Another relic of the plantation is an original garconnire, which young men used as sleeping quarters during their time on the plantation. [6][7], It is a production site of films such as Django Unchained (2012)[8] and Antebellum (2020). Boddie hopes that the exhibits and documents will pique the interest of descendants of all residents of Evergreen. Evergreen has its country's highest historic designation and joins Mount Vernon and Gettysburg in being granted landmark status for its agricultural acreage. Heidel, a French Creole, founded Evergreen Plantation in 1886. The details within the database allow us to read and interpret the past. In addition to tours that allow visitors to learn about the plantations history and how its crops are grown, the plantation is still in operation and is open to the public. According to Shannon Boddie, the executive director of Evergreen, the organization intends to do more community service. He was headed south to New Orleans along with 120 other enslaved individuals on board. Despite being established in the 1930s to assist black farmers, the agency is now regarded as the last plantation due to its refusal to assist black agricultural initiatives. These gangs of slave laborers worked in tandem in the fields cutting, stacking, and loading cane stalks onto mule-drawn carts. The plantation is now a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public for tours. By 1850, the Ward family had owned over 1,000 slaves in addition to being one of the most active slave trading families. Heidels home on his plantation in 1835 was built with a mixture of French, Caribbean, and African influences in order to reflect the climate of southern Louisiana. Replication not permitted without express consent. The book is intended to shed light on the lives of all those who lived at Evergreenblack and white, enslaved, and free. There are 37 structures still listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. According to Joseph McGill, this is the largest collection of slave dwellings in the world. Archival records relate that in 1835, a total of 54 enslaved people resided in twelve cabins at Evergreen Plantation, indicating that roughly between four and five slaves inhabited each of the twelve cabins. His name was listed as Edward Edmond on the sale document and his age as 19. This digital archive will serve as a resource for teachers, students, historians, genealogists, and visitors. Evergreen Plantation has been rated as a 90-minute tour in our review. 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 These birds are currently not seen standing quietly under the two rows of live oak trees that surround them. Among the outbuildings are a garconnire, where young bachelors of the family or male guests could stay; a pigeonnier for keeping pigeons (a sign of status among the planters); an overseer's cottage; and late In addition to the back-breaking work in the sugar cane fields, the slaves were also responsible for maintaining the plantations buildings and grounds. Evergreen Plantation still owns and operates as a privately owned sugar cane plantation today. 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. Establishing a new plantation required workers with certain capabilities and expertise, and it is likely that each of these slaves was chosen specifically by Becnel to perform the types of work for which they were described. Evergreen Plantation has been a family home since the late-18th century. The United States government granted them their freedom in 1877. [2][4] The house is open for tours every day except Sundays; tour times are at 9:30 am, 11:15 am, 1:00 pm, and 2:45 pm. Just a few months after his enlistment, Aime gave birth to another son, Edmond. Ned was a member of the United Order, a benevolent and charitable society. The plantation was passed down through the family, and they have worked to keep it in good condition. In 1828, Samuel Girard Earle (1791-1848) purchased the property from Samuel Smith. _uacct = "UA-1070054-1"; Despite this, the agency has made progress in improving its relationship with black farmers since 1997. Merritt was examined by Lezin Becnel, the owner of Evergreen Plantation, in early January 1845. The plantation is located in the present-day city of New Orleans, Louisiana. [citation needed]. The couple went on to have more children and continued to work in the cane fields on Evergreen Plantation. 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. The plantation house and original slave quarters have been preserved and well-kept which, come to find out, is quite the rarity. More | Next Site. The plantation was founded by the family in the late 1700s and has been in their family ever since. Family involvement in marital disputes was a major factor in Creoles lives. Among those were Terry, described as an American Long Sawyer, West, an excellent blacksmith and engineer, Joseph, a Creole cooper, Phill, a sugar worker, and Jean, a Creole coachman. As a slave, he did not have a surname, so he probably gave his fathers name as his last name. The loads of cut cane stalks were crushed between rotating steel rollers to extract the cane juice. complex has been the extensive fabric replacement evident in the slave
SLAVERY DATABASE More than 400 individuals were enslaved at Evergreen Plantation over the course of 150 years. The family also owns a number of slaves, who work the plantation. 1829 - The plantation's name was changed from Hopewell to Evergreen .? Unpacking the history of the largest plantation in the southern US, and its people. Elias lived on the plantation in a different house than his father's. Mills operated around the clock processing sugarcane. Examples: born before 1800, young, adult, and child. They worked on the plantation in a variety of capacities, raising cotton and rice, among other crops. Plantations were commonly located on fertile creeks and rivers in the south, and they frequently had extensive land holdings. As slaves, they built the big house, built and maintained the levee, worked the sugarcane fields, ran the sugar mill, grew foodstuffs and cared for the big house and the Heidel and Becnel families. You can get a sense of Louisianas sugar cane industry firsthand by taking a tour of the facility. They bring to life the identities of real people who lived and worked on this specific site. Enlistment Papers under the alias Edward Edmonds, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Ned was sold away from his family, friends, and home and was forced to board the ship Cyane in Richmond, Virginia, on November 18, 1851. The Evergreen Plantation, a well-preserved sugar cane plantation from the nineteenth century, is a fine example of an old plantation. The citys 37 buildings are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the majority of them from the antebellum era. People live here and work here, the website said. 