March 20: Cane River Plantation Trail

Cane River National Heritage Area in northwestern Louisiana is a largely rural, agricultural landscape known for its historic plantations, its distinctive Creole architecture, and its multi-cultural legacy. Historically this region lay at the intersection of French and Spanish realms in the New World. Today it is home to a unique blend of cultures, including French, Spanish, African, American Indian, and Creole (straight from www.caneriverheritage.org if you want more information). It was truly a unique drive. There were thousands of acres of land that grow cotton, pecan orchards, cattle pastures, corn soybeans and grain sorghum. But cotton was and still is King.



Oaklawn Plantation was constructed in the 1830's and sits at the end of the third longest oak lane in Louisiana. It is privately owned so there was no getting out and walking about.



Magnolia Plantation House was the one plantation we were going to tour - however, it was closed today. I did take a photo of the wild Wisteria growing up into the tree beside the house. This plantation is the largest in the area. It didn't look that large; maybe the size was based on all the out building still sitting around the property. The home does have 27 rooms and a Catholic Chapel.




St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery was founded in 1803. It is the first Roman Catholic church established by and for people of color in the U.S. This is the third church built on this site.



We ended up at Melrose Plantation. This home was established by a family of free people of color around the time of the Louisiana Purchase. This became an artist colony in the 20th century.






This bedroom was a guest room and the lopsided chair was specially built for a lady guest that was slightly deformed. When she sat in the chair, she could sit straight up. There was a rolling pin bed in this house too but I didn't take a photo.



This out building had 14" walls and a 12' wide eve. This was to keep the sun from shining on the walls. It was about 20 deg. cooler inside and stays about that ratio all summer long. The posts that support the corners were only added right before Katrina and Rita came ashore. Normally the eve is held up with 3 beams radiating out from each corner of the building. It is thought that it was used as a store house.



Clementine Hunter was a field hand and later a cook for this plantation. As artists started coming for extended visits, she decided she could paint from the oils they left behind. She began to record the people, life, and scenes of Cane River in her bright primitive style and soon attracted the attention of a number of collectors. Clementine’s national recognition was evidenced by exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the New Orleans Museum of Art before her death in 1988 at age 101.

Her colorful murals surround the second story of the above African House. This painting was in one corner of that room. It was of wash day - always Monday. She wasn't too impressed with men and always showed them lazing around. You can see one in the door way and one on the banks of the Cane River fishing. Clementine pictured herself painting in the upper right hand side. You can see the women washing, rinsing, ironing, sweeping and bring a tray of drinks probably to the guy in the doorway. Her painting of women picking cotton leaves out men. She felt that the women picked the cotton clean while the men were just in a hurry to get it done and over and left too much still on the plants. She also didn't like the son of Melrose who inherited the home when his daddy pass away. Nor did she like preachers. In her paintings, she would show preachers and the son as being about the size of small children in relation to everyone else in the picture. As far as I could tell, she mostly didn't like men. She was married 3 times. Not sure what happened to them.

All of these plantations were owned by Creoles who had earned their way free and eventually became slave owners themselves. At one time, 18,000 acres were owned by 10 families--all brothers and sisters. Only 16,000 acres are currently in the hands of their descendants.

On a sadder note, when we returned to our camper, Virginia Hayes called to let us know that her husband and our good friend, Kenny, had passed away. He was riding his Harley and apparently had a heart attack. They are in Apache Junction, AZ and she now has her kids and several friends with her to help get the rig and Kenny back to Wichita. Kenny took us fishing on Texoma and showed us how to catch lots of strippers. We loved sitting around the campfire in the evening with Virginia and Kenny and all of their friends while we were at Texoma.

We met Kenny and Virginia at Lake Afton when Larry turned too sharp under too low of a tree. We jammed the a/c unit into a tree and the jet ski trailer jack knifed into the rear bumper of the trailer. Kenny came out of his camper (probably because of all the noise), put a jack under the jet ski hitch and made me stand back while it all came apart. Then they both guided me out from under the tree - this was all in the dark of night. This was the same time frame that Larry had his back surgery and Kenny and Virginia offered to check in on him while I was at work. A year later we ran into them again at Lake Afton and showed him the Crossfire that Larry had traded the jet ski for. Kenny's words were "Ya shoulda bought a Harley." He was a great guy and we will miss him.