In 1939 Laughlin began a series of photographs that was published as "Ghosts Along the Mississippi" nine years later. He focused on antebellum plantation architecture in Louisiana, photographing not only stereotypical mansions but also smaller cabins, cemeteries, and churches. He believed that the integration of environmental elements into plantation architecture was one source of inspiration for modern architecture. This image of Greenwood Plantation, which once served as a 12,000-acre sugar plantation, draws attention to the poetic beauty of the central building and its surrounding mossy oaks.