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. The plantation is currently used as a wedding and event venue, and the family is proud to be able to share their history with others. His wife is from the Caribbean, and he brought many of her cultures influences with him from home. Evergreen Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana), U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Louisiana African American Heritage Trail, National Register of Historic Places listings in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, List of National Historic Landmarks in Louisiana, Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, "Matilda Geddings Gray and Evergreen Plantation", "Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' begins filming at the Evergreen Plantation in Louisiana on Monday On Location Vacations", Louisiana's African American Heritage Trail, Louisiana Digital Library Evergreen Plantation, History of the National Register of Historic Places, List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state, List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places, University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places portal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evergreen_Plantation_(Wallace,_Louisiana)&oldid=1084343937, Museums in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, Houses in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, National Register of Historic Places in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, Slave cabins and quarters in the United States, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 23 April 2022, at 23:15. This story appeared in the April issueof the PRCsPreservation in Print magazine. More than 400 individuals were enslaved at Evergreen Plantation over the course of 150 years. They attended the Second African Baptist Church. 103 slaves in 48 dwellings. His physician attributed his death to arteriosclerosis. The antebellum era saw thousands of cabins built throughout the South. Becnel paid $6800 for the six enslaved men, which would be approximately $232,000 today. 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. Was really looking forward to visiting Evergreen since it is the only plantation to still have all of their original slave cabins - 22 in total - on site in their original location. 18, in Wallace. The plantation's historical commodity crop was sugarcane, cultivated by enslaved African Americans until emancipation. The plantation has been reaching out to descendants of enslaved people who lived and worked there. Becnel paid $6800 for the six enslaved men, which would be approximately $232,000 today. The first black troops to join the United States army did so in Louisiana. After years of in-depth research, we have amassed a vast collection of primary source documents that shed light on the individuals who were purchased and brought here to labor in the sugar cane fields as well as those who were born into slavery in the cabins that still stand today. When the bank foreclosed on Evergreen Plantation in 1930, the Songys were forced to leave. Mowing The Lawn While Pregnant: Is It Safe And What Precautions Should You Take? We are open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., and tours are not permitted the following holiday week. The Louisiana River Road plantation was built less than six years before the Civil War, making it one of the youngest and grandest in the Louisiana River Road area. 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. On June 14, 1805, a baby named Celeste was baptized at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edgard, La. DONATE TODAY! The carts traveled to the cane mill for processing. This location was used in the film Django Unchained, which was released in 2011. 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. Some could trace their ancestry back multiple generations to the first slaves brought to the plantation. 19th-century barns. 18, in Wallace. Today, many plantation homes are portrayed as elegant gardens with beautiful interiors, ignoring the darker side of their history. He married Aime, a 17 year old girl enslaved on the plantation with her mother Katty and siblings. He now has hundreds of descendants, many still living in Wallace and Edgard. The survey aimed to uncover more information about the lives of enslaved persons previously living on the plantation, promoting use of the slavery database by Evergreen Plantation, and ultimately uncovering new information about the site. He and his new wife, Elizabeth, had a daughter together. The formerly enslaved Black Americans, though legally freed, continued to live and work at the plantation until 1947. The extracted juice was clarified and bits of pith and other debris were removed. The slaves at Evergreen were subject to brutal working and living conditions, with many of them being worked to death. He moved from Evergreen to Carroll Plantation (also known as Johnson) and lived the rest of his life there. 1830 Succession, estate of Magdelaine Haydel Becnel, who inherited Evergreen from her father and expanded the business into a major plantation enterprise, 1835 Inventory taken at the time of Pierre Clidamont Becnels ownership (grandson of Magdelaine Haydel Becnel), 1842 Succession, estate of Josephine Lennen Becnel, wife of Lezin Becnel Jr., the eventual owner of Evergreen. The plantation grows a variety of crops, including cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane. 4800 South Carolina Highway 187, Starr, SC 29684. 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. Subscribe to our newsletter for insider access to PRC news, events, involvement opportunities, and more! 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. Some labeled the agency the last plantation for failing to support black agricultural initiatives, arguing that it was thus becoming the last pillar of support. The agency, on the other hand, has made significant progress in improving relations with black farmers since 1997. Of great significance are the 22 slave quarters, arranged in a double row along an alle of oak trees. Aime was described as a griffe, indicating that she was of mixed race. It is meant for everyone, from scholars who wish to engage in comparative analysis to individuals searching for their ancestors. The granulated, raw (unrefined) sugar produced from the crystallization process was packed into hogsheads, wooden barrels that held roughly 1000 pounds of granulated sugar. Evergreen Plantation is given an 85-minute tour, according to a review. Creole indicates that the individual was born in Louisiana. 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 Evergreen Plantation is one of the oldest plantations in the United States, having been established in 1752. Many of the slave laborers on plantations in the South worked in the fields as plow hands, carters, ditchers, or woodcutters, among others. Refer to the list of names of those enslaved at Evergreen by clicking on the link below. 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. Some could trace their ancestry back multiple generations to the first slaves brought to the plantation. Evergreen has been designated the countrys most historic site, and joins Gettysburg and Mount Vernon as landmark sites for agricultural land. He also built a brick home located near a spring. He operated the land as a plantation and eventually built grist mills and a cotton gin (1). This diverse community was made up of Africans, the enslaved from the American South, and Creoles of Louisiana. The plantation operated until about 1930, when the Depression resulted in the owners abandoning the house. She was born at Evergreen and went on to have 10 children, 51 grandchildren, 148 great-grandchildren, and 88 great-great-grandchildren. Old Shiloh School1.6 miles Lake Hartwell3.3 miles Milky Way Farm3.6 miles Starr9.1 miles Show me more like this! it is clear that they are indeed antebellum. 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. 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