Abandoned Plantation House Louisiana

White Hall Plantation House, Simmesport Louisiana

Date added: January 27, 2023

Front view facing south showing front elevation and galleries (1976)

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White Hall Plantation House was the home of Bennett Barton Simmes, the founder of the town of Simmesport it served as the Headquarters of the Department of the Gulf, Nineteenth Army Corps, United States Forces, under the command of Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks just prior to the campaign at Port Hudson, Louisiana.

Bennett Barton Simmes purchased the plantation on July 17^th, 1852 from Samuel J. Norwood. He paid $27,970.40 for "A certain tract of land … with all the buildings and improvements thereon containing six hundred and forty acres more or less … slaves eighteen in number … together with all the mules cattle hogs and farming utensils appertaining to the above described plantation."

Not much is known about Simmes beyond what can be learned from the 1860 census records. They state that in that year he was 48 years of age and that he was born in Maryland. He had 6 children then and 84 slaves with 15 slave dwellings. The value of his real property was $250,000; his personal property, $30,000. He had 600 acres of improved land and 900 of unimproved land. The cash value of his farm was $150,000 and of his farm implements and machinery, $2,500. He had 25 horses, 25 asses and mules, 25 milk cows, 10 working cows, 100 sheep, 50 swine, 50 other cattle, and the total value of his livestock was $25,000. He grew Indian corn, cotton, peas and beans, Irish potatoes, and sweet potatoes. In addition to Simmes' plantation activities, tradition states that he built a dock and warehouse along the banks where Bayou des Glaises empties into the Atchafalaya River - thus fathering the port which was incorporated as a village in 1926.

Although White Hall Plantation House has undergone some alterations through the years and is in only fair condition at the present time, it is considered by area residents to be an architectural landmark in upper Pointe Built during the mid-nineteenth century, it exhibits a combination of Greek Revival and Italianate stylistic characteristics and retains much good interior detailing.

Various documents describe the role White Hall played in 1863 as General N. P. Banks' Headquarters. Correspondence shown in The War of the Rebellion indicates that while the Headquarters was moved from Alexandria to the Simmes (or Simms or Sims) plantation on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River between May 14^th and May 17^th, 1863, Banks himself was apparently still in New Orleans on May 18^th but had arrived in Simmesport by May 21^st. The recorded dispatches deal with the movement of various troops and gunboats into the Port Hudson area, transporting the necessary coal, food and ammunition for them, and scouting the Port Hudson area to determine the location and numbers of Confederate troops there. The first major attack at Port Hudson was the morning of May 27^th, 1863.

The Union occupation of the Simmes plantation is described in The Era, a New Orleans newspaper, on May 29^th, 1863. The report is "From General Banks's Army...White Hall Plantation, May 21^st, 1863" and states:

All is excitement and bustle here. Orderlies and couriers are rushing frantically about.

Of course you want to know the reason for all this. Well, this portion of the 19^th Army Corps is again about to take up its line of march; and they hope soon to have the opportunity of adding new laurels to those they have so recently won...

"White Hall Plantation," the property of General B. B. Simmes, is occupied by General Banks and staff as headquarters, and a beautiful place it is. It is situated on the east bank of the Atchafalaya river, one mile above Simmesport, which place takes its name from the General. The family of Mr. Simmes is still residing here, but he is absent on a visit to another plantation. What his political status is, I do not know, but his family display none of that bitter animosity aroused on the first arrival of the Yankees.

The next report was datelined "On Board St. Maurice, Bayou Sara, May 23^rd, 1863," and said in part:

General Banks and staff are here, and the army is rapidly coming up. Everyone is jubilant, and confident of victory at Port Hudson.

In 1868 White Hall became the property of the Citizens' Bank of Louisiana. From 1880-1898 Samuel J. Norwood once again owned the plantation. (It was from Norwood that Simmes had bought White Hall.) In the 1890s the plantation consisted of 1500 acres and the house was described as a commodious frame building.

Building Description

White Hall Plantation House was constructed circa 1849. The house exhibits influences of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. Its architect and builder are unknown.

White Hall has two stories plus an attic constructed of cypress. Across the front facade (north side) of the house is an upper and lower gallery. There are six octagonal columns of vaguely Doric design on each gallery level (one end column on the upper level no longer stands) with balustrades between the columns. Opening onto the lower gallery are four floor-length windows with six over nine lights and the main entrance. This entrance consists of a six-paneled door surrounded by full-length side lights and transom. All of this is recessed within jambs which are paneled in a similar fashion to the door. The architrave surrounding the doorway is of the Greek key design. On the upper gallery, there are five floor-length windows matching those on the lower gallery. At the northeast corner of the galleries an exterior stairway leads from the first to the second story. The first-story columns support an entablature with architrave and frieze divided by a row of dentils. The second-story columns support a modillioned cornice under the overhanging hipped roof. The roof is now covered in tin.

The east side of the house has a one-story pentagonal bay window with Doric pilasters supporting an entablature with a row of dentils under the roof. Also on the east side is a balcony onto which a second-story bedroom door opens and three additional windows.

The west side of the house includes four window openings, one of which has been enclosed inside the house, and a doorway that originally opened into a small wing that was removed from the house in 1912.

The rear of the house (south side) shows the most evidence of change to the structure. Bathrooms, added during the Victorian period, protrude from the rear. There is also a small, one-story wing that was added in the 1950s.

The interior of White Hall Plantation House is in good condition. The walls are sheathed in long-leaf yellow pine, while the moldings, mantels, door and window facings and stairway are of cypress.

The first-story floor plan consists of a side hallway with a stairway to the second story and main reception rooms opening from this side hallway. Except for the hallway, the entire front of the house is taken up by a double parlor measuring 20 x 40 feet with the polygonal bay window adding another 8 feet to the length of the rooms. These matching parlors are divided by an archway with a Corinthian impost and Corinthian medallion in the center of the arch. The floors of the double parlors, as throughout the house, are of oak stripping.

Immediately behind the double parlors are two other main reception rooms measuring 16 x 20 feet each. The four main downstairs rooms have fireplaces with cypress mantels.

The upstairs consists of five rooms which were probably bedrooms and a landing area for the stairway. The rooms are situated three across the front with the narrowest room being directly over the side hallway. Behind these front rooms is a hallway and behind the hall are the two additional rooms. Three of the upstairs rooms have built-in closets.

Above the two main stories is an unfinished attic area.

White Hall Plantation House has had to be moved through the years because of levee setbacks along the Atchafalaya River in 1912, 1939 and possibly one other time (date unknown). Thus the house has been, by necessity, moved back from the encroaching river and now stands some 300 feet from the levee. The house has retained its orientation toward the river.