Woodland Plantation, West Pointe A La Hache Louisiana

Date added: October 15, 2023 Categories: Louisiana House Plantations & Farms Greek Revival

Woodland Plantation was apparently originally settled in the mid-1830s by William Johnson, a river pilot who also constructed the now-demolished Magnolia Plantation (also in Plaquemines Parish). Woodland operated as a sugar and rice plantation and featured two-story brick slave quarters, unusual for Louisiana and documented in this area of the state only at Ormond Planation in St. Charles Parish (the Woodland quarters were destroyed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965). Woodland was managed by Johnson's son George until 1856, when Bradish Johnson (another son) took over. It was under Bradish Johnson's control that the plantation flourished, although he lived at the plantation only part of the time, spending the remainder of his time in New York.

When the Civil War began, Johnson became a Union sympathizer. Following the war, he increased the plantation's property and returned production to antebellum levels. An 1871 article from Every Saturday magazine offers a rare glimpse into everyday plantation life along the river and provides a suggestion of what life may have been like at Woodland following the Civil War. The plantation was regarded as having "one of the largest and best-appointed sugar houses" in the United States, with both a refinery and a mill. Ruins of the sugar house suggest that the operation was indeed significant.

In the early twentieth century, Woodland was sold to the prominent Wilkinson family of Louisiana, in whose hands it remained until 1997, when it was purchased by the current owners.

Plaquemines is one of Louisiana's oldest parishes, having been created in 1807. Located below New Orleans, the parish was largely uninhabitable owing to the proximity of the mouth of the Mississippi River and the adjacent swamps and open waterways. However, large-scale agriculture (principally sugarcane) did flourish on the arable land that was available. For example, in 1860 there were thirty-one large slaveholdings in Plaquemines Parish (defined as a holding of 50 or more slaves). Some of these holdings involved individuals who resided on the property while others were occupied by agents or trustees. In terms of population centers, there were none. The parish seat was (and is) a small hamlet.

Today, Plaquemines Parish remains rural and sparsely populated. There are relatively few historic structures, and almost all of these are unpretentious folk buildings. The SHPO staff knows of no example of the Greek Revival style other than Woodland in the parish and only one other Italianate building (albeit a late one, the 1915 parish courthouse). In summation, Plaquemines Parish never had very many architecturally significant structures and the ravages of time, flooding, hurricanes, and the Civil War have only decreased the number. For example, three plantation houses (Orange Grove, Magnolia, and Belle Chasse) have disappeared.

Woodland is significant in agricultural history because of the rarity of its overseer's house and tenant house, both of which would have once been noticeable features of the plantation landscape in Plaquemines Parish. The overseer's house at Woodland is the only known example to survive in the parish. And it is important to note that the Woodland example is actually documented to have been in such use (at least by 1871, per an article published in that year).

Site Description

The Woodland Plantation nomination includes a circa 1855 main house, a mid-nineteenth-century overseer's house, and a late nineteenth-century tenant house. Also on the property are the ruins of a sugar mill and what appears to be the base of a cistern. All three buildings at Woodland are constructed of wood and raised on brick piers with corrugated metal roofs. The plantation is located on the Mississippi River about an hour south of New Orleans in West Pointe a la Hache, with the main house facing the river and no road between. Although the house is generally thought to have been built in the 1830s (or built then and modified later), the architectural evidence suggests that it is entirely a product of the 1850s. Most of the details are Greek Revival and Italianate.

Main house

The clapboarded main house features a gabled roof. Both the front and rear elevations feature five dormers exhibiting simple pedimented detailing and Doric pilasters. The windows at each of the dormers are of 6/6 lights.

The side elevations are similar to one another in fenestration and feature 6/9 windows at the first story and 6/6 windows at the second story. The only difference is that the south elevation has a false window on the first floor, as necessitated by a peculiarity of the floor plan. A semi-circular vent is located near the apex of the roof at both elevations. The front and rear elevations are also similar in arrangement, with six bays at each elevation created by seven wooden columns along the respective galleries. (Most of the column capitals have been replicated in the current restoration.) The front (river-facing) facade features five openings of French doors with eight lights and one molded panel each. The original shutters were fitted with screening in a past modification.

The main entrance doors (front and rear) are located off-center and clearly reflect the Gothic influence in their details. The double doors are of six molded panels each with sidelights and transom. The upper panels of the doors are molded in a Gothic arch, and the sidelights feature a Gothic arch in the upper of the two lights. The transom is composed of two Gothic arched windows (with arches facing outward) and two small round lights at each corner. (The transoms and sidelights are covered at present to prevent damage.)

