Melrose Plantation
National Historic Landmark · Melrose, Louisiana
A Cane River plantation founded around 1796 by MARIE THÉRÈSE COINCOIN, a woman born into slavery who was freed, given land, and went on to own property and enslaved people herself — a Creole of colour landholding story that fits none of the categories visitors arrive with. Two of its buildings, the African House and Yucca House, are unlike anything else standing in North America. In the twentieth century it became an artists' colony, and CLEMENTINE HUNTER, who cooked here and could not read or write, began painting in her sixties and covered the upper walls of the African House with murals of Cane River life.
3533 Highway 119, Melrose, Louisiana, 71452, United States
GUIDED TOURS ONLY on a rolling schedule, about an hour, with no self-guided option — arrive well before closing to catch the last departure. HOURS ARE SHORT AND THE OPENING DAYS VARY; this is a small privately run site in rural Natchitoches Parish whose schedule has changed more than once, so check before driving out. Admission is modest with reductions; parking is free. NOT a National Park Service site — Oakland and Magnolia twenty minutes away are the federal Cane River Creole units and they are free.
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