Welcome Back to the afternoon! Hahaha --- we've had so much fun already and this day is going to keep going. It is our "Plantation Day." When we left Oakland, we followed the park ranger (for lack of a better title) over to Magnolia Plantation. The Park Service does not own the "Big House" here but other parts are remarkably well preserved. One of the first things we notice as we park is the row with many slave cabins still standing. We start at the plantation store, by getting a map of the area and are soon off and exploring. The store itself is not open for viewing like the one at Oakland was. Here it is used as an admin area.
I circle around behind the store and as I go through the live oak trees once again, come to the Slave Hospital/Overseer House.I do so love these amazing trees. My love for big trees (not just tall pines) is one of the pulls I felt in moving to Texas. I know that sounds odd, but it is true. I would drive around and just ooh and aah at all the glorious trees. Oh, wouldn't it be fun to build a treehouse in that one? Yep, still a kid at heart.
When the Cane River Creole built homes, either for themselves or their labor, they made walls of mud. Two-thirds of the world's population lived in earth-walled homes as modified dirt is a good insulator and is an inexpensive material when labor is cheap. Bousillage is what this mud infill is called in Louisiana. One type is held in place by sticks wedged between the wood wall framing. Small lumps made of mud and grass or cotton stalks infill the framing. Gently undulating walls were lime washed and after the Civil War, covered with nailed-on wallpaper. Wall repairs sometimes contain Spanish Moss.The care at Magnolia hospital was through a traveling doctor and the overseer. A full-time nurse probably attended the hospital as well - likely an enslaved woman. Herbal remedies, "western" medicine and/or spiritual practices were often combined. Care in rural areas was often handled by people using their own "home remedies." Some communities had a respected "healer", sometimes also being a midwife.
Walking toward Slave Row. We're quite quiet and reserved as this should be a reverent place. It's quite a distance away from the store and we cannot even see the Big House through the trees. Eight cabins are all that remain of the homes of the plantation's 275 enslaved people. Of the original 70 cabins, 24 were likely brick, and the rest were wood located along the river. There is documentation to show that some of the cabins were torn down and the bricks used to rebuild the Main House in the 1890s. Day laborers continued to live in the cabins until the early 1970s. Flower gardens from this era still remain on the landscape.
I have to make my way to the very last cabin as that is the one with an open door.
These cabins are much nicer than they would have been with enslaved occupants, for example, there would have been simply a dirt floor and I'm sure the windows would have merely had whatever they could find to tack up, if anything.It would not have been wired or had running water. The rooms now reflect everyday life in the Quarters in the 1950s and 1960s. Residents were day laborers who lived in the Quarters rent free. These people were not sharecroppers but instead worked for the Hertzog family for a daily wage, either laboring in the fields of providing domestic help at the main house.
The doorways are crazy short, forcing Mister to bend as he passes through.Part of this is because the doorways were added as the cabins became home to one family instead of two separate one-room residences. When occupied by slaves, they were only allotted one room -- all living took place there, cooking, dressing, sleeping, etc. the Quarters were built as early as 1845 by enslaved workers with locally made brick. Each cabin has a fireplace and front porch with gutters capture rainwater, which was used in cooking, drinking, bathing, and washing. The Quarters were home to seven families at the time of the 1939 tornado that destroyed most of the cabins. Electricity was installed after World War II but the introduction of "mechanization" meant fewer people were needed to work on the plantation.
Our final destination on this plantation is the big barn, which houses the cotton gin. Here's looking back at the Quarters.
This place is HUGE and with the high slanted roof, there is a great gutter system leading into a very large cistern.Ir order to fully understand this place, one has to learn a bit of history. In the middle and late 1700s, French settlers at the post of Natchitoches began to establish small farms along the Cane River south of town. When Spain took control of Louisiana from France in the 1760s, colonial officials encouraged the further development of farm lands by awarding of numerous land grants to families that agreed to clear the land for agriculture. These farms formed the basis of the large plantations that developed along the Cane River in the early 1800s. The growth of plantation agriculture on the Cane River during the 1780s and 1790s led to the expansion of slavery in the region to meet the labor demands for clearing the land and the subsequent tobacco farming. With the expansion of large tobacco plantations in the Spanish period, the number of enslaved people in the region tripled.
