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Founded in 1894 on the grounds of an abandoned sugar plantation, the 330 acres of the institution were well-manicured with neatly mown lawns, flowering bushes, ornate gardens, a lake, a golf course, and sprawling fields amid the Victorian-style dorms, covered walkways, and numerous amenities that made Carville look more like a prep school than a leprosarium.

From 1849 to 1999, Carville National Leprosarium, a federal institution in rural Louisiana now known as the Gillis W. Long Hansen's Disease Center, was the only inpatient hospital in the continental United States for the treatment of Hansen's Disease, commonly known as leprosy.

“This is the leprosarium,” Miss Maggie said as she led us to the steps of the big building among the cottages.

We all knew that he’d send for the police in Falmouth and then, with his next breath, begin to spread the news that Mr. Sloan had been held captive in the leprosarium by a mysterious southerner.

Local people called his leprosarium, or hospital for leprosy patients, “Kivuvu,” or “place of hope.”