During the antebellum period, the plantation housed 200 people; everyone working at Evergreen was housed there. Mowing The Lawn While Pregnant: Is It Safe And What Precautions Should You Take? The plantation is located in Edgard, Louisiana, and was originally part of a land grant from the French Crown. There are only a few antebellum sugar plantations left in the United States, and the property is one of the few remaining in the South. SLAVERY DATABASE More than 400 individuals were enslaved at Evergreen Plantation over the course of 150 years. In 1997, a group of black farmers sued the agency, claiming that they had been discriminated against for years. The 1860 census lists Lezin Evergreen Plantation, which dates to 1777, is one of the most intact plantation complexes in the South, with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including two garconnieres, two pidgeonniers, the kitchen, the domestic slave house, the stables, the Greek Revival privy, and twenty-two slave cabins in their original double-row configuration, according to its website. The original structures where enslaved people lived can still be found on the property. A seemingly endless cycle of planting, hoeing, weeding, harvesting, and grinding comprised the work routine on Louisiana's sugarcane plantations during the 19th century. Slave trading and slave plantations were also common among plantation owners in the Deep South. Search over 40 years of magazine archives: Published nine times a year since 1975 in partnership with the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office, Preservation in Print is the exclusive publication covering architectural preservation and neighborhood revitalization in Louisiana. Evergreen Plantation is the most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins. She had been staying in the iconic big house on occasion, but after the property opened its stately gates to the public in 1998, she moved to a cottage. He was described as an American negro age 25.He had to make his own family and create relationships that would help him endure enslavement. have caused alterations. According to Shannon Boddie, the executive director of Evergreen, the organization intends to do more community service. The Evergreen Plantation is one of the oldest plantations in the United States, having been established in 1752. The grounds include 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), including 22. Tobacco was once produced on the plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, and shipped throughout the colonies to England. Evergreen Plantation is a plantation located on the west side of the Mississippi River in St. John the Baptist Parish, near Wallace, Louisiana, and along Louisiana Highway 18. Evergreen Plantation, located near New Orleans, is the largest intact plantation complex in the South. In 1944, when Mrs. Gray purchased Evergreen Plantation, the double row of slave cabins was occupied primarily by sugar cane workers. His name was recorded as Edward Edmonds. All rights reserved. Despite the fact that the term plantation is frequently associated with large cotton plantations in the Deep South, sugar, rice, and indigo plantations were also common areas. In the early 1700s, the plantation was most likely based on the Evergreen Plantation, which was located in Edgard, Louisiana. How To Add Oil To Your Murray Lawn Mower For Optimal Performance, The Benefits Of Using Liquid Fertilizer After Mowing Your Lawn, Troubleshooting Your Riding Lawn Mower: Identifying And Resolving Common Issues, How To Determine The Correct Amount Of Oil To Fill Your Toro Lawn Mower After A Change, How To Troubleshoot And Repair Your Cub Cadet Riding Lawn Mower, How To Minimize The Risk Of Blowback When Using A Riding Lawn Mower. Some could trace their ancestry back multiple generations to the first slaves brought to the plantation. urchinTracker(); South-Carolina-Plantations.com Evergreen Plantation, Anderson County, SC, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XIV, South Carolina Narratives, Part 3, Historical and Architectural Survey of Anderson County, South Carolina, The Harrisons of Greenville County, South Carolina, John Baylis Earle Family Cemetery Document, Current status Privately-owned event site, 1848 Samuel Girard Earle passed away and willed the plantation to his oldest living son, Elias John Earle. They attended the Second African Baptist Church. The plantation continued to produce sugar cane under the direction of the bank that owned it, and it is still a working sugar cane plantation today. It is a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public for tours. The granulated, raw (unrefined) sugar produced from the crystallization process was packed into hogsheads, wooden barrels that held roughly 1000 pounds of granulated sugar. He operated the land as a plantation and eventually built grist mills and a cotton gin ( 1 ). [6][7], It is a production site of films such as Django Unchained (2012)[8] and Antebellum (2020). Old Shiloh School1.6 miles Lake Hartwell3.3 miles Milky Way Farm3.6 miles Starr9.1 miles Show me more like this! At Evergreen Plantation, Pierre Clidamont Becnel purchased slaves that were skilled workers. Life for enslaved African-Americans was difficult in Louisiana. Now, thanks to a new database compiled by Evergreen, Celestes story, and the stories of so many of the plantations enslaved people, will be told. Another relic of the plantation is an original garconnire, which young men used as sleeping quarters during their time on the plantation. Timeline. He was