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 historic house, garden, and cemetery in New Iberia, Louisiana. It was once a working sugar cane plantation that used the labor of enslaved people. The house was built in 1834 for a wealthy planter named David Weeks and his wife, Mary Conrad Weeks.
Today, the house is a National Historic Landmark. This means it is recognized as an important place in American history. It is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is open for people to visit.
Contents
The House and Gardens
The Shadows-on-the-Teche house is a large, two-and-a-half-story home with sixteen rooms. It sits on the banks of the Bayou Teche.
Architecture Style
The house was built in the Greek Revival style. This style was very popular in the United States in the 1830s. It was inspired by the grand temples of ancient Greece.
The front of the house has eight tall, white columns. These columns support a second-floor porch, also called a gallery. The house is made of red brick, which was made by hand. The builders used simple decorations to show off the beautiful brickwork.
The back of the house has a two-level open porch called a loggia. On the ground floor, this porch has three brick archways. A narrow staircase leads to the second level.
Inside the House
The house has a traditional Creole floor plan. This means rooms are arranged in a specific way common in Louisiana. On the first floor, the dining room is in the center. It has a black and white checkered marble floor. Next to the dining room are an art studio and a pantry.
To get to these rooms, you have to walk through the front gallery or the back porch. There are no inside hallways on the ground floor.
The second floor has a fancy living room, called a parlor, in the middle. The main bedroom is on one side, and other bedrooms are on the other. The walls are covered with wallpaper. The wooden doors and fireplaces were painted to look like they were made of expensive oak and marble.
The Gardens
The beautiful gardens were created by the last private owner, William Weeks Hall. He planted live oak trees, bamboo, camellias, and azaleas. He also used hedges to create walking paths.
The property has a large underground tank called a cistern. It was built to collect and store rainwater. There is also a small building called a summer house, which was built in 1928. In a quiet corner of the grounds is the Weeks family cemetery. Four generations of the family are buried there.
History of the House
The Weeks Family (1834–1922)
David and Mary Weeks were very wealthy sugar cane farmers. They owned four plantations and about 3,000 acres of land. The Shadows-on-the-Teche was their town house, built for parties and social events. It was one of the first brick houses built along the Bayou Teche.
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Sadly, the family faced hardships soon after the house was finished. David Weeks died in 1834, the same year the house was completed. Mary Weeks later remarried, but she kept her first husband's property for their children. This property included 164 enslaved African Americans who were forced to work on the plantations.
During the Civil War (1861-1865), the family's life changed. Because they supported the Confederacy, their home was taken over by Union soldiers. Officers from the army lived in the house. Mary Weeks died in the house in 1863 while the soldiers were still there.
After the war, the family's oldest son, William F. Weeks, inherited the house. He worked to rebuild the family's wealth. But after he died, his daughters had to sell off most of the land to pay for their living costs. The property shrank from 158 acres to just 2.5 acres.
A New Chapter (1922–Present)
In 1922, William Weeks Hall, the grandson of the original owners, moved into the house. He was an artist who cared deeply about preserving history. He found a huge collection of family papers in the house and donated them to be saved.
Hall loved to have guests. Famous people like movie director Cecil B. DeMille and Walt Disney visited him at the Shadows.
When William Weeks Hall died in 1958, he gave the house and gardens to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Trust has taken care of the property ever since. In 1974, it was named a National Historic Landmark. Today, more than 25,000 people visit each year to learn about its history.
In 2022, the Iberia African American Historical Society opened a center at the Shadows. The center is a place for research and learning about the history of African Americans in the area.
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
