Nottoway Plantation burned to the ground this week (week of May 11, 2025).

Reactions have been mixed.

Here is an Instagram response from food historian and all-round mensch, Michael W. Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene, A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South.

I shared an upclose look at the problem in this post, where I recalled my abhorrence at a witnessing a wedding being set up at Boone Hall Plantation near Charleston.

TL;DR A local historian pointed out that absent wedding income the historic site would’ve been turned into a golf course.

I saw fingerprints of enslaved brick makers in the structures there, so I can attest to the power of preservation. Still how to square the dissonance?

Compare: grinning selfies (real or staged) in front of the conflagration or reposts of whiny white laments with the caption, “Cry harder, Scarlett.”

Here’s a powerful poem read on FB this morning.

And then there’s this, posted on FB by the founder of The Slave Dwelling Project, Joseph McGill.

Another place to celebrate is Whitney Plantation, a historic site that does not rent its space for weddings and parties.

What are your thoughts? In spite of the historic preservation ideas that underpin some of the noncelebratory responses reported here, I’ll admit to finding the photo of the classically-constructed Southern Big House on fire extremely satisfying.