disabled due to a serious oblique inguinal hernia that had gone untreated for decades. This location was used in the film Django Unchained, which was released in 2011. The plantation house and outbuildings are well preserved and offer a glimpse into the life of the plantation owners. Evergreen Plantation is the only one in the South still standing. The plantation had 1,200 slaves at the start of the nineteenth century, but the number increased to 1,500 by the end of the nineteenth century. Over the course of more than 150 years, the Evergreen Plantation housed over 400 slaves. American origin signifies that the individual was enslaved in one of the Upper Southern states, such as Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Maryland, and was sold south to Louisiana. You can choose which field you want to search. According to Joseph McGill, this is the largest collection of slave dwellings in the world. Replication not permitted without express consent. Evergreen Plantation is owned by a family who has resided in the area for generations. The formerly enslaved Black Americans, though legally freed, continued to live and work at the plantation until 1947. The Catholic Church in Louisiana completely embraced family alliances when it came to marriage. The plantation is now a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public for tours. She was born at Evergreen and went on to have 10 children, 51 grandchildren, 148 great-grandchildren, and 88 great-great-grandchildren. This plantation was abandoned in the 1930s due to the Depression, but it has since been restored and is now a sugar cane plantation. More African American men from Louisiana enlisted in the Union army than in any other state. at all. Despite the fact that the Ward family was one of the most powerful and wealthy families in South Carolina at the time, the plantation eventually fell into their hands. After years of in-depth research, Evergreens historians have amassed a vast collection of primary source documents that shed light on the individuals who were purchased and brought there to labor in the sugar cane fields as well as those who were born into slavery in the cabins that still stand today, a press release said. Evergreen Plantation has been a family home since the late-18th century. Call 985-497-3837 to arrange a visit. Privately owned, it remains a working sugar cane plantation. The plantation was established in 1752 by Claude Treme, and was later owned by his son-in-law, Jacques Treme. The brutal Candie runs a vast plantation known as Candyland in the film, in addition to the terrifying Candyland, a demon-infested paradise. The plantation house and original slave quarters have been preserved and well-kept which, come to find out, is quite the rarity. He also built a brick home located near a spring. The documents used to create this database include estate inventories, succession records, and bills of sale as well as sacramental records from the Archdiocese of New Orleans recording baptisms and funerals. On the eve of the Civil War, most sugarcane plantations in Louisiana used vacuum pans to produce unrefined crystallized sugar. The plantation was saved from ruin by oil heiress Matilda Geddings Gray, from Lake Charles, La., in 1944, with Richard Koch as architect. and doors remain, but nearly 150 years of patching, repairs, and reconstruction The research remains ongoing, and the database will be updated as new discoveries are made. The house was extensively restored during the 1940s, with 300,000 bricks from the demolished Uncle Sam Plantation used in the restoration.[3]. Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform, Library of Congress. The Evergreen Plantation was founded in 1752 by the family. As a result of their work, they were directly responsible for the spectacular economic growth that Louisiana's River Road area experienced during the first half of the 19th century. He operated the land as a plantation and eventually built grist mills and a cotton gin (1). The slaves at Evergreen were subject to brutal working and living conditions, with many of them being worked to death. The terrifying Candyland plantation, run by the brutal Candie, is also featured in the movie. of Sites | Map | Learn The Evergreen Plantation, a well-preserved sugar cane plantation from the nineteenth century, is a fine example of an old plantation. Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans is classified as a tax-exempt public charity under sections 509(a)(1), 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), and 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Federal Tax Identification Number 72-0760857. In his later years, Ned was supported in part by a pension from the federal government for his service in the war. These steps of boiling took place in series of large to small open kettles, often referred to as a Jamaica train. The most skilled slaves were chosen for the dangerous job of working close to the open kettles during the boiling process. The plantation includes 37 contributing buildings, all but eight of them antebellum, making it one of the most complete plantation complexes in the state and the South. in the same configuration and location. Want to search back even further? The sub-tropical climate, particularly the intense heat and humidity that characterizes much of the year, along with the epidemic diseases such as cholera and yellow fever, took their toll on the overall health of Louisiana's African-Americans during antebellum times. 