Within a verdant tropical park and surrounded by century-old trees, Plantation Leyritz is an old habitation located in the North Atlantic which has preserved the remains of its period buildings. It was an old agricultural domain, certainly the most important of the West Indies if we take into account the number of its buildings. It was founded by a noble from Bordeaux, Michel de Leyritz (1681-1764) who had settled in the North Atlantic region of the island for several years.
From then on, a system of planting crops was set up according to the needs and trends of the time (spices, cassava, tobacco, citrus fruits and of course sugar cane). Nowadays, there are still plantations of bananas and pineapples.
After its creation, as was the case in the rest of the island's settlements, Michel de Leyritz called upon slaves from Africa to work in the plantations. In 1771, there were 336 slaves working on the fields of the site which covered an area of 497 hectares. Then the number of slaves present on the site will decrease following the end of the slave trade.
After the abolition of slavery, paid black workers and "koulis" were in charge of field work and the production of sugar cane products (rum, sugar and tafia).
In 1970, it was transformed into a hotel-restaurant while preserving the historical buildings (sugar mill, distillery, water mill and the case-nègres street) as best as possible.
Leyritz Plantation is also known for having been the host of a Franco-American summit between the President of the Republic at the time, Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Gerald Fort, the President of the United States, from December 14 to 16, 1974.
In 1979, it was hit hard by Hurricane David before being restored and welcoming visitors from around the world.
In 2007, the Leyritz Plantation was partially destroyed by Hurricane Dean and did not reopen its doors to visitors. In addition, due to funding difficulties, the site has not been renovated.