During the French colonial period (1699-1763). French settlers employed both enslaved Native Americans and Africans for a variety of labor needs from home servants to farm laborers. The importation of enslaved Africans into Louisiana stopped between 1743 and 1777, resulting in the gradual creolization of Africans and their descendants, a process in which they developed a distinct Louisiana Afro-Creole culture. Lipan Apaches from Texas composed the majority of enslaved Native Americans in this perios, as the Comanche and Wichita in Texas captures Apaches to sell as slaves to the Caddo, who then sold them to French settlers.
In Spanish Louisiana (1783-1803), slavery expanded on Cane River with the growth of tobacco plantations in the 1780s. Spanish laws also enabled easier emancipation of enslaved people, leading to the development of a community of free persons of color. In 1769, the Spanish governor of Louisiana reaffirmed Spain's prohibition of Indian slavery, as well as the sale or exchange of Indian slaves. As a result, the region began to rely exclusively on African labor. To meet labor needs, Spain encouraged the slaved trade between the West Indies and Lousiana. The number of enslaved person in the Natchitoches area in 1722 was less than 30 --- by 1775 it was just less than 400 and by 1800 it was over 900.
Cotton became a profitable crop on the Cane River after 1793 when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. According to family legend, Jean Pierre Emmanuel Prud'homme, owner of the Oakland Plantation, was the first on Cane River to invest in cotton on a large scale, and he grew wealthy by its cultivation. As other planters followed suit, the Natchitoches area had about twenty-four gins by 1803, and as the century entered its second decade, cotton had replaced tobacco as the main crop.Now, I openly admitted previously to not fully understanding the gin process, but the gin inside this building is so enormous that I will share pictures and graphics. If you want to learn more, go for it. Here is what I do know: The Gin/Press Barn shows the evolution of cotton processing technology in the 1800s. Cotton was hand picked, ginned and then pressed into 400 pound bales on the plantation. The barn's construction date is unknown, however, an 1858 map shows a "gin" close to this barn's location. It may have been built around the c. 1840 wood screw press which used mule power to form cotton bales. The "state-of-the-art" steam powered gins and double box hydraulic press represent a later era. Pioneered in the late 1880s, "system ginning" was a mechanized assembly line that unified the ginning and pressing processes. Community gins replaced the plantation gins. Cotton was last ginned at Magnolia in 1939. Although cotton gins once existed by the thousands, few remain.
The steam-powered gin and double box press operated from the late 1800s. Steam engines transformed the slow work of ginning and compacting the cotton into bales to a fast and efficient, but more dangerous, process. Cotton was last ginned at Magnolia in 1939 when the steam converter was destroyed by a tornado.
The wood screw press was mule-powered and rose to a height of 30 feet when operating. This is a unique style of press and is likely the only one still in its original location. After the cotton was ginned or de-seeded it was pressed into 500 pound bales for market.
Cotton was king. On this plantation, in 1860 they sent 1,133 400 lbs. bales of cotton to New Orleans. This was the largest output in any single year. At .10/lbs. one bale=$40, 1,133 bales x $40=$45,320. Using an inflation calculator in 2019 that would be: $1,279,800.51. Remember there is no personal income tax and his labor costs are cheap. This ends our trip to Magnolia and we are turning the car back towards Natchitoches as we have our room for two nights and really have only traveled about 1/2 an hour south.
Along the way is Melrose and the last plantation on my list for this area. This one is a bit different as it has one of the most fascinating histories ever and was run by a woman. Pretty crazy right? It is not owned by the government, but it a National Historic Landmark. Tours are available and we'll see how long we have to wait for one.As we go outside to wait for the tour to start, there is one of the most beautiful live oaks -- and it's soooo old. Look how big the trunk is. Wow.
Along the branches there is a growth taking place in addition to the Spanish moss. This is called Resurrection Fern and although it looks dead, a little rain will green it right up -- hence the name.