2023 Louisiana Office of Tourism. From St. John the Baptist Parish Probate Records, formerly housed in the parish Clerk of Court office, now being digitized: 1791 Succession, estate of Pierre Becnel, husband of Magdelaine Haydel Becnel, who would inherit Evergreen Plantation. These gangs of slave laborers worked in tandem in the fields cutting, stacking, and loading cane stalks onto mule-drawn carts. DONATE TODAY! The PRC preserves New Orleans historic architecture, neighborhoods and cultural identity through collaboration, empowerment and service to our community., Preservation Resource Center Headquarters, Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, Search the Preservation in Print archives, Returns, Refunds, Exchanges, and Shipping Policy. 19th-century barns. The enslaved lived in the cabins as free people until the end of the Civil War; they were slaves for many years. Constructed in 1790, Evergreen remains one of the most intact plantation sites in the South. Evergreen Plantation was one of the largest and most successful African American-owned plantations in the antebellum South. Heidel, a French Creole, founded Evergreen Plantation in 1886. African-American slaves provided the labor that was required to sustain and enrich the large agricultural enterprises, like Evergreen Plantation, which grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River. Estate inventories, succession records, sale records from the New Orleans Notarial Archive, as well as sacramental records from the Archdiocese of New Orleans, were used in the research. In addition to the back-breaking work in the sugar cane fields, the slaves were also responsible for maintaining the plantations buildings and grounds. No longer anonymous, the men, women, and children who called Evergreen Plantation home provide a window to the past and enhance the historical narrative. Ned was one of them. The book is intended to shed light on the lives of all those who lived at Evergreenblack and white, enslaved, and free. Elias lived on the plantation in a different house than his father's. When Is The Best Time To Start Mowing Your Lawn In Sioux Falls South Dakota? Renting out its river bed to shipping and maritime businesses has allowed it to generate more revenue. Even if the plantation owner did not grow any crops, he or she relied on the labor of enslaved people to turn it into a profitable business. Featuring the documented images collected by students Abbigail Sproul and Jacob Johnson. Evergreen Plantation is a former sugar cane plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, that was slave labor-dependent for its operation. The plantation is located in the present-day city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The gates will remain open for tours until 1:45 p.m. on weekdays, and until 10:30 a.m. on weekends. It is located on Louisiana Highway 18 in St. John the Baptist Parish, near Wallace, and is a plantation on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Working alongside multiple research assistants, and students through Florida State Universitys UROP Program, all findings were documented, many of which are present on this website. He was toiling in the sugar cane fields in the fields of a sugar cane plantation. His wife is from the Caribbean, and he brought many of her cultures influences with him from home. 103 slaves in 48 dwellings. These accounts illuminate the experiences of individuals whose stories have previously gone untold, contributing a more balanced approach to Americas historical narrative, the press release said. The house is open to the public by reservation only. 18, in Wallace. Neds children and grandchildren continued to live and work at Evergreen Plantation for decades to come. Evergreen Plantation still owns and operates as a privately owned sugar cane plantation today. Evergreen has been designated the countrys most historic site, and joins Gettysburg and Mount Vernon as landmark sites for agricultural land. Search the Preservation in Print archives. The Rural Development Initiative for African American Farmers is one of several programs the agency has developed to assist African American farmers. Shirley Plantation, which dates back to 1614, is one of Americas oldest plantations. Many of the slave laborers on plantations in the South worked in the fields as plow hands, carters, ditchers, or woodcutters, among others. Evergreen Plantation. By 1850, the Ward family had owned over 1,000 slaves in addition to being one of the most active slave trading families. The couple went on to have more children and continued to work in the cane fields on Evergreen Plantation. quarters. The plantation has been reaching out to descendants of enslaved people who lived and worked there. Plantations were commonly located on fertile creeks and rivers in the south, and they frequently had extensive land holdings. It is surprising that these quarters, retaining Yes, you can visit Evergreen Plantation. Interested in getting more preservation stories like this delivered to your door monthly? Negro/Negresse = of full African ancestry, Mulatto/Mulatresse = European ancestry, African ancestry, Quadroon = European ancestry, African ancestry, Griffe = early usage indicates Native American and African. Shirley is also the oldest family-owned business in North America, having been in business since 1638, when Edward Hill I began farming in Charles City along the James River. There is very little documentation on these buildings, although Interior of quarters cabin with double fireplace. it is clear that they are indeed antebellum. 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