LAUREL VALLEY PLANTATION: AN AMERICAN HISTORY BLACKBOARD

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LAUREL VALLEY PLANTATION AN AMERICAN HISTORY
BLACKBOARD
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WHAT IS LAUREL VALLEY PLANTATION?

• It is Americas largest surviving Sugar
  plantation complex
• There are over 56 buildings still surviving from
  a total of nearly 99 structures.
• These include a plantation home (c1881), a sugar
  mill (c.1838-1844), a corn crib w/ an internal
  rail distribution system (1912), a plantation
  store/museum (1906), a school house (1910), and
  several residential structures covering a period
  from 1815 to 1926

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WHERE IS LAUREL VALLEY PLANTATION?

• It is in the heart of Louisianas Sugar Bowl in
  Thibodaux, La. About 55 miles from downtown New
  Orleans.
• It is a working plantation. Over 1,300 acres of
  the plantations 3,500 acres support the
  cultivation and harvesting of sugar.
• Sugar came to Laurel Valley around 1832 and has
  been the major crop except for a period during
  the 1880s when rice took over.

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LAUREL VALLEY VILLAGE

• Laurel Valley Village is a non-profit group that
  is dedicated to preserving the plantations built
  heritage.
• It is a volunteer group that is staffed by local
  residents and there are no paid staff members.
• We operate a store that sells crafts made locally
  and conduct two festivals a year the third
  Sunday in October and the last Sunday in April.
• At our festivals we feature local arts and
  crafts, antique machinery, Civil War re-enactors,
  food, etc.

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Laurel Valley Store. 1906
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Laurel Valley Store before moved a 100 back from
Hwy and restored1980
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Sharecroppers House c. 1875
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Quarters Sectionc. 1832-1926
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Front View of Quarters Section
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Shotgun Quarters(c. 1895-1926)
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Double Creole Quartersc. 1844-1882
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Laurel Valley Sugar Millc. 1838-1850
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Boarding Housec. 1906
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School House 1910-1952One room---Six Grades
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Blacksmith Shop1900
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Corn Crib1912
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WPA Outhousesc. 1936
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Laurel Valley An American History Blackboard.

• Laurel Valley affords the student two
  opportunities.
• 1. Students can engage in mental time traveling.
  They have the ability to break out of the
  present and live vicariously in the past.
• 2. Also, historical sites like Laurel Valley
  afford us the opportunity to construct an
  American history time line that helps us
  understand concepts that unlock the past.

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The Historical Blackboard

• Laurel Valley (as well as other historical sites)
  offers the student a mind print of our nations
  past-- between the years 1783 to 2007.
• Several themes are mirrored in the plantations
  historical time line reflection Americas
  historical growth and development.

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HISTORICAL CONCEPTS OFFERED BY LAUREL VALLEY

• 1. IMMIGRATION
• 2. ANTEBELLUM SLAVE LABOR
• 3. CIVIL WAR
• 4. POST-CIVIL WAR AGRICULTURAL HISTORY
• 5. POST-CIVIL WAR INDUSTRIALISM
• 6. RESPONSE TO INDUSTRIALIZATION
• 7. IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON AGRICULTURE
• 8. ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
• 9. IMPACT OF WAR ON SUGAR
• 10. MECHANIZATION

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1. IMMIGRATIONAN EXAMPLE

• Over these years they have been numerous ethnic
  groups that settled at Laurel Valley.
• a. Acadians (1783-1830)
• b. Anglos (1830-
• c. African Americans (1830-1900)
• d. Irish (1840s)
• e. Chinese Contract workers (1867-1870)
• f. Italians (1880s-1920s)
• g. German Prisoners of War (1943-1944)
• h. East European Displaced Persons (1947)

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ACADIANS

• The lands of Laurel Valley were settled around
  1783 by an Acadian named Etienne Boudreaux.
• He received a land grant from the Spanish
  entitling him to a grant of 5x 40 arpents.
• He married the girl next door and consolidated
  his lands w/ hers for a total of 15 x 40 arpents
  (Almost 600 acres)
• He built a house, purchased cattle, grew some
  cotton, and more than likely harvested moss in
  the nearby swamps when he was not cultivating his
  garden
• There were about 5 children still alive at
  Etiennes death in 1817.
• Members of his family had migrated from France w/
  Etienne where he pursued a profession identified
  as a ship caulker.
• His widow Victoria Gautreaux Boudreaux lived on
  the lands until around 1832 when she sold these
  to an Anglo from Natchez by the name of Joseph W.
  Tucker. How much did he pay? 34

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ANGLOS

• Key event in the history of the Anglo migration
  is the War of 1812. Volunteers from Kentucky and
  Tennessee saw the lands. Thought in terms of
  Plantation Capitalism/sugar/slaves.
• Arrived between 1815 and 1860. Additional themes
  of Expansionism etc.
• Bayou Lafourche first and Bayou Teche second.
• The individual we are talking about is Joseph W.
  Tucker.
• Arrived in 1830. Purchased 800 acres behind the
  Boudreauxs for 1.35 an acre. Evidently used the
  levee to push Sale.
• By 1852 owned 5,500 acres and owned 135 slaves.
• Arrived with 23 slaves in 1832. 11 men, 11 women
  between the ages of 15 and 25, and one child.
  Work and breeding.
• Came from a planter family. Had moved from Va.
  to N.C. to Miss.
• Used invest capital from Natchez (Greene) and
  Richmond (Abner Robinson).
• Died in 1852 from Cholera. Owned race horses,
  blooded cattle.
• Built the sugar mill in 1844. 8 slave cabins 50
  each and slave labor made and laid 366,000 bricks
  for 2.00 a 1,000. His house was two storied
  with 15 rooms. It was destroyed during the Civil
  War.

