The Cane River Creole National Historic Park

2018 Piney Woods Journal Submission


Our national and state parks in Louisiana certainly offer abundant recreational and wildlife learning opportunities. Many of these parks are located along the I-20 interstate highway corridor. Others are found within the many districts of the Kitaschie National Forest. We are truly blessed to have so many options for nature and outdoor activities within close distance.

I’ve tried to profile many of these recreational and environmental adventures for readers of this journal. This month I'll shift gears a little to describe a nearby national park noted much more for its special historical and cultural flavor. Visiting the Cane River Creole National Park south of Natchitoches does offer a lot of walking exercise, though, over two restored plantations that tell the story of life there from the 1700s to the middle decades of the twentieth century. The plantations and surrounding areas also feature remnants of its major agricultural crop of cotton, as well as many trees, such as live oaks, magnolias, catalpa, crepe myrtle and others associated with farm and plantation life.
 
Although I occasionally drive to or through the Natchitoches area, I hadn’t previously explored LA Highways 494 and 119 that lead south and east of the city for many miles and follow the banks of the Cane River. Designated as the Cane River National Heritage Trail, the drive itself first to the Oakland Plantation, then on to the Melrose Plantation, and further along to the Magnolia Plantation reveals much about our state's economic diversity. Homes along the river range from weathered houses and fishing shacks to many attractive, and even opulent, estates.

The basic history of Natchitoches and the surrounding area is probably familiar to many. Spanish and French forts and camps were established by the early 1700s. The native Americans, Spanish, and French residents of the area were joined by many enslaved Africans who were brought there to farm the rich land along the river. The ethnic mix from these early settlers and slaves, often called Creole, created a distinctive culture in this pocket of Louisiana.
 
The web site for this national historical park provides a lot of tourist information which I could only poorly summarize here. Instead, I’ll provide some of my stronger impressions and personal photos from visits to the Oakland and Magnolia Plantations. These two plantations comprise the Cane River Creole National Historic Park that has free admission and self-tours. The nearby Melrose Plantation is administered as a historic site by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches and charges a $10 fee for visiting adults. Each of the plantations has distinctive stories and interesting attractions, and it would be very difficult to absorb much of the history and ambiance of all three in a single day.

The main plantation home at Oakland, or as it was also called Bermuda, is an obvious focus for tourists who are guided through it by a friendly park ranger, but I was struck by the many satellite houses, sheds, and storage places that were needed to support the lives of its many residents and slaves. The slave quarters deserve special attention, and a specific time each day is devoted by staff to trying to describe slave life on the plantation. The self-guided tour of the whole plantation area, playable on cell phones, takes visitors through specific houses, barns and sheds for the plantation overseer, doctor, cook, carpenter, horses and carriages, mules, turkeys and chicken, and others. Of particular interest to me were the plantation store and post office and the “pigeonnier.”

 
                                                         Pigeonnier at Oakland Plantation

The existing store and post office reminded me of photos that I’ve seen of community or urban stores in the South at the turn of the twentieth century. How this store must have looked even earlier in the Restoration, Civil War, or colonial eras is largely left to the imagination. Like a few other wealthy French landowners, the Prud’homme family of Oakland/Bermuda had one or two tall, wooden buildings devoted to raising pigeons. The pigeons were harvested for a French dining delicacy known as “squab.” These elegant pigeon houses also were a symbol of the financial worth and elite status of the plantation owners.

                                                   Oakland Plantation Features

The LeComte family established the Magnolia Plantation based on a land grant along both sides of the Cane River that Jean Baptiste LeComte received in 1753. According to family legends, the plantation’s main house was burned in April 1864 by retreating Union troops during the Civil War’s Red River Campaign. The restored main house of this plantation is privately-owned and not open to the public; however, the plantation store, blacksmith’s shop, pigeonnier, hospital/overseer’s house, slave cabins, and cotton ginning and pressing barn are key tour stops. The slave cabins and gin/press barn there are particularly interesting. Of originally 70 cabins for slaves, some were brick and on higher ground, while the rest were made of wood and located along the river. Eight of the brick cabins are all that remain today of these slave cabins. Two slave families apparently resided in each brick cabin, and laborers apparently lived in these brick cabins as late as the early 1970s. A large barn contains the plantation’s cotton ginning and pressing equipment. The unusual wood-screw cotton press was powered by mules and was 30-foot tall in operational mode. Also there is a steam-powered gin and double box press which were used from the late 1800s.

The Cane River Creole National Historic Park, the Caroline Dorman Nature Preserve north of Natchitoches, and many historical attractions found in city itself make this area what I believe is one of very best vacation or weekend destinations in the state. I would recommend it particularly for families with children who are or will soon be taking school courses in our state’s history and culture. Some visiting adults and children might develop a “feel,” going beyond anything that books or PDAs can provide, for a long era in our state’s history and culture.