Laura Plantation
Encyclopedia
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
in St. James Parish, Louisiana on the West Bank of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
near Vacherie, Louisiana
Vacherie, Louisiana
Vacherie is a small unincorporated community in St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States. Near the community is the WCKW/KSTE-Tower, a guyed mast noted as one of the tallest constructions on Earth.-Census-designated places:...
. It is significant for its early 19th c. Créole-style raised big house and several surviving outbuildings, including six slave quarters. It is one of only 15 plantation complexes in Louisiana with this degree of complete structures. Because of its importance, the plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is also included on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail is a cultural heritage trail with 26 sites designated in 2008 by the state of Louisiana, from New Orleans along the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge and Shreveport, with sites in small towns and plantations also included. In New Orleans several sites are...
.
Alcée Fortier
Alcée Fortier
Alcée Fortier was a renowned Professor of Romance Languages at Tulane University in New Orleans. In the late 19th and early 20th century, he published numerous works on language, literature, Louisiana history and folklore, Louisiana Créole languages, and personal reminiscence. His perspective...
, who later became Professor of Romance Languages and folklore at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, was said to have collected Louisiana Creole
Louisiana Creole
Louisiana Creole can refer to:* Louisiana Creole people* Louisiana Creole French language* Louisiana Creole cuisine...
versions of the West African Br'er Rabbit
Br'er Rabbit
Br'er Rabbit is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories of the Southern United States. He is a trickster character who succeeds by his wits rather than by brawn, tweaking authority figures and bending social mores as he sees fit...
stories here in the 1870s.
History
"The first Europeans to meet the local Indians were men from De Soto's army who were led downriver by Moscoso after De Soto's death. At the mouth of the Mississippi River, the Spaniards were attacked by Indians with spears, who were later believed to belong to the Washa and Chawasha tribes. In 1699, some Washa Indians, with Indians from four other tribes who were settled on the west side of the Mississippi Rivr, went to the Gulf Coast to meet Iberville and to smoke the peace pipe with him."
"The Bayougoula Indians had their main village on the west bank of the Mississippi River at the present town of Bayou Goula, between White Castle and Plaquemine. Around 1713, some survivors of this tribe were at a campsite around the lower St. James and upper St. John the Baptist parishes, most probably around Front Vacherie, the later site between Valcour Aime's plantation and Duparc's plantation (present Laura Plantation), the site called Tabiscania. Some of these Indians lived at a main village with a large complex of mounds called Shell Hill in Back Vacherie, seven miles from the river."
The plantation (originally known as Duparc plantation) was established in 1805 by Guillaume Duparc and the Duparc family.
The complex continued functioning as a plantation into the 20th century. The plantation complex consists of the "big house"; several outb the slave quarters, which workers continued to live in up until 1977, contributes to the historic significance of the complex. Because of its importance, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is used to interpret history and for heritage tourism.
Shaded by the low branches of large oak trees, the main house is almost hidden from the road. Constructed in c. 1805, the "big house" at Laura Plantation has a raised brick basement story and a briquette-entre-poteaux (brick between posts) upper floor. It is one of only 30 substantial Créole raised houses in the state. Also noteworthy are the federal-style interior woodwork and Norman roof truss, unusual for Créole houses.
The interior of the "big house" is furnished with original antiques. Some pieces were donated to the plantation by families of the original owners. Owners have left some areas inside the home unrestored to give visitors a sense of history.
A large collection of family treasures and apparel are on display, giving a sense of daily life. Laura Locoul Gore's memoirs provided much of what is known about life on Laura Plantation.
In 2004 the plantation house was significantly damaged by an electrical fire. Restoration work was completed in 2006, despite the interruption of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
.
Residents
On October 25, 1821, Elisabeth Duparc, a native of Pointe Coupée and the daughter of the late Guillaume Benjamin Demézière Duparc and Anne Nanette Prudhomme, was married at the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edgard to George Raymond Locoul, a native of Bordeaux, France, the son of Raymond Locoul and Marie Roland. From this marriage, the lands of Duparc, which is presently represented by Laura Plantation at the river, became the property of the Locouls. One member, Marie Elisabeth Aimée Locoul, the widow of Jean Flavien Charles de Lobel Mahy, the granddaughter of Guillaume Duparc, subdivided the Duparc tract from the river to Molaison.
Laura Locoul Gore was the fourth mistress of the plantation. She was born in the house in 1861. She inherited it and ran it as a sugar business until 1891, when she sold the plantation to Aubert Florian Waguespack. The Waguespack family ran resided on and lived at the plantation until 1984.
Laura Plantation's association with the Br'er Rabbit tales drew preservationist Norman Marmillion's attention to the site. He created a for-profit company that attracted enough investors to embark on a ten-year plan of restoration. Some investors are descendants of former owners.
The Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox tales are variations on stories that originated in Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
and were brought to America around the 1720s by enslaved Africans. According to the plantation's history, Alcée Fortier
Alcée Fortier
Alcée Fortier was a renowned Professor of Romance Languages at Tulane University in New Orleans. In the late 19th and early 20th century, he published numerous works on language, literature, Louisiana history and folklore, Louisiana Créole languages, and personal reminiscence. His perspective...
, a neighbor of the family and student of folklore, came there in the 1870s to listen to the freedmen. He collected the stories which freedmen told their children in Louisiana Créole. These stories were about Compair Lapin and Compair Bouki (the clever rabbit and stupid fool), in which the rabbit plays a trickster role. Twenty-five years later in 1894, Fortier published stories which he had collected and translated in the edition Louisiana Folk Tales: In French Dialect and English Translation. Fortier did publish such a book and may have collected the tales at Laura and his own family's plantation.