Magnolia Plantation
Rarely do you encounter original outbuildings where generations of the same families of workers and owners lived and worked. Here people produced the wealth that supported Magnolia for more than two centuries. Ambrose LeComte established the plantation in 1835. However, Magnolia's history is rooted in colonial Louisiana. In the 1750s, the LeComte (or LeCompte) family received a French-era land grant, laying the foundation for a cotton plantation unrivaled in the region. Likely first built as a hospital for the enslaved, the structure was inhabited by the Planter family following 275 enslaved persons, housed in 70 cabins, cultivated cotton and other crops. As many as 24 of the cabins were two-room brick structures, accommodating a family in each room. In 1852, Ambrose's daughter Atala and son-in-law Matthew Hertzog took over operation of Magnolia. By 1860, the family owned more enslaved people and produced more cotton on over 6,000 acres, then anyone in the parish. The Civil War had devastating effects for the plantation. During the 1864 Red River Campaign, retreating U.S. troops burned the main house. After the Civil War and through the 1960s, the plantation maintained a successful farming operation. This success could not have been achieved without both the descendants of enslaved workers who remained and other families who came to work as tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and day laborers. Families such as LaCour, Metoyer, Moran, Rachal, Vercher, Cyriaque, Middleton, and Anthony contributed much, and their descendants remain. Their lives continued to revolve around the cabins, which were converted to single-family tenant housing. The cabins had gardens, along with fenced in yards that enclosed chickens and other fowl. Times were tough and life was hard. To lift their spirits residents would visit with neighbors, play cards and games, and enjoy music. Children rode horses and played baseball in local leagues. The transition from working by! hand and draft animals to using machines began in the 1930s. The last day laborers moved out of the cabins in the early 1970s. The National Park Service acquired the outbuildings in 1997. The LeComte-Hertzog family continues to operate the privately-owned property, including the main house that was re-built in the 1890s, as a working plantation.