Located on the Mississippi west of New Orleans, Vacherie and the surrounding area is rich in plantations and antebellum homes. One of the most interesting is Laura Plantation in Vacherie, where tour guides draw on the diaries of the former owners and emphasize the activities of the plantation's slaves. Across the river, in Burnside, is Houmas House, which survived occupation by Union forces in the Civil War because its owner at the time claimed that his British citizenship entitled him to keep the house. (It also survived the filming of the Bette Davis movie Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte in the early 1960s.) Vacherie is 45 mi/70 km west of New Orleans.