Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The Main House (aka Big House) at Oakland Plantation is open to visitors for self-guided tours on weekends from 10 AM to 2 PM. Keep in mind that times can always change, so before heading to the park be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

What eventually became Oakland Plantation was originally called Bermuda Plantation. According to Prud’homme family tradition, it was established by Emmanuel Prud’homme in the mid-1780s on land granted to him by the Spanish government. His grandparents emigrated from France and settled in the Natchitoches area in the 1720s, a time when the Louisiana Territory was still part of France (this was much larger than the modern state of Louisiana—it was the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains). The family saw the land become Spanish territory when Spain acquired it from the French at the end of the Seven Years War in 1764. Louisiana was reclaimed by France in 1800 as part of a land exchange with Spain (Louisiana Territory for land in Tuscany), and three years later it became part of the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. However, an 1810 United States territorial census is the first written record confirming that the Prud’hommes did indeed live on the land. A Prud’homme descendant lived at Oakland until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1997 for inclusion in Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

Emmanuel Prud’homme began farming tobacco and indigo, but with the invention of the short-staple (fiber) cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 and its wide spread availability by 1799, he quickly replaced the original crops with cotton. After the War of 1812, cotton prices skyrocketed, and plantation owners such as the Prud’hommes had money to spare. In 1818, Emmanuel began construction on a new house, what is today known as the Main House. It was completed in 1821, though it was much smaller than the house standing today—only four rooms surrounded by a perimeter gallery (aka porch) and a basement with two rooms used by the nanny (a slave woman up until the Civil War, and the only slave to live in the Main House). It replaced the Prud’hommes original house that, according to family tradition, stood just a few hundred feet to the west. Most of the existing buildings at Oakland were built during this time of prosperity, though many were repaired and / or modified over the years.

North side of Oakland Plantation’s Main House, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Gallery (aka porch) of the Oakland Plantation Main House at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The original house consisted of a parlor, dining room, and two bedrooms (one for the parents and one for the children). A gallery ran around the entire perimeter. These rooms remain intact today and are decorated with original Prud’homme Family furniture and other items that were in the house in the 1960s when the last major renovation took place.

Master Bedroom in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Children’s Bedroom in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Dining Room in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Dining Room in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Parlor in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Parlor in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

There were three major renovations to the house since its original construction (though not mentioned in this article, additions to the basement area were also done over the years). The first took place around 1825 and consisted of two new rooms added to the north side of the house and an expanded gallery. This was about the time that Emmanuel and Catherine Prud’homme’s son, Phanor, would have returned home from college. He was their only unmarried child, and being a bachelor, it was French tradition for him to have either his own house on the property (no evidence of this) or his own room in his parents’ house, but in another section of the house. This may well be the reason for the expansion, and perhaps one or both of the new rooms became Phanor’s living quarters. In later years, the rooms were used for the male children and other bachelors in the family who did not have a house of their own.

Additional bedroom added in 1825 to Oakland Plantation’s Main House, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

On display in one of the rooms, in addition to the furniture, is an exhibit of some of the actual tools used to build the Main House at Oakland. The Prud’hommes for some reason kept these for nearly 200 years.

Actual tools used to build the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

A second renovation around 1835 was a western expansion of the parents’ bedroom and dining room into the gallery and an additional room on the northwest corner of the house next to the rooms added in the first expansion. The use of this new room is uncertain. It could have been used as a breakfast area, a serving pantry, or even an office for Catherine Prud’homme. The gallery itself was also expanded to the west to accommodate the new and expanded rooms. There may have been other additions at this time to the rear of the house, but these were not documented, and if they did exist, they were removed shortly after the Civil War. The size of the house that stands today is a result of this expansion.

Coincidently, Phanor and Susanne Lise Metoyer were married in 1835, though this was not the reason for the expansion since the new couple now needed their own home. They moved into a newly constructed house now called the Doctor’s Cottage. The name comes from the fact that various doctors rented it from 1860 until the early 1890s, but for the majority of its existence, the cottage was used by newly married Prud’domme children and other family members who did not have a house of their own.