Our tour begins and the first thing we discover is that this was mistakenly called the Yucca Plantation early on. It has a funny story about a visitor to the plantation being there when asked by a journalist about the plantation. There is a building on the location called the Yucca House, but the plantation has always been Melrose. This legendary plantation was established in the late 18th century by a family of "gens de couleur libres" (free people of color) around the time of the Louisiana Purchase. The story of romantic Melrose Plantation begins with the legend of Marie Therese Coincoin, who was born, in 1742, a slave in the household of Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, the first commandant of the post at Natchitoches. Marie Therese became the matriarch of a family of fourteen children-four black and ten of Franco-African blood- and the founder of a unique colony of people. Along with several other children, she was sold to Thomas Pierre Metoyer, who later freed her and eventually all her Metoyer children. Between 1794 and 1803, she and her sons received a number of land grants, the lands forming Melrose Plantation being recorded in the name of her son Louis. Descendants of the Metoyers live along the river today, a people proud of the heritage and culture.
It was at Melrose that the Metoyers built Yucca House, the African-House, and other structures. It must have been a tremendous undertaking for them to clear the land, build roads and fences, and raise indigo, tobacco, cotton, and other crops to achieve a successful plantation operation. Marie Therese Coincoin became a wealthy businesswoman and the grounds contain what may well be the oldest buildings of African design built by blacks, for the use of blacks, in the country. Yucca Housee (c 1796) was the original main house at Melrose and incorporated local materials exclusively -- heavy hand-hewn cypress beams, uprights, and sleepers; walls made of mud from the river bottoms, mixed with deer hair and Spanish moss. Yucca has house more of America's notable authors, historians and artists than any other single residence in the south.
One wall kept open to show the construction.
At one end of the house there is a small chapel as well.
The African House (c 1800), a strange-looking construction reminiscent of the straw-thatched huts found in the Congo, was built as storehouse. The African House has been called the only structure of Congo-like architecture on the North American continent dating back to colonial times. The lower level of the unique building is constructed of brick baked on the place, while the upper story is fashioned from thick hand-hewn cypress slabs with eaves that slope almost to the ground. The walls of the upper story contain murals painted by Clementine Hunter.
In the beginning, the two doors that you see above did not exist. The only way into this building was through the upper door. Can you see it? So how did they get there?Do you see that log being held by a support in the back. That would be moved around to the front and used reach the upper door. This was to ensure that what was stored here was not susceptible to theft.
I am fascinated by the way the bricks are laid on the floor. Look in the following picture to see that they start in the corner and work out in 90 degree corners.
Onto the Big House - and, once again, no photography allowed. The Big House was constructed on the Melrose grounds about 1833, a Louisiana-type plantation home, the lower floor of brick and the upper story of wood. Twin hexagonal garconnieres and a kitchen wing were later added by the Hentry family. In the economical upheaval of the 1840s, the plantation passed to white ownership. It was bought by the Hertzogs, who, in turn lost it in the aftermath of the Civil War. In 1884, the plantation was acquired by Joseph Hentry. At the turn of the century Melrose became the home of John Hampton and Cammie Garrett Henry, the latter known affectionately as "Miss Cammie" to her Cane River friends. In the succeeding years Miss Cammie's patronage of the arts and preservation of local artifacts made Melrose justly famous. Mrs. Henry replanted and extended the plantation gardens, rescued the colonial buildings, revived local handicrafts, and accumulated her famous library of Louisiana books and materials. Artists and writers were invited by Mrs. Henry to atay as long as they wished, so long as they were working on some creative project. Each evening she would go around the dinner table and ask what they accomplished today. If they had make progress, they were invited to leave Melrose.
Upstairs view
Clementine Hunter's cabin.
On our way -- what is left of the original kitchen.
More about Clementine Hunter: She is one of the most important self-taught American artists of the 20th century. Her works hang in the Smithsonian Institution, the American Folk Art Museum, the African American Museum in Dallas (why have I never been there?), the Ogden Museum in New Orleans Museum of Art, and numerous other museums and private collections. Hunter's art plays a major role in the National Museum of Africa American History and Culture which opened in 2017. Hunter was born Clemence Rubin in 1887 on Hidden Hill cotton plantation near Cloutierville, Lousiana. her parents were sharecroppers in the fertile region that took its name from the oxbow lake known as Cane River. When Hunter was a teenager, her father gave up sharecropping to take a job that paid wages and moved his family to Melrose plantation, one of the largest and most successful farms in the region and Clementine continued to live on or near Melrose for the rest of her life.