Historic photographs and an 1871 illustration from Every Saturday magazine reveal that the front facade was once decorated with double Italianate brackets above the columns. In addition, the roof once terminated behind the cornice, creating something like a parapet. The roof has since been reworked to terminate above the cornice with a slight kick. The historic photographs also reveal that the gallery was once fitted with a cast-iron balustrade. The photograph, as well as some iron remnants found on site, suggests that the iron was cast in a shell motif.

The house's floorplan is unusual and perhaps should be viewed as descended from the Creole tradition, although greatly modified. As mentioned previously, the entryways are placed asymmetrically (clearly a Creole holdover). The first floor is comprised of six major spaces, one of which is an off-center hall stretching from the front to rear entrances. The adjacent parlor also extends the full depth of the house (an unusual treatment), with bedrooms of equal size to the south. One chimney serves a fireplace in the parlor and corner fireplaces for the two bedrooms. The dining room and an additional bedroom, as well as the staircase, are located to the north of the hall. These rooms are divided by an angular wall that extends from the north wall of the house to the fireplace located between the two rooms. The angle of this wall allows full use of the central window at the north elevation. The window directly opposite this one at the south elevation is, however, abutted by the wall that separates the two bedrooms at this side of the house; the window has been plastered on the interior.

The second floor is composed of six bedrooms, a hall, and a small bathroom. Only four of the bedrooms are appointed with fireplaces. The space between the dormers has been modified to provide 12 closets with latticed doors. The wall opposite the staircase at the second floor is curved to mimic the curvature of the wall at the stairwell and creates one bedroom with a rounded wall. An original decorative wall finish in a lozenge pattern is extant in one bedroom. The bathroom formerly featured a metal tub (now in the collection of the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum).

An arched opening at the rear of the first-floor hall leads to a fairly tight stair hall. Although its shape is in the Italianate tradition, the opening has Greek Revival ear molds identical to those found throughout the house. The mahogany stair is fitted with delicate turned spindles and large, but elegantly turned, newel posts. The curvature of the stair is mimicked on the detailing at the risers, as well as the ceiling beneath the stair adjacent to a stair closet.

All of the mantels at the first floor and two of the four at the second floor are extant. All feature curved or rounded mantel shelves. The current owners have purchased one of the former mantels and intend to replicate the other.

The foremost Greek Revival details in the house are the door and window surrounds, which feature heavily molded ears in a fashion typical of the Greek Revival. The interior molding of the front and rear entrance surrounds is, of course, more detailed than at the exterior surrounds. The interior doors are cypress and of six molded panels, and also are surrounded by ear molding.

Overseer's house

The two-story building located upriver of the main house is one of few surviving documented overseer's houses in Louisiana (per an 1871 description). It is a hip-roofed building with an attic; the main story is raised a full story above grade on brick piers. The clapboarded structure has two chimneys which provide two fireplaces at the building's ground story in addition to four at the main story. The 1871 magazine illustration clearly depicts the structure as having been enclosed at the ground level, which was most likely used for storage. Although seriously deteriorated, it is apparent that the building at one time had both front and rear porches with two dormers at the front and rear elevations (per the architectural evidence and the 1871 illustration).

Each elevation has two windows of 6/6 lights. The north and south elevations are identical to one another in fenestration, as are the front and rear elevations. The front entrance has a typical wooden four-panel door surrounded by three-light sidelights with a lower molded wooden panel and a five-light fixed transom. The building appears to be a purely mid-nineteenth-century example, although the interior was inaccessible, making an evaluation of extant details impossible. However, documentation reveals that the building has a central hall plan, with four adjacent rooms of equal size. The six identical interior doors are four-paneled, each with an operable three-light transom.

Tenant house

The late nineteenth-century tenant cabin gives every indication of being built around a central chimney from an earlier house on the property. It has a two-room plan and rear ell. The structure is clapboarded and has a corrugated metal roof, with a front gallery supported by three wooden columns. Although the original piers are of brick, replacements are of either concrete block or wood.

Located at one corner of the rear elevation of the main house is a circular brick structure that appears to be a mid-nineteenth-century cistern base. Its wooden top is a replacement.

The foundation ruins of Woodland's sugar house are visible on the property.