Pictured above is Acadia Plantation just outside Thibodaux, Louisiana. Ormonde Plater, who took the picture, spent his boyhood at Acadia Plantation. A mega-developer, Jake Giardina, bought the property and, demolition of the old plantation house began yesterday. Read Ormonde's account of his visit yesterday and the history of the house at his blog Through the Dust.
UPDATE: From the comments to Ormonde at Through the Dust:
DeeDee DiBenedetto, the Baton Rouge genealogist and historian, asked me to post the following in her name:
"Owning historical property, especially a historic home in a community, makes the owner a part of the community. Note the root word commune. Just as your right to swing your fist ends when you threaten to swing it into my nose, a property owner’s right to do as he pleases with his historical property ends when it threatens the history of the community. Historical preservation areas preserve a look and feel of a community, and the owners in these areas should consider the entire community."
DeeDee is right.
Reading the developers' web page ("Where old fashion[sic]values come to life" one might think the project was undertaken purely from altruism.
ReplyDeleteLapin, the idea for a mixed residential/commercial development friendly to pedestrian traffic is not bad, but I'm very sad to see the old house go. It was quite an interesting structure, both inside and out. I wish that the house could have been saved. With the will, it could have been incorporated into the plans for the development.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the State let him demolish History,...Bastards!!
ReplyDeleteWhat Goes Around Comes Around!!
Why do we destroy our history and call it progress?
ReplyDeleteDavid G., we cannot depend on the state to protect the historic structures without grass roots pressure, and that doesn't always work.
ReplyDeleteBooCat, it beats me.
What a beautiful old house. What a stupid set of decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe new owner had the home removed from the national list. that is why he was able to destroy this beautiful home. He built a new one in its place that is about as ugly as all get out. This is my home town and this still makes me sick till today. he claimes he tried to sell the home but its all lies. he is a greedy man who cares nothing about preserving the history of our quaint little town. There needs to be laws to protect this from happening.
ReplyDeleteTrudy, there should be a law that can't be easily swept aside.
ReplyDeleteI guess laurel valley plantation is next. just think of all the houses you can cram together , more people more rent or mortgages more tax money more voters, more sewage, more automobile exhaust, more roads , more noise, etc, who needs historical relics or tourism???
ReplyDeleteteacher, I hope not, but I would not be overly surprised.
Deleteteacher
ReplyDeleteAs I research some of Louisiana's plantation homes I am extremely discouraged to discover that in this day and age someone would be allowed to demolish an historic home. I am appalled!! What a travesty that some land monger has absolutely no sense of history or preservation. It is astounding! To demolish an historic site should be a crime. It is certainly offensive and despicable act.
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight. Mr. Giardina purchased the house from a well established, local family under the pretense of maybe living there? And then using a loophole in the law, because of it being privately owned removed it from the National Historic Register? Am I close? And then he tore it down?
ReplyDeleteAcadia was one of the old ladies of Lafourche Parish. The house played a role in the Southern aesthetic and was held in the balance of Thibodaux's trust. Strike that one from the brochure when marketing for tourism.
There is such a thing as too one person having too much power.
Money wins the day. We see the evidence writ large on the political scene today.
DeleteThe house was built as three homes for the Bowie family -- of Jim Bowie at the Alamo fame, of Bowie knife fame. The 3 houses were adjacent, and later moved together to form the house that was demolished. The Bowie's reportedly dealt with Jean Lafitte, then at Galveston Texas, illegally importing slaves to Louisiana for sale here and Mississippi. So, the history is mixed good and bad, but quite old...and now all gone instead of being the centerpiece of a new community. That might have made more profit for the developers, but they found the usual formula easier...just flatten the hell out of what's there! .
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