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Evergreen Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana) facts for kids

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Evergreen Plantation
Evergreen Plantation.jpg
Evergreen Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana) is located in Louisiana
Evergreen Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana)
Location in Louisiana
Evergreen Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana) is located in the United States
Evergreen Plantation (Wallace, Louisiana)
Location in the United States
Nearest city LA 18, Wallace, Louisiana
Built 1790, 1832
Architect John Carver
Architectural style Greek Revival, Federal
NRHP reference No. 91001386
Quick facts for kids
Significant dates
Added to NRHP September 25, 1991
Designated NHL April 27, 1992

Evergreen Plantation is a plantation located on the west side of the Mississippi River in St. John the Baptist Parish, near Wallace, Louisiana, and along Louisiana Highway 18. The main house was constructed mostly in 1790, and renovated to its current Greek Revival style in 1832. The plantation's historical commodity crop was sugarcane, cultivated by enslaved African Americans until emancipation.

The plantation operated until about 1930, when the Depression resulted in the owners abandoning the house. The plantation continued to produce sugar cane under the direction of the bank that owned it, and it is still a working sugar cane plantation today. The house was extensively restored during the 1940s, with 300,000 bricks from the demolished Uncle Sam Plantation used in the restoration.

Description

Evergreen Plantation HABS
Drawing by the Historic American Buildings Survey

The plantation includes 37 contributing buildings, all but eight of them built before the Civil War, making it one of the most complete plantation complexes in the state and the South. Of great significance are the 22 slave quarters, arranged in a double row along an allée of oak trees.

Among the outbuildings are a garconnière, where young bachelors of the family or male guests could stay; a pigeonnier for keeping pigeons (a sign of status among the planters); an overseer's cottage; and late 19th-century barns.

National Historic Landmark

Because of its quality and significance, the plantation was included among the first 26 featured sites on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1992 for its rich architectural legacy. The house is open for tours every day except Sundays; tour times are at 9:30 am, 11:15 am, 1:00 pm, and 2:45 pm.

Heiress and businesswoman, Matilda Geddings Gray (1885–1971) sponsored the restoration project in the 1940s, and it is now a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

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