands that were granted by Spain in 1786 to Louis Alesis Lassassier and confirmed by France in 1794, Elmwood Plantation's foundations were laid about 1804. The walls of the mansion were constructed from brick brought from Spain and Portugal as ballast in sailing vessels and are up to five bricks thick. The sills were hewn from cypress logs floated down the Mississippi River.
The War of 1812 and death of Monsieur Lassassier delayed the construction work until the property was purchased in 1826 by Jesse Cowand, a sea captain, who migrated from Virginia to New Orleans. He was taken prisoner by the British at the Battle of Chalmette.
After the war, he purchased Elmwood and, while cultivating Sea Cotton on the lands, he directed the completion of his home. The two story brick building is put together with wooden pegs and consists of double parlors, a living room and a library downstairs. Upstairs there are four large bedrooms. Each floor has a twelve foot wide breezeway that runs from the front to the rear galleries which are identical and measure ten and a half feet by fifty-four feet. The front galleries overlook the Bay of Saint Louis from a high point of land encircled by large live oak trees. Mr. Cowand's nautical past explains why each room had a fireplace with mantles displaying hand carved anchors and chains. The double parlors had matching Waterford crystal chandeliers. The original massive hinges and latches remain on most of the doors and shutters.
The plantation had its own cemetery on the grounds (presently on Leopold Street) where Mr. Cowand and many of his family are buried. The home and most of the lands have been sold by his heirs to persons outside the family.