Historic Places: Melrose Plantation, Natchitoches Parish Louisiana Source: The Natchitoches Times, May & June 1997 Submitted by: Gaytha Thompson ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** MELROSE PLANTATION SEAT OF CANE RIVER FOLKLORE The Natchitoches Time, May 1997 The story of romantic Melrose Plantation begins with the legend of Marie Therese Coincoin, who was born in 1742, a slave in the household of Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, the first commandant of the post at Natchitoches. Marie Therese became the matriarch of a family of 14 children--four black and 10 of Franco-African blood--and the founder of a unique colony of people. Along with several of her children, she was sold to Thomas Pierre Metoyer, who later freed her and eventually all her Metoyer children. Between 1794 and 1803, she and her sons received a number of land grants, the lands forming Melrose Plantation being recorded in the name of her son Louis. Descendants of the Metoyers live along the river today, a people proud of their heritage and culture. It was at Melrose that the Metoyers built the Yucca House, the African House and other structures. It must have been a tremendous undertaking for them to clear the land, build roads and fences and raise indigo, tobacco, cotton and other crops to achieve a successful plantation operation. Yucca (c.1796), the original main house at Melrose, incorporated local materials exclusively-heavy, hand-hewn cypress beams, uprights and sleepers; walls made of mud from the river bottoms, mixed with deer hair and Spanish moss. The African House (c.1800), a strange looking construction reminiscent of the straw-thatched huts found in the Congo, was built as a combination storehouse and jail for rebellious slaves. The Big House was constructed on the Melrose grounds about 1833, a Louisiana-type plantation home, the lower floor of brick, the upper story of wood. Twin hexagonal garconnieres and a kitchen wing were added later by the Henry family. In the economic upheaval of the 1840s, the plantation passed to white ownership. It was bought by Hypolite and Henry Hertzog, who, in turn, lost it in the aftermath of the Civil War. In 1884, the plantation was acquired by Joseph Henry. At the turn of the century, Melrose became the home of John Hampton and Cammie Garrett Henry, the latter known affectionately as "Miss Cammie" to her Cane River friends. In the succeeding years Miss Cammie's patronage of the arts and preservation of local artifacts made Melrose justly famous. Mrs. Henry replanted and extended the plantation gardens, rescued the colonial buildings, revived local handicrafts and accumulated her famous library of Louisiana books and materials. Artists and writers were invited by Mrs. Henry to stay as long as they wished, as long as they were working on some creative project. Among the many who visited and worked at Melrose were Erskine Caldwell, Alexander Woollcott, Alberta Kinsey, Caroline Dormon, Rose Franken, William Spratling, Gwen Bristow, Ross Phares and Ruth Cross. One warmly remembered personality who wrote for years at Melrose was Lyle Saxon, whose "Children of Strangers" portrays the Cane River area. Melrose is one of the attractions on the annual Tour of Historic Homes the second weekend in October and plays host to the Melrose Arts and Crafts Festival held the second weekend in June. ======================================= ARTIST'S WORK CHRONICLES EARY 20TH CENTURY PLANTATION LIFE The Natchitoches Times, May 1997 "...I returned to the artist's house and this time bought a wonderful painting of six black women in red hats picking cotton in the field. Sometime later, I bought a wedding scene. As others followed, I realized I had fallen completely in love with Clementine Hunter's work." The late Dr. Mildred Hart Bailey penned the above passage in the foreward of the popular "Clementine Hunter" by James R. Wilson. Bailey began her friendship with Hunter in 1963 when she ventured to the artist's home and bought a painting for $1. "She appeared indifferent to the possibility of sale," Bailey wrote, "and was not at all interested in conversation." Bailey returned to the former servant's home on Cane River several times and eventually, the two became friends as Bailey's love of Hunter's work grew. Bailey commended the efforts of Francois Mignon, a French art critic who lived at Melrose, in encouraging Hunter's talent and gaining recognition for her artwork and her insight as a cultural historian. "Althought she might have been creative in many ways, she would not have received the great recognition she did without Francois' support. He encouraged her, supplied her with oil paints and materials and, most of all, promoted her through his writing and his influential friends," Bailey wrote. Born about 1886, Hunter arrived at Melrose at age 16, married twice and raised five children. She began painting in the 1940s when she was in her 60s when she found some used paint tubes while cleaning the Big House at Melrose. Mignon gave her some brushes and a windowshade and she produced a picture of a plantation baptism. Long regarded as a center for prolific creativity, Melrose (and Clementine) saw its share of painters, writers and musicians, but Hunter's primitive and honest paintings showed Mignon a sense of form. Soon she was peddling her paintings, alongside her produce, in the yard and at Millspaugh Drugstore in Natchitoches. As Bailey noted, Hunter was illiterate and had no training as an artist. But she was a keen observer of her surroundings who brought to life in vibrant detail her memories of plantation life-the joyous times of weddings and birthdays, work days, interpretations of religion and the reflection of simple things, such as a bouquet of zinnias or a whimsical birdhouse. By the mid 1950s, Hunter was receiving worldwide acclaim and in 1976, "Threshing Pecans" was chosen for a UNICEF calendar section. The Mildred Hart Bailey Cane River Collection is on display at the Roque House, 1 Rue Beauport, in Natchitoches and chronicles Hunter's work from her first, most primitive paintings to her more sophisticated abstracts, painted shortly before her death. Hunter's work is also on display at the Carriage House on Front Street and at Melrose and Beau Fort plantations. ========================================== ARTISANS AND CRAFTSMEN TO GATHER FOR MELROSE PLANTATION FESTIVAL The Natchitoches Times, June 1997 Glass and pottery by Bob Howell of Alexandria will be on display at Melrose. Howell will be one of several potters and artisans demonstrating his craft. Over 100 artists and craftsmen from throughout the South will exhibit, demonstrate and sell their wares at the 23rd annual Melrose Plantation Arts and Crafts Festival June 14-15. The event will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the plantation, located 14 miles south of Natchitoches. The event is sponsored by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches and this year is chaired by Julia and Tynes Hildebrand. Unique jewelry, original glassware and pottery, handcrafted wooden items, fine arts, paintings, clothing booths, handmade candles, dolls, stuffed animals and novelty items will highlight the sale. Meat pies made and sold by the Christian Mothers Sociey of St. Augustine Church will be available. Other hot foods, home baked cakes, soft drinks and coffee will be for sale. Admission to the event will be $2 for adults and $1 for children under. Children umder 12 must be accompanied by an adult. The festival is staged on the grounds of historic Melrose Plantation, a complex of nine buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The plantation dates to 1796 and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.