Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1971 Sugar Plantation Settlements of Southern Louisiana: a Cultural Geography. John Burkhardt Rehder Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Rehder, John Burkhardt, "Sugar Plantation Settlements of Southern Louisiana: a Cultural Geography." (1971). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1944. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1944 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ) I 71-20,616 REHDER, John Burkhardt, 1942- SUGAR PLANTATION SETTLEMENTS OF SOUTHERN LOUISIANA: A CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1971 Geography University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. SUGAR PLANTATION SETTLEMENTS OF SOUTHERN LOUISIANA: A CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by John Burkhardt Rehder M.A., Louisiana State University, 1965 January, 1971 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Although there are many persons who should be included in this tribute, there are those who deserve attention for having guided and contributed toward the completion of this work. Without question, Dr. Fred B. Kniffen should be placed at the top of this list for it was he who gave me inspiration and knowledge and guidance in the study. I wish to sincerely thank Dr. Roland E. Chardon, my major professor, for taking the task and guiding me through the final stages of the dissertation. Without his guiding advice and encouragement, the study may never have been completed. I would like to further express my appreciation to the other members of the dissertation committee: Dr. William G. Haag, Dr. Milton B. Newton, and Dr. Harley J. Walker. Finally, to the National Science Foundation, I extend my sincere thanks for awarding to me a grant in 1967 which enabled me to probe deeper into the problem. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Purpose of the Investigation Procedure The Plantation Concept The Plantation Landscape The Visible Physical Landscape Cultural Backgrounds II. ORIGINS OF THE P LANTATION.......................... 29 The Concession Pre-Sugar Private Plantation Initial Sugar Industry III. THE DISTRIBUTION OF SUGAR PLANTATIONS IN LOUISIANA: ORIGIN, DISPERSAL, AND RESPONSIBLE FACTORS ............................... 46 Introduction The Sugar-Plantation Region: The Study Area The Origin and Dispersal of the Sugar Plantation and Factors Responsible for Specific Distributions Summary and Conclusions IV. SETTLEMENT P A T T E R N S ............................... 82 Introduction Linear Plantations Block Plantations Addenda V. THE PLANTATION MANSION................................ 117 Introduction Site and Setting Creole Big House Anglo Plantation Mansions iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VI. TEE QUARTERS 1 6 2 Introduction The Built-in-Porch Quarter House The Attached-Porch Quarter House The Shotgun The Bungalow Atypical Laborers' Dwellings Construction Methods and Materials The Quarter-House Yard and Outbuildings Overs eers’ Dwel1ings VII. THE SUGARHOUSE AND OUTBUILDINGS.......................196 The Sugarhouse Antebellum Sugar Making Modern Processes Outbuildings Stores and Churches VIII. OTHER LANDSCAPE FEATURES ............................ 228 Introduction Fields Fences The Work Bell Implements Internal Transportation Landings Levees IX. CASE STUDIES......................................... 255 Introduction Armant Plantation Whitney Plantation Cedar Grove Plantation Madewood Plantation Ashland Plantation Oaklawn Plantation X. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION............................... 374 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................. 381 APPENDIX .................................................. 396 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. L IS T OF MAPS Map Page 1. Location map of the study a r e a ........................ 3 2. Index map showing rivers, bayous, and towns within the study a r e a ......................................... 16 3. The physical landscape of Southern Louisiana showing the distribution of natural levees ........................ 17 4. Profile and aerial map of paired natural levees, Mississippi River, St. John-the-Baptist Parish .................... 18 5. Culture regions of Louisiana....................... 27 6. Concession landholdings. The Bienville Concessions of 1737. 31 7. Concession settlements in 1731 between New Orleans and Bayou M a n c h a c ..................................... 33 8. Distribution Index map showing parishes, rivers, bayous, and t o w n s ......................................... 47 9. Distribution of Louisiana sugar plantations - 1969 ........ 48 10. Sugar plantations in the New Orleans vicinity in 1803 . 61 11. French and Anglo-American plantations of 1844 64 12. Northern limits of the Louisiana sugar region as indicated by climatic boundaries ............................... 72 13. Distribution of plantation settlement pattern types - 1969 . 83 14. Spanish land map of 1797 illustrating long, narrow land­ holdings; right bank of the Mississippi River near Baton R o u g e ....................................... 90 15. Linear plantations in the New Orleans vicinity in 1815 . 91 16. A linear 18th-century sugar plantation in Guadeloupe, French West Indies................................. 93 17. A linear plantation of 1875. Myrtle Grove Plantation, Bayou Jacob, Iberville Parish .... ................ 94 v with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Map Page 18. A typical bayou-block plantation settlement. Alice C. Plantation, Bayou Teche, St. Mary Parish ............. 103 19. Comparative landholding types resulting from French- Spanish and U.S. Government S u r v e y s ............. 108 20. An Upland Anglo-American block plantation settlement The Barrow Plantation, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1860-1881 113 21. Distribution of quarter house types - 1969 ............ 165 22. Distribution of sugarhouses - 1969 .................... 198 23. Case studies index m a p ............................ 256 24. Armant Plantation landholding unit - 1829 259 25. Armant Plantation settlement and land use - 1969 ....... 262 26. Whitney Plantation landholding unit - 1829 ............ 279 27. Whitney Plantation settlement and land use - 1969 .... 283 28. Cedar Grove Plantation landholding unit - 1829 ......... 297 29. Cedar Grove Plantation settlement and land use - 1969 . 305 30. Madewood Plantation landholding unit - 1830 317 31. Madewood Plantation settlement and land use - 1969 .... 327 32. Ashland landholding unit - 1850 336 33. Ashland Plantation land use - 1969 .................... 350 34. Oaklawn Plantation landholding unit - 1827 ............ 354 35. Oaklawn Plantation showing settlement and land use - 1969. 362 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. L IS T OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. The sugar-plantation landscape. Lafourche Parish .... 11 2. A sugarhouse. Smithfield Plantation, West Baton Rouge P a r i s h .......................................... 13 3. A plantation settlement complex. Laurel Grove Plantation, Lafourche P a r i s h ........................... 13 4. The plantation landscape illustrating the stream-bank location, artificial levee, levee road, fields, ditches, and building complex. Poplar Grove Plantation, West Baton Rouge P a r i s h ............................... 14 5. Backlands of poorly drained clays at the backswamp and cultivated-fieIds contact ......... , 22 6. 18th-century wall construction techniques ............. 38 7. Sugar plantations along upper Bayou Lafourche .......... 52 8. Plantations along Little Bayou Black, Terrebonne Parish between Thibodaux and Houma ........................ 55 9. Model linear plantation settlement, a compilation of sugar plantations along the Mississippi River ....... 85 10. Linear plantations along the west bank of the Mississippi River, St. James Parish ........................... 87 11. Linear plantation settlement. St. James Plantation, St. James P a r i s h ................................. 87 12. Model nodal-block plantations, a compilation of planta­ tions along upper Bayou Lafourche .................. 99 13. Nodal-block plantations. Madewood and Elmfield planta­ tions, Assumption Parish .......................... 100 14. Nodal-block plantation. Foley Plantation, Assumption Parish ................................. 101 15. Nodal-block plantation. Magnolia