What was originally known as Habitation Haydel was founded in 1752 by Ambroise Heidal, one of the many German immigrants who colonized the river parishes in the 18th century.

The museum was founded by John Cummings, a trial attorney from New Orleans who has spent more than $8 million of his own fortune on this long-term project.

[6][7] The director of research is Dr. Ibrahima Seck, a Senegalese scholar specializing in the history of slavery.

[4] The grounds contain several memorial sites dedicated to the more than 100,000 men, women, and children who were enslaved in Louisiana.

Original art commissioned by Cummings, such as life-size sculptures of children, were added to help tell the history of slavery.

These oral histories of hundreds of the last survivors of slavery in the United States were collected and published by the federal government, to preserve their stories.

The French Creole raised-style[2][3] main house, built in 1790, is an important architectural example in the state.

Upon Ambroise's death, ownership of the land passed to his youngest son, Jean Jacques Haydel.

After Marcellin's death in 1839, his widow Marie Azélie Haydel ran the plantation during its most productive time.