National Parks:
Cane River Creole National Historical Park
Natchitoches, Louisiana -- Set in the deep shadows of pecan and live oak trees, the 63 historic structures of Oakland and Magnolia Plantations are textured with the craftsmanship, resourcefulness, and remembrance of Cane River's cultures.
In the arpents and acres around the park, cotton and corn are still planted in vast fields, often flooded by heavy Louisiana rains and baked in the southern summer heat. It is not hard to visualize when these plantations were worked by hundreds of enslaved laborers-- although it may be hard to comprehend.
DID YOU KNOW
- Oakland and Magnolia Plantations are the only two Bicentennial Farms west of the Mississippi River. Both plantations were owned and managed by the same families for 200 years. Descendants of both owners and enslaved retain strong family ties to these plantations.
- Cane River Creole National Historical Park is one of 17 African American Experience sites within the National Park Service.
- The park has two units. Oakland Plantation includes 44.16 acres, and Magnolia Plantation includes 18.75 acres. Oakland and Magnolia Plantations are both National Historic Landmarks.
- Cane River Creole National Historical Park has an annual operating budget of $695,000.
- If you visit the Cane River county and ask 50 local people to define the term "Creole," you would be likely to hear at least 50 different definitions (some people offer more than one). In a broad, anthropological sense, "Creole" is the adaptation of French, Spanish, African and American Indian people to each other in a shared locale. It is manifest in foodways, architecture, language and religion. Along Cane River, it commonly relates especially to descendants of free people of color who maintain a distinct culture in this area today.
- Cane River Creole National Historical Park is within Cane River National Heritage Area. The heritage area includes 116,000 acres of rural, agricultural landscapes, three state parks, the national park, seven National Historic Landmarks, and several thousand inhabitants directly descended from the early French, Spanish, American Indian, African, and Creole people of the area.
DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS
- Staff-guided tours of Oakland Plantation are conducted each day at 1 p.m. If your schedule does not permit you to attend the formal tour, self-guided grounds maps are available from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. daily. Tours of Magnolia are available by reservation.
- Our small bookstore at Oakland has books for children and adults on slavery, plantation life, Louisiana regional history and architecture.
- Celebrate the warmth, creativity and resourcefulness of Creole culture in our summer Arts in the Park festivals. Bring a picnic and lawn chairs; the park will provide the historic atmosphere. You be the artist; we provide paints and canvas. You listen and relax; we provide great live regional music.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES
The transitions between various farming systems involving slavery, tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and big machinery is well illustrated by the agricultural features of Cane River Creole National Historical Park. In a comprehensive effort to respectfully remember the African-American, French, Creole, and other workers who built and maintained Oakland and Magnolia Plantations, the many historic structures are being stabilized and restored. On any given day, park visitors may see the rebuilding of fallen chimneys in the slave quarters; clearing of knee-deep guano from the pigeonniers; raising of the plantation store to allow for strengthening of the piers. In addition to the numerous cypress-and-bousillage buildings, hundreds of thousands of artifacts, letters, and plantation records have been retained which will greatly facilitate interpretation of the plantations' histories. During this time of intense preservation, tours of the plantations are given variously by different experts from within the park staff, including the archeologist, chief interpreter, superintendent, and a carpenter from the historic preservation crew.