Without formal training, after age 50, she began painting her memories. She created her first painting on a window shade and was encouraged to continue by one of Miss Cammie's guests. Over four decades she created works on any surface she could find including canvas, bottles, boards, jugs, spittoons, milk jugs, lumber scraps and lampshades. Hunter sold her artwork for as little as 25 cents to a few dollars. The admission price for a tour of paintings in her cottage was 50 cents. The cost increased to a dollar if a visitor wanted a photo taken with the artist.In time, her colorful works illuminated the side of plantation life that was "over the fence and across the road." Her paintings are visual narratives, telling the story of the African American and Creole people who lived and worked on and around the plantation until their labor was replaced by mechanization. Clementine continued to paint until a few days before her death on January 1, 1988, at the age of 101.Most of the inside of the cabin is now a small museum telling about her life -- but some of the pictures show the murals inside the African House so I'm showing that here.
This next picture is jaw dropping to me and although you cannot see it, many of the items pictured here, we saw yesterday -- in originals.
One room is kept pretty original -- as close as it could be. How can I guess that? Well, beside the stove is a picture on the wall. It was taken of Clementine sitting in this very room. I neglected to get a close up of it, but this picture may allow you to zoom in and see what we did. It's a pretty good replica.
Making our way the last 15 minutes or so north to Natchitoches, the time of day is breathtaking. As I spot the river and the glory around it, I want to stop and Mister obliges so that we can take pictures. I am speechless with with beauty of nature.
What was his view like? Ahhhh.
Mister asks about a place we were told about today (while at Melrose) - Saint Augustine Catholic Church. It turns out we are very close and another stop is added. Established as a mission church in 1829 by by Nicholas Augustin Metoyer, St. Augustine is the first Roman Catholic Church in the United States to be founded, independently financed, and built by African Americans for their express use. The structure is over two centuries old and still in active use. According to the first recorded history of the parish, the church was named to honor the patron saint of Nicholas Augustin Metoyer. While the precise year the first church was built is unknown, it is known that the church was built by free people of color using their own money, predominately for their own use, and open to all in the area who wished to share in their Catholic faith with them. The church is remarkable not only for its age, but also for its racial role reversals. Pew records show that the front rows were occupied by the Creole Metoyer family. Behind them were the families of the community's prominent white planters. A famous portrait of Nicholas Augustin Metoyer hands int he church, and though many have tried to purchase it through the years, members of the ocmmunity have ensured that it remain in the church. The church bell is said to be the only remaining object from the original church that is still in use today.
Behind the church is the cemetery and familiar names just keep popping up.One is very difficult to read by information is close at hand. Grandpere's Tomb holds Nicolas Augustin Metoyer - the oldest son of Pierre Motoyer and Marie Therese Coincoin (see familiar names). He was born a twin in 1768 and was a visionary and spiritual leader who spent the last 16 years of his live working to establish a parish church for his people and passing on his wisdom, history, and heritage. The tomb was constructed after the death of his beloved wife, Marie Agnes Poissot (1775-1839) and also contains the remains of their youngest son and a couple others.
Just across the road is the river. I walk across to peek through the trees and once again --- I can understand why people love this area so much.
On our list for a stop is The Commisary. It's one of the spots that Bill Brent mentioned last night. A small break with fluid sounds perfect. They are participating in the Steel Magnolias weekend and I order up a Blushing Bellini. This is just sooooo good, must remember. It is raspberry liqueur and champagne. Oooooh, that could go down well. Hungrier than we thought --- food is ordered as well and another item checked off our list -- meat pies. It all takes great and I'm happy as a clam. Are clams happy? Why do we say that?
A rising moon catches our attention as we depart and as we arrive back in Natchitoches. Shows how close to downtown we really were.
Looking across the river --- two of the lights are on. They have frames all up and down the river for lights such as these, but most are Christmas related and only on during December. Love the reflection.
Walking to the end of the road, a waterfall and Maglieaux's are both discovered. 
It is another spot that Bill had recommended and we saved dessert just for this. Ordering another Steel Magnolia treat - Shelby's Bashful Martini is my choice and has Absolut vanilla with raspberry liqueur and pineapple juice. Another winner for sure. Mister has a drink and some bread pudding to top off his evening. It's been an amazing day and I feel as though I have been taken back in time and taught many valuable lessons.Our apartment is waiting and some crocheting along with reading takes place to wind down after a very busy day. Tomorrow we leave Natchitoches, but we will return --- maybe even in December for their Christmas Festival. It really isn't very far for us to go. See you in the next post.
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