A couple of weeks ago, I traveled through the Louisiana Delta on US Highway 65, between Vicksburg and Lake Village, Arkansas, and featured my journey in a series of three previous posts. If you have not read those posts and would like to, just click on the links below:
A Journey through the Louisiana Delta
I Made it to Providence!
Louisiana Delta Odds and Ends
The last stop on my trip was at the Louisiana State Cotton Museum at Lake Providence, Louisiana.
The Louisiana State Cotton Museum began as an idea by a group of volunteers in the 1960s, and was later brought to life by the East Carroll Historical Society. Since its opening in 1995, the museum is dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of cotton cultivation and its influence on life in Louisiana.
In addition to the replica gin, the 7-acre museum complex includes a 100-year-old planter's house original to the site, and is surrounded by a Sharecropper's Cabin relocated from Mound Plantation near Tallulah, Louisiana, a Commissary, which was a general store on a Delhi plantation, a Plantation Church, and an Exhibit Hall.
Although I didn't have time to tour the museum, I was able to capture a few pictures of the outbuildings, and felt as if I had traveled back in time.
Over 100 years old and original to the site, cotton planter families occupied the Hood Home Plantation since antebellum days.
Commissary
My favorite building was the little chapel.
Small churches like this one were built for families who worked on the plantations.
I have quite a collection of church bell photos, and I was pleased to add this old treasure to my collection.
There is a world of fascinating history behind the cotton clothes you wear — and if you are ever traveling near US Highway 65 in the Louisiana Delta, I hope you will take the time to stop and visit the Cotton Museum, and see and hear for yourself what it was like to live "in the Land of Cotton," where "old times [there] are not forgotten."
6 comments:
great post...love the bell...beautiful photos...
Wonderful post, it takes us right along on the adventure with you. I have passed there many times but DH is always in a hurry to get some where and we've never stopped.
Thanks for sharing
Molly
You know I loved this post! I'm so glad those buildings have been preserved. I love that you are sharing our wonderful South in pictures. I think you should do a book!
Carolyn
Looks like a great place to visit! Enjoyed your photos and the information!
Oh, so many scenes, so unknown yet so familiar!! I loved every bit of this---and tried to see if the bell were kin to mine, but I seem to see an "MO" instead of the "CS" which is engraved on ours.
And I echo the BOOK suggestion soundly and loud: HEAR!! HEAR!!
oh I wish I were in Dixie, Away, Away... in Dixie Land I'll take my stand....
Of course as read your post today and looked those fascinating photos, I was deep in the heart of Dixie......
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