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2. ANTEBELLUM LABOR SLAVERY

• J. W. Tucker introduced slavery to the
  plantation. Gradual increase in slave ownership.
• 1844 purchased 42 slaves Kentucky and Tennessee
  at New Orleans slave auction.
• Two groups Field hands and Sugar Mill workers.
• Grew ribbon cane and, before 1852, Lafourche
  Parishs no 1 producer 1.2 million pounds of
  sugar. (Cistern Sugar)
• He purchased salted beef from border states, had
  gardens, used opium (2.50 oz) to treat
  illnesses, maintained a garden. Yearly cost 27
  per slave.
• Slaves lived in a nodal block development in the
  middle of the plantation, around the mill,
  approximately 1.8 miles from the Bayou. Thus
  extremely difficult to maintain contact w/
  traffic along the Bayou.
• Slaves who caused trouble were shipped off to a
  saw mill.
• After his death, cousin married wife and brought
  17 slaves to pltn.

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3. CIVIL WAR

• Being from Mississippi, the Tuckers sons
  abandoned the plantation and joined friends in
  Vicksburg.
• Governments Second Confiscation Act resulted in
  a raid on the plantation during the Spring of
  1863.
• Sugar and Molasses taken and numerous slaves left
  the plantation, joining the Union Army.
• Sugar plantations suffered 1302 sugar
  plantations in 1860 and only 180 operating in
  1865.
• Post-War period saw 40 percent operated by former
  members of the Union Army.
• Laurel Valley came under control of
  carpetbaggers until 1867 when Tuckers son
  William Pleasant regained control.

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4. Post Civil War Agricultural History

• This period saw the introduction of a new crop to
  Lafourche Parish Rice.
• Also, there was the introduction of new labor
  arrangements Sharecropping and Tenancy
• Economic relationships also affected. Debt
  Peonage, Convict Labor and The Crop-Lien.

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5. Post-Civil War Industrialism

• After the War, the operation of sugar plantations
  underwent a transformation.
• Owners shifted from work directed arrangements to
  sharecropping and tenancy.
• Increasingly, workers found themselves being paid
  for a crop they produced rather than labor
  performed.
• At the heart of these arrangements was the
  concept of consolidation The mills focused on
  grinding cane and increasing their efficiency in
  mill. It produced the Central Mill Complex.
• Over the next several decades the number of mills
  producing sugar declined. Still going on!

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6. Labors Response to Industrialization

• During the 1880s the sugar parishes of south
  Louisiana witnessed an effort by the Knights of
  Labor to organize sugar cane workers.
• During 1886, the Knights established their
  contacts with workers and in 1887 presented the
  sugar producers with their demands What they
  wanted was 15 a month and .10 cent increase in
  overtime pay. (.50 to .60) Plus, they wanted to
  be paid in specie rather than plantation money.
• On November 1, 1887 they refused to go to work
  and over the next 21 days planters evicted the
  workers for refusing to work. The state militia
  arrived in Thibodaux, assisted with the
  evictions, and generally maintained order.
• Under the threat of a Negro army coming to
  Thibodaux, the local law enforcement officials
  deputized members of the militia. On November 22,
  the workers shot two local deputies,
  precipitating a shoot-out between local officials
  and the workers.
• At least 8 workers were killed breaking the
  strike.
• Not until the 1950s would workers attempt to join
  a union again.

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7. THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON AGRICULTURE

• In the beginning, sugar cane farmers planted a
  variety of cane called Ribbon Cane. Over the
  years they have used as many as 700 different
  varieties of cane.
• The 1885 Hatch Act created the Agricultural
  Experimental Stations. Individuals like George
  Washington Carver and Seaman Knapp performED
  experiments.
• In Houma, La you will find the sugar cane
  experimental station. In 1930 saved the cane
  industry from Mosiac Disease POJ.

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8. Architectural History

• Historical architecture serves as a mind print
  into the minds of earlier generations.
• We can see the bars on windows, Burglar alarm
  signs, and gated subdivisions to know that
  America goes to bed tonight in fear.
• What do we see at Laurel Valley?
• Double Acadian Creole Structures
• Shotguns
• Linear farm dwellings
• Neo-classical fronts on the main house as well as
  other structures.
• What do these buildings tell us about the past?

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9. Impact of War on Sugar

• From the Civil War to World War II, the
  hostilities have affected the sugar bowl.
• Loss of field hands. Classic case of necessity
  being the mother of inventions. Tractors to do
  the work of laborers.
• At Laurel Valley, the chief mechanic developed a
  high-clearance cultivator. Built of a metal
  cart with a stationery engine and chain drive,
  this device periodical traveled the fields w/ a
  cultivator underbelly heaping dirt on the growing
  sugar cane.
• During the 1940s, Allis Chalmers developed a high
  clearance tractor with John Deere following in
  1947. (H. B. Naquin) Because of their efforts,
  the engineers produced cane cutters, cane
  loaders, and metal cane carts to carry heavier
  loads.
• Quite recently, John Deere developed a cane
  harvester that cuts the cane into billets (18
  inches long) and then loads into a trailing cart.
  Before the getting to the mill, none of the cane
  touches the ground. As mentioned earlier, three
  men can now do the work of 300.

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CONCLUSION

• Historical sites offer us many things.
• One of these is time travel to an earlier place
  in time such as Plimouth Plantation and
  Sturbridge Village.
• But for those of us who enjoy using local history
  to teach American history, we should look around
  for sites such as Laurel Valley.
• Here, at the local level of the Great American
  Experiment, we may just find a Blackboard for
  reflecting the American experience. Hopefully,
  our students will gain a better understanding of
  the past.
• THANK YOU