A vast sugarcane field blankets more than 700 acres just north of the Sunshine Bridge near Donaldsonville, the Mississippi River bending north around the land before reversing direction as it flows toward New Orleans. The property — the former Point Houmas Plantation — offers river access on three sides.

The field is nearly devoid of trees, except for one.

A live oak rises from the cane, indicating the site of an unmarked cemetery that local researchers say is a burial ground for people formerly enslaved on the area’s plantations. According to their research, the surrounding area includes the foundations of the former plantation house and a Native American village, possibly with more graves.

The property was previously identified as a deep-water access megasite by the Ascension Econom

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