Part 13/15:
Despite its decline, the mansion saw several ownership changes over the subsequent decades. In 1909, it was purchased by the Ory family, who continued sugar cultivation. During the 1950s, the estate’s potential as a historical site was recognized when Milton and Elizabeth Thompson leased the property, transforming it into a house museum—the first of its kind along the river route.
The mansion’s storied past captured the imagination of writers and historians. Notably, in 1952, novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes published Steamboat Gothic, a fictionalized account inspired by the house’s intriguing history, further cementing its cultural significance.