Overseer’s House at Magnolia Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The house at Magnolia Plantation that is now known as the Overseer’s House was most likely built in the 1840s and served a completely different purpose at the time. Prior to the Civil War this building functioned as a hospital for the plantation’s slaves. While cruelty was certainly a part of the slave-labor system, slaves cost money and were often more valuable than the land they worked. Thus it paid to make sure they were healthy, and many large plantations had a doctor on staff, and as was the case with Magnolia Plantation, even a building set aside as a hospital.

Union troops burned the Big House at Magnolia Plantation in 1864, LeComte-Hertzog family members residing in the house moved into the hospital, as a medical facility for slaves was no longer needed. Due to more pressing post-Civil War problems, construction on a new Big House didn’t start until 1895, and once completed the following year, the family moved in and the former hospital eventually became the overseer’s house.

Front porch of the Overseer’s House at Magnolia Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Though post Civil-War overseers were not directly in control of the workers any more, they still decided what crops to plant and kept track of expenses owed by the workers. Once farming became mechanized after World War II, the sharecropping system was gradually replaced with day labor, for a large, full-time labor force was no longer needed to bring in a crop. This had a dire effect on the overseer position, as there were now less and less people to manage. By 1959, only a few day laborers and house servants remained at Magnolia Plantation. The last full-time overseer retired in the mid-1960s.

Today visitors can step inside the Overseer’s House at Magnolia Plantation and see what it might have looked like in the 1960s when the last overseer moved out. There are wayside exhibits inside that tell the story of Magnolia Plantation and discuss medicine in the 19th century, as well as old photos of the plantation and some artifacts found on the property. There are also a few places where the modern plaster on the walls has been removed so that you can see the original underlying walls and how they were constructed.

Interior of the Magnolia Plantation Overseer’s House at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Kitchen of the Magnolia Plantation Overseer’s House at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Interior of the Magnolia Plantation Overseer’s House at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Information area inside the Magnolia Plantation Overseer’s House at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Collection of old medicine bottles on display at the Magnolia Plantation Overseer’s House at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

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