Out Buildings Evergreen Plantation, Wallace, St John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana
Pigeonniers (2)
These square two story brick structures flank the main house. They are specified in the 1832 building contract. The circular window on the front is most unusual for a building of this type. Alterations to the upriver pigeonnier include a brick floor, an added stair, removal of the nesting boxes, and replacement of the finial. The downriver pigeonnier has had a concrete floor installed and the finial replaced. Both, have exposed beams downstairs.
Privy
This delightful Greek Revival building is also specified in the building contract. Made of brick and stuccoed and scored to look like stone, the diminutive building has gable parapets arid a pedimented front with four pilasters featuring capitals formed of three bold bands. The interior is divided into two compartments. Each is a "two holer" although the holes have been removed.
Garconnieres (2)
Although these two identical buildings and the two buildings to the rear of the house do not correspond to the specifications of the "four back buildings" {exclusive of privy and pigeon houses) mentioned in the building contract, they are of the period, and it is clear that the complex is all of a piece. The garconnieres are five bay galleried cottages contructed of briquette entre poteaux (bricks between posts) and covered with clapboards on the side and rear and stuccoed and scored on the facade. The houses originally only had two rooms with a central chimney. During the restoration cabinet-like rooms were added to the rear with a gallery between. This meant, of course, changing the rear roof slope. The native French Creole tradition can be seen in the two room-interior chimney form, the exposed beams on the gallery and interior, and the fact that the mantels wrap around the chimney flue. The mantels feature pilasters and paneled sides. The ones in the upriver garconniere are a bit more elaborate, with a curving rather than straight shelf.
Kitchen
This building was labeled a kitchen during the 1940s restoration and restored as one. Whether it was built as a kitchen is not known. It is a two bay brick building with three Tuscan columns. The rear was extended to accommodate a new huge chimney and hearth. The interior has been completely redone, including a tile floor and the new hearth. The gallery also features exposed beams.
Guesthouse (original use unknown)
The Tuscan columns, size and shape are the same as the kitchen. Koch's 1936 photos show it with a brick-between-posts facade, brick sides and frame gable ends. During the restoration the facade was stuccoed, the gables were changed to brick, and the rear was extended. The work was done with salvaged bricks and is not that easy to detect. Of course, the roof slope was changed to accommodate the rear addition. The present simple wooden mantels and doors were installed during the restoration.
Overseer's House
Located upriver from the main house and closer to the road, this house is referred to as the overseer's house, but this use is not documented. One wonders if a house of this size and refinement (in effect, a medium size plantation house) would have been an overseer's house. One would also have expected an overseer's house to be closer to the cabins and sugar mill, although overseer houses located close to the main house are not unknown.
The seven bay, galleried, hip roof house in the French Creole style appears to date from the same period as the main house and dependencies (1832). Its dormers are like those found on the main house, except the pilasters are not fluted. The interior features exposed beaded beams and five wraparound mantels with pilasters and paneled sides. The house was originally three rooms wide with a rear linear room flanked by cabinets. A 1936 photo shows that the house had received a pitched roof addition across the back. During the restoration the roofline of the addition was reworked to continue that of the house. The siding was completely replaced and a side entrance and two small windows above it to either side were added. The rear addition consists of two cabinets with an open loggia between.
Slave Cabins (22)
This double row of cabins begins about halfway down an oak allee. They are spaced at regular intervals fifty feet apart. Twenty are two room cabins, while in the middle of each row is a four room unit. All are of frame construction with wide drop siding on the facade, interior chimneys, and exposed beams on the gallery and interior. Some of the cabins retain pegged frames and corner bracing on the interior. (The cabins apparently never had an interior wall finish; hence the framing is visible on the interior.) A majority of the cabins retain their very simple wraparound mantels. Some of the cabins have wooden bars in the transoms.
There is very little documentation on these buildings, although it is clear that they are indeed slave quarters. The 1860 census lists Lezin Becnel and his brother (the then owners of the plantation) as having 103 slaves in 48 dwellings. The only known historic map of the plantation is the Mississippi River Commission map of 1876, which shows twenty-two cabins in the same configuration and location
At: might be expected in buildings of this type arid age, the slave quarters at Evergreen have had much of the original fabric replaced over the years. For the record, they were not a part of the 1940s restoration. In addition to normal wear and tear and deterioration, it is known that the cabins were damaged by Hurricane Betsy in 196S and subsequently repaired. The hurricane apparently ripped off some of the roofs and caused walls to lean and sag. Most of the side and rear clapboards have been replaced and patched over the years, and a few of the cabins have had the decoratively cut boards replaced on the facade. None of the gallery posts are original, although they are like what would have been there originally. While some of the cabins retain their original pegged corner braced framing, others have been rebuilt over the years with replaced studs and corner braces. But despite what must be described as considerable replacement of fabric, the cabins' historic appearance has been carefully maintained.