After the Civil War ended, the Main House was altered various times over the next fifteen years, roughly from 1865 to 1880. Most of the work involved interior renovations such as modifying existing rooms for new uses or adding closet spaces and bathrooms. The most significant interior alteration was the addition of a central hallway between the original section of the house and the three rooms added to the north side during the first two renovations in the early 1800s. The hallway was formed from the living space of the new rooms, making them narrower. It ran the entire width of the house, north to south, and allowed entry into the house without having to come in through the parlor (the main entrance up until then), the dining room, or one of the bedrooms. The entire house was painted, inside and out, and it wouldn’t be repainted again until 1953.

The only major exterior expansion to the house was a new kitchen that was built behind the house, much closer than the original kitchen. It was still a separate building, but it was now attached by a breezeway. With the end of slavery came the end of slaves bringing food from the kitchen house to the main house, so it became more common and fashionable to have a kitchen connected to the house by a convenient walkway (in the photo below, the kitchen wing is entirely connected to the house, which was done in 1948). Until the 20th century, kitchens were separated from the main house for safety reasons (fire) and, in the South, because there was no desire to have heat from the kitchen seep into the house to make it even hotter. The new addition had a cooking space, pantry, storage area in the attic, and a porch. There is also a cistern under the west end of the porch that was most likely installed at the time the kitchen wing was built. The ground water at Oakland is not potable, so rain water had to be collected for drinking.

Kitchen wing of the Main House of Oakland Plantation built around 1865, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

One other modification done post-Civil War was the addition of a Stranger’s Room that was created by enclosing part of the porch on the northwest side of the house. Such rooms were meant for non-family members, often strangers passing through who needed a room. Since strangers weren’t really trusted during the Reconstruction Period, the room was more often use by the Prud’homme boys or bachelor members of the family who lived in the Main House. When built, it was only accessible from the outside, but in the early 1930s a door was cut that connected it to the boy’s bedroom so that it was accessible from inside the house.

From the early 1900s until World War II, cotton plantations fell on hard times. The boll weevil was making its way east from Texas. Infestation was first reported in Louisiana in 1904, and by the start of World War I, much of the southern cotton crop was in ruins. Ironically, by the early 1930s there was too much cotton being produced. Cotton prices fell so low that the Roosevelt Administration and state governments had to force farmers to destroy portions of their crops and limit the planting of new cotton crops in order to drive prices back up. It wouldn’t be until World War II that cotton farming returned to being profitable.

Despite the hard times, the Prud’hommes were able to make improvements to their home. Telephone service and gas lighting were installed in the early 1900s, and bathrooms with hot and cold running water—but no toilets—were in place by the early 1920s. When their townhome in Natchitoches was torn down in 1906 to make way for a new hotel, they used the slate from the building to replace the cypress shingles that were installed when the house was built. The first electric system was added around 1937.

After World War II when cotton prices took off, the Prud’hommes were once again able to spend money on home improvements that had been deferred due to the Great Depression and then the war. The largest improvement (1948) was a new kitchen that was created by enclosing a section of the west-central gallery. In addition, the breezeway of the post-Civil War kitchen was enclosed to connect it permanently to the house. The building was now used as the pantry and a wash room. A modern gas stove replaced the wood burning stove, and the old kitchen fireplaces were removed.

1948 Kitchen in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

1948 Kitchen in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

In 1964 the kitchen was expanded to the north in order to create a dining area. This was done by enclosing the northwest corner of the gallery.

1964 dining area next to the kitchen in the Main House at Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Most other renovations consisted of removing or replacing deteriorated parts of the house. The old slate roof was replaced with asbestos cement roofing tiles. A large room that was built onto the north side of the parents’ room after the Civil War was reduced in size and converted into a dressing room and closet. Rooms were remolded for new purposes. The entire house was repainted for the first time since shortly after the Civil War. Nothing much other than basic repairs were done beyond the 1960s, so what stands today is the Main House pretty much as it was when the 1970s rolled around. The only other noteworthy addition was central heating and air that was added in 1984.

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