The Ducros Plantation (a.k.a. Old Jackson Plantation or Polmer Plantation) is a Southern plantation located in

Schriever, Louisiana Schriever is a census-designated place (CDP) in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 6,711 in 2020. It is part of the Houma, Louisiana, Houma–Bayou Cane, Louisiana, Bayou Cane–Thibodaux, Louisiana, Thibodaux Houma-B ...

Location

The plantation is located in Schriever, Terrebone Parish, Louisiana.National Register of Historic Places
/ref> It is two miles and a half away from Thibodaux.

History

The land was granted by Spain to Thomas Villanueva BarrosoAnne Butler (ed.), ''The Pelican Guide to Plantation Homes of Louisiana'', Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2009, p. 6

/ref> who, 10 years later, sold it to Pierre Denis de La Ronde whose son-in-law, Adolphe Ducros, developed it into the Ducros Plantation.Louisiana Writers' Project, ''Louisiana: A Guide to the State'', North American Book Distribution, 1 Jan 1941, p. 58

/ref> In 1845, Ducros sold it to Colonel Van Perkins Winder.Fred Daspit, ''Louisiana Architecture, 1840-1860'', Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2006, p. 26

/ref> Winder expanded the acreage by purchasing adjacent land formerly owned by Thomas Butler (Louisiana politician), Thomas Butler and smaller farms. The

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

was built by Winder's widow, Martha Grundy, who was

Felix Grundy Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th United States Attorney General. He also had served several terms as a congressman and as a U.S. senator from Tennessee. He ...

's daughter, shortly after her husband's death. Construction began in 1859 and was completed in 1860. It was designed in the

Greek Revival 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, ...

architectural style. Martha hired a Louisiana architect named Evens and told him to model the mansion on The Hermitage,

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

's plantation home in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Indeed, she had grown up in Nashville. During 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 ...

of 1861–1865, the mansion was saved from a fire by Union General

Godfrey Weitzel Godfrey (Gottfried) Weitzel (November 1, 1835 – March 19, 1884) was a German-American major general in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was the acting Mayor of New Orleans during the Union occupation of the city and also captur ...

. However, the outbuildings burned down. Meanwhile, the fields were used as a camping ground by the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

and the Unionists. The Texas Rangers hoisted

Bonnie Blue Flag The "Bonnie Blue flag" was a banner associated at various times with the Republic of Texas, the short-lived Republic of West Florida, and the Confederate States of America at the start of the American Civil War in 1861. It consists of a single, ...

, a flag of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

, on top of the house. In 1872, the plantation was purchased by two brothers, R.S. Woods and R.C. Woods, who were married to two sisters, Maggie Pugh and Fannie Pugh. It became known as the Old Jackson Plantation.Old Jackson Plantation home, owned by a sugarcane planter. Schriever, Louisiana

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

It is two-story high, with a white facade. It was purchased by Samuel and Leon Polmer in 1909.Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Houma, Louisiana
Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life It was later inherited by Leon Polmer's sons, Irvin and Marvin. In 1974, it was inherited by J.L. Fischman of

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

.Thad Angelloz
Local plantation lives on thanks to couple's restoration efforts
, ''

The Daily Comet ''The Daily Comet'' is a newspaper in Thibodaux, Louisiana, United States. It covers Lafourche, Assumption, the west bank of St. James and the northern part of Terrebonne parishes. It began publishing in 1889 as the weekly ''Lafourche Comet ...

'', May 4, 2008 The plantation is now owned by the Bourgeois family. It was featured on ''If These Walls Could Talk'', a television program on

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

, in 2002. Old wood with inscriptions about the

secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and the presidential run of

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...

in 1860 have been found on the property.

Heritage significance

It has been 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 ...

since November 7, 1985.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Houses in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana Sugar plantations in Louisiana Greek Revival houses in Louisiana Houses completed in 1860 Plantation houses in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana 1860 establishments in Louisiana