19th century The original owners, Jean-Pierre Emanuel Prud'homme and his wife Marie Catherine (Lambre) Prud'homme, acquired the land for the Oakland Plantation through a 1785 Spanish-Era land grant. They completed building the Oakland Plantation house in 1821. The family tradition claims that Oakland was one of the first plantations in the area to grow cotton on a large scale, which was cultivated and harvested by enslaved African Americans. They also raised and used farm animals, which were served by extant buildings, such as the dipping vat, the turkey shed, the mule barn, two
pigeonniers, and several chicken coops. At the end of 1795, 38 enslaved African Americans lived at the Oakland Plantation.
20th century Descendant J. Alphonse Prud'homme won the gold medal at the
1904 World's Fair in
St. Louis for growing the highest-grade cotton in
the South. The
Cane River Creole National Historical Park was authorized by Congress in 1994, with support by US Senator
J. Bennett Johnston (R-LA). In 1997, the
National Park Service acquired the main buildings and surrounding land of Oakland Plantation for the park. The NPS has reached advanced stages in the preservation and conservation of the many outbuildings, and of the
plantation house. They have completed furnishing interiors with furniture, paintings, and textiles as it was in the 1860s at the end of the antebellum plantation era. The park's program includes interpretation of emancipation and the history of
freedmen and
Creoles of color, and their descendants, who lived and worked on Oakland Plantation for nearly 100 years after the
American Civil War. They were all integral to the region's community life. The community has strongly associated the plantation with the Prud'homme family, many of whose descendants still reside in the area today. File:Overseer's house at Oakland Plantation, Natchitoches Parish IMG 3483.JPG|Overseer's house File:Slave quarters at Oakland Plantation, Natchitoches Parish IMG 3481.JPG|Slave quarters File:General view looking from northeast to store - Oakland Plantation, Plantation Store and Post Office, Route 494, Bermuda, Natchitoches Parish, LA HABS LA,35-BERM,2-O-1.tif|
Plantation store and post office File:Oakland Plantation, Route 494, Bermuda, Natchitoches Parish, LA HABS LA,35-BERM,2-17.tif|Approach to Oakland plantation house ==See also==