This is only part of the picture, of course. The South, and plantations in particular, worked primarily because of slave labor--a practice many religious (and non-slave-owning) people found morally repugnant, not to mention ironic in a country that valued freedom as highly as the United States. As Abraham Lincoln pointed out, the government could not exist half-slave and half-free. Opportunities for oppression were rampant, and the fact that the oppressions happened to one group of people--African-Americans--did nothing to build harmony between the races and in fact did a great deal of harm.
These are, to be sure, generalizations. Not all slave-owners were oppressive, nor were all of them white. But the practice had repercussions that lasted for a long time. Some of them can still be felt today, nearly a hundred and fifty years after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment which outlawed keeping humans as property.
Still, the era continues to fascinate, and if you've ever wanted to swoop down the stairs in a hoop skirt or take a lovely Southern belle in your arms while you're in a white tie and tails, there are still plenty of opportunities to get a sense of this unique time.
For sheer opulence as well as concentration of venues, you can perhaps do no better than Natchez, Mississippi, which has more than two dozen plantation homes that can be viewed at various times. Nine of these are open daily, but twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, the city offers what it calls pilgrimages, in which many of the other mansions open up.
Unlike Colonial Williamsburg, where everything is more or less in one place, in Natchez you have to drive around a little to get the full effect. The extra mileage you put on the car is small, however, and the trip is worth it, for you will see many homes that will simply take your breath away.
