Shadows-on-the-Teche facts for kids
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Shadows-on-the-Teche
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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Shadows-on-the-Teche in 2007
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 Location in Louisiana
Location in the United States
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| Location | 317 East Main Street, New Iberia, Louisiana |
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| Area | 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) |
| Built | 1834 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Part of | East Main Street Historic District (ID83000507) |
| NRHP reference No. | 72000553 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 5, 1972 |
| Designated NHL | May 30, 1974 |
| Designated CP | July 28, 1983 |
Shadows-on-the-Teche is a large, historic house in New Iberia, Louisiana, United States. It was once a working sugar cane plantation that used the labor of enslaved people. The house was built in 1834 for David Weeks and his wife Mary Conrad Weeks. It also has a garden and a family cemetery.
Shadows-on-the-Teche is a National Historic Landmark because of its important history. Today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation owns and takes care of it.
Contents
Exploring the House and Grounds
House Design and Style
Shadows-on-the-Teche is a two-and-a-half-story house with sixteen rooms. It sits about 20 feet above the Bayou Teche. The house was built when the Greek Revival style was very popular in the United States. This style meant that builders used fewer fancy decorations. Instead, they focused on simple, strong designs that matched the red brick of the house.
The front of the house faces south and has eight tall, white columns. These columns support a second-floor balcony or porch. A hidden staircase on the left side leads up to this porch. The roof has three pointed windows called dormers and two brick chimneys.
The back of the house faces north. It has a two-level open area called a loggia, which is like a covered porch. This area is surrounded by the house on three sides. You can enter the loggia on the ground floor through three brick arches. A narrow staircase leads to the second level. The roof on the back is similar to the front, with three dormer windows.
Inside the Historic House
The inside of the house has a traditional Creole layout on both floors. This means there are three rooms across the front and two rooms in the back, next to the loggia. On the first floor, the dining room is in the center and has a black and white checkered marble floor. To the right is an art studio, and to the left is a pantry that later became a kitchen. You can only enter these rooms from the front porch or the back loggia, as there are no inside hallways on this floor.
Upstairs, a fancy parlor is in the middle. The main bedroom is to the left, and other bedrooms are to the right. The walls are covered with wallpaper. The doors, made of cypress wood, were painted to look like oak. The fireplaces were made to look like marble. The house was filled with furniture from the East Coast, in styles popular during the Federal and Empire periods.
Gardens and Family Cemetery
The beautiful gardens around Shadows-on-the-Teche were designed by the last private owner, William Weeks Hall. He created paths lined with boxwood hedges and aspidistra plants. The gardens also feature large live oak trees, bamboo, camellias, and azaleas.
Near the house, there is a large underground brick tank called a cistern. It is 6 feet deep and 11 feet wide and could hold over 4,000 gallons of water. Between the house and the bayou, there is a summer house built in 1928. It was designed to look like the arches on the back of the main house.
The Weeks family cemetery is also on the grounds. Four generations of the family are buried there. The last person buried was William Weeks Hall, who passed away in 1958.
A Look at History
The Early Years: 1834 to 1922
David and Mary Weeks were very wealthy sugar cane farmers. They owned about 3,000 acres of land in Acadiana. Shadows-on-the-Teche was built on 158 acres of their land, right on the edge of one of their plantations. It was designed to be a town house, perfect for parties and social events. People say it was only the third brick house built on Bayou Teche at that time.
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Soon after the house was finished, the Weeks family faced many sad events. David Weeks, who was sick while the house was being built, died in August 1834. He was traveling in New England to find medical help.
Mary Weeks later married a lawyer named John Moore. However, she kept her children's property separate from her new husband's. This property included 164 enslaved people, which her first husband had left to their children.
In 1856, David and Mary Weeks' daughter, Frances Mary Weeks, and her children died in the 1856 Last Island hurricane. They were on vacation at Last Island, Louisiana when the storm hit. The children were buried at Shadows-on-the-Teche.
The Shadows-on-the-Teche household relied heavily on the labor of enslaved people. Mary Weeks and John Moore strongly supported slavery. In 1861, John Moore was a delegate at the meeting where Louisiana decided to leave the Union. This made the family and their home vulnerable during the American Civil War. Federal troops took over parts of the property, and army officers stayed in the house. Mary Weeks died in December 1863 at Shadows-on-the-Teche, while Union soldiers were using part of her home.
The house was passed down to David and Mary Weeks' oldest son, William F. Weeks. He managed to improve the family's finances after the Civil War. But after he died in 1895, his daughters Lily and Harriet had to sell much of the land around the house to pay for their living expenses. The property shrank from 158 acres to just 2.5 acres.
From 1922 to Today
Lily's only child, William Weeks Hall, moved into Shadows-on-the-Teche in 1922. He bought out his aunt's share of the property and lived there until he died in 1958. Weeks Hall was a talented artist who cared deeply about preserving history. He organized and gave away many old family papers he found in the house. He also hosted many famous people, including Walt Disney and Henry Miller.
Before he passed away in 1958, Weeks Hall gave the house and garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This organization has owned and managed it ever since. Shadows-on-the-Teche was officially named a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974. More than 25,000 people visit it every year. In 2022, the Iberia African American Historical Society opened a center for research and learning right at Shadows-on-the-Teche.
See also
- 1856 Last Island hurricane, where three family members perished
- Iberia African American Historical Society, located on site
- List of plantations in Louisiana
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Iberia Parish, Louisiana
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Louisiana
