Without a doubt, Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled with memorable moments, missions, and set pieces. Perhaps one of the most memorable, however, is the assault on Braithwaite Manor. The Dutch Van Der Linde Gang attack it in search of Jack Marston, just to learn his whereabouts at the end of the assault, and move on. There’s a couple of unrelated missions around the time, but it’s the assault that seals the deal.
A lot of in-game elements are based on real-life counterparts. Several Red Dead Redemption 2 characters are based on real-life people, and Braithwaite Manor is based on some real-world locations. As such, it’s worth looking at the Braithwaite Manor in-game, as well as how it connects to its real-world counterparts.
Red Dead 2’s Braithwaite Manor
Players will learn that Braithwaite Manor is roughly as old as the Braithwaite family itself, dating back to roughly 1779. It is a former slave plantation, which Arthur Morgan first visits in 1899 to deliver a letter to Penelope Braithwaite and then one in return to her lover, Beau. It’s a simply forbidden romance-style of mission, a common storytelling element for areas like Lemoyne—which is based on the real state of Louisana if Saint-Denis didn’t make that clear enough. Other Red Dead Redemption 2 missions related to this Manor included stolen moonshine, stealing horses, burning down the Grays' tobacco fields, and finally, the assault.
While Penelope and Beau elope, this assault massacres the Braithwaite family—leaving the manor abandoned by 1907. It turns out that, in the ruins of Braithwaite manor, a fishing community builds itself upon their ruins, on the docks where the works once lived. While these Red Dead Redemption 2 aspects are fictional, the manor itself is a near 1:1 recreation of the Oak Alley Plantation and Houmas House Plantation.
Red Dead 2: Braithwaite and Oak Alley
Oak Alley and Houmas House are two historic landmarks and slavery museums in Louisiana, again which Lemoyne and Braithwaite Manor are based out of or on. Of the two, Red Dead Redemption 2’s Braithwaite Manor is more akin to Oak Alley Plantation, which got its name from a row, or alley, of southern live oak trees that existed before the modern mansion was built.
It was named a National Historic Landmark for the architecture of the house, the overall landscaping, and for innovating grafting pecan trees—which was done in 1846-1847 by an enslaved gardener named Antoine. Truly, most of this can be seen in Red Dead Redemption 2, but its history doesn't end there.
Oak Alley Plantation was first owned by the “King of Sugar” and one of the wealthiest men in the South, Valcour Aime. It was then traded to his brother-in-law Jacques Roman and his wife Celina. When Jacques died of Tuberculosis, his wife traded to manage it but could not. Their son, Henri, then tried to turn it around, but due to the Civil War, it was no longer economically viable. The family put it up for auction and sold it to John Armstrong.
By the 1920s, it had fallen into disrepair and was acquired by Andrew Stewart to run as a Cattle Ranch. Sugar Cane would return in the 1960s. Ultimately, the Stewarts were the last to live in the house, leaving it to the Oak Alley Foundation in 1972. The foundation, in turn, opened to the public as a museum.
Red Dead 2: Braithwaite and Houmas House
Houmas House, like Oak Alley, changed hands several times over the years. It was first used for beef, mutton, fruits, and vegetables, but when John Burnside bought it in 1858, he entered the sugar business. Prior to his death in 1881, he had amassed it into one of the largest estates in America. Come the 1920s, the occupying family had to sell the plantation piece by piece, with the Houmas being used as a weekend/holiday retreat home. In 2003, it was purchased and restored by Kevin Kelly. The plantation opened for tours in 2003, while Kelly continues to use the Houmas as his private residence.
With the sheer amount of Lousiana history between these two plantations, it’s no surprise that Red Dead Redemption based its historical Braithwaite Mansion on the two. If nothing else, it’s an interesting connection between the Red Dead series and the real history of that time period. It's these connections too that help define many traits of the game, with Braithwaite Manor not hitting the same high marks as it did if there wasn't precedent for this type of structure in the area.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.