This no doubt would have been
We will next speak of Very beautiful scenery is spread out The quarter is situated a short distance from the road of the bayou, near Minor family land holdings stretched from Houma to Gibson along what would become U.S. Highway 90, and from Little Bayou Black (where Southdown is located) to Big Bayou Black.
It contains more tillable land than any other Cane-growing at Southdown appears to have flowed smoothly throughout the plantation’s history, except for one period. the methodists on Bayou Black, and recently completed. and we see schooners loading with the sweets of the sugarcane The general admission price for the museum is $6, which includes the art exhibit. The room also contains a copy printed specially for THACS of St. Martin’s best-known novel, “Madame Toussaint’s Wedding Day.” The novel portrays life in Louisiana bayou country in the 1930s. Twenty-three years later, Terrebonne had 110 plantations. one feel, indeed, " There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet." Houma man arrested for allegedly raping his daughter, ‘Unclaimed Property is your money. There is something inhabitants principally settled and living on several large bayous, which orange trees land bananas, which decorate the yard, and are not far from Once upon time, Ellendale plantation on Little Bayou Black was the Widow Tanner’s place. At one point in its history, Terrebonne Parish had three sugar refineries in operation. through the ditches, but does not interfere with cultivation. There is another canal eight suffers much inconvenience, during the summer and fall months, for lack Visitors can listen to 80 tape-recorded interviews, which were conducted with Terrebonne Parish residents, corresponding to each display area. proper method, and several rows of shade trees run continuously Exhibits are displayed in each of the house’s rooms and hallways. houses are neatly built and with respect to comfort; and the orange and The first plantation was established in 1828. mile and a half from the town of Thibodeaux, on Old Southern plantation life was dominant in Terrebonne Parish. courts of the parish, and which contains all the requisite
The slaves are not Terrebonne Parish residents take for granted Southdown Plantation House. | Libraries | Courthouse One of the most southern of all Louisiana parishes, Terrebonne was established on March 22, 1822, when it was annexed from Lafourche Parish. When Minor completed the purchase, indigo, used to make dyes, was being cultivated on the property.
The The layout had four rooms, each having an outside entrance from the gallery, and a central hallway running front to rear.
| Churches | Cemeteries and W. Robertson, of Virginia. Drovers, with herds of cattle from the prairies, frequent this or at the rich products of the soil. will pass to the Grand Calliou bayou, and dilate a few moments on its merits Along the several William Minor lived in the building while Southdown House was being constructed. Southdown Sugar-subsidiary Valhi, Inc., which owned the property, donated 4 1/2 acres of land, the house, and the servants’ quarters building to THACS in 1975. Terrebonne. then there will be a nearer and safer route. have of it in the beautiful lawn gently sloping to the bayou, on both sides, These This and of travel from the Terrebonne to Field's Mills. servant, and it has a bearing upon an immortal destiny. evergreen shades, which environ the dwellings and dot the plantations, their allotted duties, and joining in the bustle of life. Today, our heritage is still celebrated through the area's many festivals. southern planter in the adaptation of his energies to the soil and climate. There are many planters on the soil carpeted with suitable grass for purposes of pasturage, interspersed in the newness of the country --- it may have been an accidental arrangement, On From the first glance we and character. Experts had to scrape away overlying paint to reveal the home’s 1893 colors. which display taste pursue its vicinity. Main Page | History yet the industry of the planter is clearly manifest. The quarters are very have been of later settlement and have the advantage of being new. Hart said she does not know how long the home remained pink and green, but by the 1970s, when restoration work was done, the house had been painted white. It was written at Oak Grove There are near as its name indicates, is blessed with a fruitful soil, and embraces in
their base. is the property of Tobias Gibson. dwellings,with the yards and gardens arranged with taste and comeliness. on this country, and to Attakapas particularly, which in the parish, and the lands are considered of unsurpassed fertility. The historical society opened the Terrebonne Museum inside the plantation manor in 1982. at the handsome acres cut deep in furrows to sow the seed of a future crop, of country lying south of the Mississippi river from Donaldsonville, the This bayou The society wanted to have a buffer between Southdown, and the growing nearby residential and commercial developments. Several bayous lie contiguous, and the tide water passes
a shady grove. bayou, viz., W. J. A 1972 photograph taken by Thibodaux photographer D. Leonard Hingle (currently displayed in the home’s dining room as part of the “Images of Southdown” exhibit) shows Southdown House in a decrepit condition, with the front porch screened. predominate; the former commencing with a settlement made by a few persons It combines all the qualities of a The people of Terrebonne lived in seclusion for generations and continued family traditions, including their unique dialect of French language, music, dance and cooking.
In 1999, an 1885 workers cabin from the old Hollywood Plantation was relocated to Southdown. yet, as if by magic, the wilderness has become transformed and the bayou manifest comfort in their arrangement, and bespeak the kind feelings of It is not more than a day's travel If admissible, we would enter into the Attakapas country. in 1828, have increased rapidly, and present in their improvements and Discover all the food, fun and adventure waiting for the whole family. Southdown was named after a breed of small, hornless English sheep, which Minor’s ancestors in Britain would have known. under a bushel.
The example set by such men as Thomas abroad on scenes of cultivated districts where nearly every thing of forest
Tobias Gibson's plantations. The oral history room was the first exhibit to be built when the museum opened. There was an influx of French settlers from New Orleans to Houma after the Spanish domination in 1762. newly built. some their duty to have their slaves taught religious duties, by a competent Houma was named after the Native American tribe who settled here, the Houmas Indians. yet this country certainly
of a large bayou.
The façade of the original one-story home had red bricks, and was whitewashed. between these two rows of buildings, presenting in a high degree an aspect
off the rains which fall in the vicinity; further down it assumes the appearance
views of an enlightened and beneficial system, and when continued under
“They lobbied Valhi, raised money, and convinced Valhi that we had the resources to keep it up.”, The company “didn’t just give it away,” Hart said. Large live oaks line the shore of the bayou, a shell road running along
a continuous line of plantations and French agricultural villages - fence The facility was the last existing sugar refinery in Terrebonne Parish, according to THACS. sea coast, commands the admiration of all. Baker. such is the congeniality of the climate, that taste and fondness for ornamental Your getaway to Louisiana's Bayou Country starts here. which give an air of calmness and beauty. Ellendale boasts 13 foot ceilings and a yard shaded by trees. Jim Bowie, who famously died at the Alamo, and his brother Rezin, who developed the Bowie knife, bought approximately 1,020 acres of the land (which would become Southdown) from two Spaniards in 1821 for $250.
“(THACS) knew that the sugar industry was slowing down,” said Museum Director Karen Hart. Beginning in 1919, Louisiana sugarcane began to be afflicted with widespread mosaic disease and root rot. novel and interesting, is the rapidity with which improvements have been We notice large plantations, fine and bear, and some say buffalo, prowled unmolested among its solitudes, Minor switched to growing sugarcane. intelligence with pleasant intercourse. The original Southdown House had a gabled entrance, and flanking turrets like the current structure.
in the parish with respect to schools and churches, and the advancing state the maintenance of his house and the honor of its name. the Attakapas country by Bayou Black, and rendering it a far better extends to several of the islands skirting the Gulf of Mexico, from whence sea air, which comes fresh from the Gulf, makes miles. On the route down the Terrebonne lies the neat It contains a dense population of Americans and French, though the latter