Historic Structure Report: Big House, Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park
National Park Service, staff and Jones TH. 2004. Historic Structure Report: Big House, Oakland Plantation, Cane River Creole National Historical Park. Historic Structure Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Atlanta, Georgia
This historic structure report contains the developmental history of the Big House at the Oakland Plantation as well as treatments and recommendations for use. Much of the historical information in this report is found in documents and photographs compiled by Cane River Creole National Historical Park since 1994. Family tradition dates construction of the Big House to 1818-1821. Each generation of the Prud'homme family has left its mark on the house, which reflect the continuum of occupation and use until the last descendants moved out in 1998. The Prud'hommes were among the first families to establish themselves in Natchitochoes in the first half of the eighteenth century and began to acquire slaves in the 1780s for large scale cotton production. Generations of the family lived in the Big House through the aftermath of the Civil War, the impacts of the boll weevil in the early 1900s, and the decline of the plantation system and transition to modern agricultural methods. The treatment recommendations take into consideration the building's historical evolution and the management objectives for treatment of the site. This suggests that alterations that the Prud'hommes made to the house in 1964 represent the final phase in the plantation's historic period and should be preserved.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- National Park Service, staff; Jones, Tommy
- Date of Issue
- 2004
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- CARI , HIST , SER
- Keywords
- agriculture, architecture, Atahoe, Bermuda, Cane River Creole, Civil War, cotton farm, Cultural Resources, ehistory, History, Natchitoches Parish, plantation, Preservation, Prud'homme, Resource Management, slavery
- Subjects
- CRIS-HS: 091620: Big House, Oakland Plantation