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May 1, 2003 12:00 PM

NOT FAR from New Orleans sits the Oak Alley Plantation, famous for its three-century-old trees that line the approach leading to the Antebellum mansion. It's here that spouses will spend Tuesday from 10 am until 3 pm. In addition to a tour of the house and grounds, the group will lunch at a plantation restaurant noted for its authentic Cajun and Creole dishes such as jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, and gumbo.

The Greek-revival mansion, sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River, is furnished with period pieces, according to information from the New Orleans Tourist Bureau and the plantation. The house was built in 1839 by Jacques Telesphore Roman, a sugar planter from New Orleans. The trees are believed to have been planted in the early 1700s by an unknown person.

Such plantation houses were once scattered along the Mississippi Valley.

A National Historic Landmark, the mansion and grounds were opened to the public in 1976.