Live Oak

Live Oak is a 245-acre former plantation nestled in the Tunica Hills of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana – a landscape that weaves together the state’s deep cultural and ecological history. The property features a 200-year-old oak allée and a section of the Old Angola Cut, a historic trade route once traveled by the Tunica People and part of the greater Tunica Trace. The site also contains a house, built in 1810, among the oldest surviving residences in Louisiana and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Through a multi-disciplinary investigation involving ecologists, ethnographers, archaeologists, and landscape architects, Fondation Trahan has sought to uncover and interpret Live Oak’s past while guiding its renewal. Careful fieldwork and the study of historic maps and vegetation patterns led to the rediscovery of the Tunica Trace, which was revealed through invasive plant species removal conducted largely by hand to preserve fragile topography.

Since 2021, extensive ecological restoration has transformed the property. Over 80 acres have been seeded with native grasses, perennials, and forbs, creating meadows that restore hydrology, attract pollinators, and improve soil health. Seasonal burning now maintains these prairies, while invasive plants have been removed from surrounding woodlands, allowing native groundcover to regenerate.

Live Oak’s goals are twofold:  to stabilize and restore the historic main house to its era of significance, and to serve as a model for other degraded agricultural landscapes, demonstrating how depleted soils can be revived into thriving ecological corridors. With plans to protect approximately 237 acres under a conservation servitude through the Land Trust for Louisiana, Live Oak stands as a living laboratory for conservation, cultural understanding, and shared stewardship of land and history.