Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park functions as a visitor information center and book and souvenir store. It is typically open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 AM to 3:30 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 the park.

Information station inside the Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

With slaves freed and the Southern economy in shambles after the Civil War, plantation owners needed to figure out a way to get people to work without paying them cash. 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. The plantation owners, who had to borrow money from northern investors just to stay in business, had very little cash themselves. Thus the profit-sharing systems of sharecropping and tenant farming gained momentum by 1870. At Oakland Plantation, sharecropping was most popular, and many of the sharecroppers were former slaves who had nowhere to go.

Sharecropping differs from tenant farming in that tenant farmers have money and supplies, just no land, whereas sharecroppers don’t have anything at all. Tenant farmers rent the land; sharecroppers supply the labor while the landowner supplies everything else to raise a crop. Housing, but not food, clothing, and other essential goods, is usually included. Once the harvest is sold, the profits are split, typically 60-40 (60 percent to the landowner) if the landowner provided all supplies and seed and 50-50 if the sharecropper paid for supplies.

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 for the store. 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 the 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. In defense of the Prud’hommes, nearly all of their sharecroppers made some money at the end of each year (according to the Prud’-hommes’ financial records).

Oakland Plantation began as Bermuda Plantation in the mid-1780s and consisted of land on both sides of the Cane River. Phanor Prud’homme, son of plantation founder Emmanuel Prud’homme, inherited Bermuda, and when he died in 1865, his sons Jacques Alphonse and Pierre Emmanuel took over the property. Once their father’s estate was settled, which took until 1873, they divided the Bermuda Plantation amongst themselves while their sister took the home in Natchitoches. The 893 acres on the west bank of the Cane River were now owned by Jacques Alphonse and renamed Oakland Plantation (expanded to 1,200 acres by 1900). Pierre Emmanuel controlled the land on the east bank (837 acres), which he now called Atahoe Plantation.

It was Jacques Alphonse Prud’homme (known as Alphonse) who opened the Oakland Plantation Store in 1873. While it began with the sharecropper customers in mind, it quickly became a general store for the entire community. Those with cash paid the cash price, whereas those without paid the credit price just like the sharecroppers.

Rear visitor entrance to the Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

The Oakland Plantation Store was enlarged around 1880 to include an office and a shed (which was subsequently expanded a number of times over the next decade). A second renovation in 1890 added an apartment for store manager Jules LeComte “Buddy” Prud’homme, son of Alphonse (he had three: Buddy, Edward, and Phanor II). Family oral tradition has it that Buddy was so dirty that his sisters wanted him out of the Main House, thus the apartment. A few other renovations and additions were made up through 1960. The building standing today is essentially what was there when the 1970s rolled around.

The name P. Phanor Prudhomme appears on the storefront today. This refers to Phanor II (Pierre Phanor II), one of Alphonse’s sons. He inherited Oakland Plantation in 1919 when his father died. His son, James Alphonse “Phonsie” Prud’homme, took over as store manager in 1923 (after Buddy retired), and though Phanor II himself died in 1948, his name remained on the storefront.

Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

In 1877, a new post office was established in the area. It was called the Bermuda Post Office and was initially located inside the Oakland Plantation Store. Prior to this, the closest post office was 13 miles away in Natchitoches. There was no rural home delivery at the time, so people had to come to the post office to send and receive mail. Of course, those coming for mail might also do some shopping, and thus business boomed for the Prud’hommes.

The Bermuda Post Office initially remained open only until 1879. Alphonse applied to have it reopened, and the application was approved in 1883. Unfortunately for Alphonse, the post office location was moved to the opposite bank of the Cane River in 1890. Alphonse was appointed postmaster in 1903 for one year, but there is no record of whether the post office itself was moved back to Oakland. Phanor II’s son, Phonsie, was appointed postmaster in 1924, and this time it was moved back to Oakland and remained there until it permanently closed in July 1967. By then rural home delivery was standard throughout the United States.

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. The highpoint of the Oakland Plantation Store was the 1950s, but sales declined after that. Even the workers who lived at Oakland started buying from stores in Natchitoches unless they ran out of something after hours. Furthermore, the sharecropping system of labor was on the way out due to the rise of mechanized farming equipment. No longer were large labor forces needed to harvest cotton. By 1959, the last of the sharecroppers at Oakland Plantation had moved away, many for better jobs in the north.

Despite the loss of the sharecropper customers and the post office, the Oakland Plantation Store managed to stay open until 1982 when Phonsie, who was still working but nearly blind, shut the doors. After that the building was used for storage until Oakland Plantation was sold to the National Park Service for inclusion in the new Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

Today the Oakland Plantation Store interior is decorated as it might have been in the 1960s. All of the equipment inside such as cash registers and typewriters was used at the store.

Interior of the Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Interior of the Oakland Plantation Store at Cane River Creole National Historical Park

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