Cane River Creole National Historical Park | MAGNOLIA PLANTATION STORE

Magnolia Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Magnolia Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The main section of the Magnolia Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park is not always open, but there are atriums on either side of the building that are open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 AM to 3:30 PM. One side houses a visitor information center where you can pick up a grounds map, stamp your National Park Passport, and fill your water bottles with cold water. Restrooms are located on the other side and are accessible even when the main building is closed.

Visitor information station at the Magnolia Plantation Store, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Visitor information station at the Magnolia Plantation Store, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The Magnolia Plantation Store was founded in 1870 by Matthew Hertzog. Matthew had married Asala LeComte, daughter of Magnolia Plantation founder Ambrose LeComte II. In 1852, Ambrose gave Matthew and Asala a 40 percent share in the plantation, and the three operated it together. When Ambrose died in 1883, the couple inherited the entire estate.

After the Civil War, the ex-slaves and poor whites, most of whom knew nothing other than farming, had no money themselves for land, seed, equipment, and draft animals, so starting their own farms was out of the question. Many of the plantation owners had to borrow money from northern investors just to stay in business, so they themselves had little cash to pay workers. Thus the profit-sharing systems of sharecropping and tenant farming gained momentum by 1870. With sharecropping the landlord provides the land and the sharecroppers provides the labor. Profit is split, typically 60-40 (60 percent to the landowner) or 50-50, depending on who pays for the seed and other farming supplies. Tenant farmers had their own money and equipment, just no land, so they rented land from the plantation owner. Most of the people who farmed at Magnolia after the war were sharecroppers, mainly former slaves, but there were a few tenant farmers.

Of course, the landowners hated parting with any of the money, so they came up with the idea of the plantation store. With no money and no credit with the town merchants, sharecroppers became a captive consumer base. There were prices for cash purchases and prices for credit purchases, which were typically 20 to 50 percent higher, and the credit price was owed even if the product was paid for the next day. The landowner now sold the sharecroppers everything they needed to live—food, clothing, medicine, etc.—which was paid back from their profits, if there were any. In many cases, the sharecroppers ended up owing money and thus were stuck working another season to pay off their debt. The landowners had essentially figured out a way to keep their former slaves as slaves, and better yet, they added poor whites into the mix. By 1889, an estimated 75 percent of white sharecroppers and nearly 100 percent of black sharecroppers were in debt to their landlords.

While plantation stores started out with laborers in mind, they quickly expanded to carry a wide variety of goods and sold to everyone in the community. People came to shop, get news and gossip, and meet friends. When harvests were poor, the store was a welcome source of needed income for the landowner.

The Magnolia Plantation store remained in business for 100 years. However, like in small towns everywhere, as automobile transportation improved, people began traveling to larger towns and shopping at department stores where prices were much cheaper than at the country store. Furthermore, by the 1950s, the sharecropping system of labor was on the way out due to the rise of mechanized farming equipment. No longer were large, full-time labor forces needed to harvest cotton. By 1959, only a few day laborers and house servants remained living in Magnolia Plantation housing; the very last family moved out in 1970. The store closed for good in 1973.

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Last updated on November 30, 2022
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