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| Oakley Plantation |
A woman's choices in that society were limited to a much larger degree than we are limited today. But one woman at a very young age decided to follow her heart, not the rules and limitations that had been placed on her by family and society.
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| One of the first edition Audubon prints "Bird of America" |
Eliza had been courted by Robert Hilliard Barrow of the Prospect Plantation, a neighboring farm. However Eliza's parents disapproved of Barrow because of his family's political differences with the Pirries. Eliza's father was the Spanish Alcaude and Robert's family had helped lead the successful revolt which ended Pirrie's service to Spain in 1810 and brought this part of Louisiana into union with the United States.
Eliza however, didn't let that get in the way of her love for Robert. So on that fateful night in June of 1823, she quietly slipped out of the home she had grown up in and eloped with Robert to Natchez, Mississippi, and was married to him before her parents could find and bring her back to their home. They honeymooned for six weeks before it became necessary for the young couple to begin the journey back to their corner of the cotton kingdom that was the south and their respective parents.
Robert was gravely ill, suffering from pneumonia and lacking sufficient funds to help him, coupled with the distance from family the two decided to make the journey back to St. Francisville. Robert died en route home, leaving Eliza alone to face her parents. Eliza, widowed, in mourning for her husband and pregnant was turned away from her parents home. Her parents refusing even to see or speak with her.
She moved to her husband's home, Prospect Plantation, and from this brief marriage of only six weeks she had a son. Although her marriage to Robert had been tragically brief, their union gave her a child who would eventually connect her by either blood or marriage to nearly every other plantation home in the area. Eliza would have a large extended family; family that supported her and helped her in countless ways.
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| This is what the jalousies look like. When you look thru them, you can actually see out without your view being blocked. |
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| One of the benches that were available for us to sit on while we waited for our tour. This is on the lowest level and was dated from the time period of the home, 1810. |
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| A slave cabin shot from the garden of the home. |
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| The cooking hearth in the outside kitchen. |
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| This was a drying rack for fresh herbs. Loved this idea and I'm trying to figure out how to do this now in my kitchen. |
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| These large iron pots were always stationed outside and were used for several uses. Boiling clothes, dying clothes, large meal preparations, making sugar etc. |
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| If you've never seen the inside of a slave cabin, this is one half of the cabin. I've seen several as we've traveled all over the south and there are many slave cabins that are still standing. They all look like this. Very little possessions. Very crude. |
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| The other half of the slave cabin. Where meals were cooked, eaten, and the slaves actually lived. Also during the hot months the slaves slept outside for the same reason the owners slept outside. Looking for cool breezes. |
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| A close up of the slave cabin. It measured approximately 12x12 square. So about 144 sq ft for all of your living. Sometimes the cabins even held more than one family so as to cut the costs to the owners for providing housing. |
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| One of the wagons that had been left on the property when the state bought it. |
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| The original barn for the property. |
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| This explains the purpose of the picture next to it. Basically it's a greenhouse that was sunk into the ground by about 10 or more feet to maintain a constant temperature. The plantation owners liked to grow exotic fruit such as pineapples so show off their wealth. |
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| This is the top of the "Pit" which was the green house for the property. On one side was a 5 ft deep brick enclosed compost pile and on the other were the steps to descend. As the compost decomposed, it would generate heat. Keeping the Pit warm in the winter. The windows could be opened in hot months to allow for air circulation for the plants. |
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| The entrance to the formal and kitchen gardens for the house exactly the way they were layed out originally. |
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| One of the apple trees in the kitchen garden. |
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| This is a "shoo-fly." Most of the plantations had them. They were in the dining room and a small young slave would be stationed at the end of the rope. His job would be to slowly pull the rope so the Shoo-Fly would move gently back & forth creating a slight breeze to keep the flies away from the food and the family & guests cool. They used this as all the doors and windows would be open to catch breezes in hot months. |
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| The china hutch for the house which held three generations of china for the family. The pewter was the oldest set. |
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| The house was equipped with a safe in the office for safekeeping all the important papers, bills, and any money. It was built into the wall had a door frame around it and a wooden door with a small lock that the owner would keep with them. |
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| The original candle light fixture for the house. These stairs were originally outside the house on the gallery. Anytime you had to go up or down you had to go outside, later the house was remodeled and part of the gallery enclosed along with the stairs. |
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| A baby crib equipped with mosquito netting. |
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| This is a small circa 1810 cradle made of walnut probably by a skilled slave. In the south most skilled labor was also slave labor. I loved the simplicity and look of it. The slave who tended the children would sit up all night and rock the baby in it. They usually didn't get to sleep much especially since there was no way to put mosquito netting over it. |
