The Asphodel Plantation is a historic building and former plantation, completed in c.1830 and located about south of

Jackson, Louisiana Jackson is a town in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,842 at the 2010 U.S. census, down from 4,130 in 2000; the 2020 population estimates program determined Jackson had a population of 3,707. It is part of ...

, United States. It was built by Benjamin Kendrick, a cotton planter and slave owner. Both the house and the cemetery on the property were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on November 15, 1972.

History

The Asphodel Plantation was built as a cottage between 1820 until 1830, by Benjamin Kendrick (1779–1838) as a gift to his wife Caroline (née Pollard; ?–1833). The name "Asphodel" is a term derived from the liliaceous plant family; it was used in ancient Greece and by 18th century English and French poets to describe either daffodils (or narcissus). During Kendrick's ownership of the property, enslaved African American labor was used on this plantation to grow cotton. In 1838, Asphodel Plantation was inherited by his daughter Isabella Kendrick Fluker (1816–1875) and her husband,

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

David Jones Fluker. wit
three photos and two maps
With . During the

siege of Port Hudson The siege of Port Hudson (May 22 – July 9, 1863) was the final engagement in the Union (American Civil War), Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses S. Grant, Ulysses Grant was S ...

in 1863, in the midst of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, "a group of Union soldiers set fire to Asphodel" but "the fire went out." The house was restored and renovated by the new owner John Fetzers and his sons, starting in 1949. It was purchased by Robert E. Couhig in July 1958.

Architecture

The architecture of Asphodel Plantation is

Greek Revival architecture Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style, complete with six

doric columns The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

in the front exterior. The front exterior of the building is symmetrical and has two front doors. The structure has 14 rooms.

Legacy

The house and cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 15, 1972. Author Lyle Saxon described Asphodel as the "jewel of Louisiana." When the plantation was being built,

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

came to Asphodel to paint portraits of Isabella Kendrick Fluker and two of her sons; the paintings are located in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and have the inscription, "painted at their beloved Asphodel". In '' South and West: From a Notebook'',

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. Didio ...

writes that Ben Toledano's wife suggested she visit the Asphodel Plantation as well as the

Rosedown Plantation Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site is an historic home and former Plantations in the American South, plantation located in St. Francisville, Louisiana, St. Francisville, Louisiana, United States. Commissioned in 1835 by owners Daniel and M ...

, the

Oakley Plantation Audubon State Historic Site is a state park property in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, between the towns of St. Francisville and Jackson. It is the location where noted ornithologist and artist John James Audubon spent the summer of 1821. Vi ...

and Stanton Hall to understand the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

better.

History

Architecture

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading