Linwood Plantation House, Jackson Louisiana

Date added: April 04, 2024

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Linwood plantation house is a fine local example of a Greek Revival residence due to its colossal order gallery, double panel doors that have molded frames with corner blocks, and heavy simple aedicule motif mantels. It is one of about thirty major examples of Greek Revival residences in the parish. Linwood has a most unusual plan which represents a seldom-seen break with the standard Greek Revival central hall plan.

Linwood is associated with Sarah Morgan Dawson's A Confederate Girl's Dairy. The diarist and several other women in her family stayed at Linwood (except for an occasional side trip) from August 12^th, 1862 until April 7^th, 1863. They had fled their home in Baton Rouge because of the ongoing battle there. The bombardment of Port Hudson on March 15^th, 1863, and other occurrences at Linwood between September 17^th, 1862, and April 8^th, 1863 are described in the diary.

A Confederate Girl's Diary is considered to be one of the best Civil War diaries available and is widely used by historians. Edmund Wilson, in his book Patriotic Gore, devotes a chapter to three outstanding women diarists of the Civil War period. One of these is Sarah Morgan Dawson.

Linwood was built in 1848 by Albert G. Carter, a prominent East Feliciana planter. On the eve of the Civil War Carter owned ninety-five slaves. Carter died in 1876, and the house was occupied by his descendants until 1912. For six years thereafter it was owned by several other families. In 1919 Linwood was purchased by Malcolm Dougherty.

Building Description

Linwood plantation house is located on a high point of land in the gently rolling countryside of the southern portion of East Feliciana parish. Before the present trees grew, the house commanded a considerable view.

The house itself is a two-story, five-bay, frame building with a three-bay colossal Tuscan gallery front and rear. The room layout is a variation of the standard central hall plan seldom seen in Louisiana. The staircase is "shoehorned" into the front half of the central hall. This permits the rear half to be incorporated into one of the rear rooms creating a long rear ballroom.

The house features molded frame doors with corner blocks, double panel doors, and simple Greek Revival mantels.

In 1905 the present gabled roof was added, several doors and windows were replaced, and a fashionable Victorian newel post was installed at the base of the staircase. Recently the rear gallery columns were replaced with square brick columns.