Courtesy Stanley Gallien Place: Magnolia Plantation Interviewed by: NPS Staff Transcibed by: D.K. Greer Dr. Stan Gallien grew up at Magnolia Plantation. His family moved to the overseer's house in either 1934 or 1935, and Dr. Gallien was born in 1943, and lived at Magnolia until either 1957 or 1958 when they moved to Cloutierville, Louisiana. While they lived at Magnolia, the Gallien family consisted of Dr. Gallien's grandfather, Henry, grandmother, Camilla, Camilla's sister, Lula Vercher, his father, Leslie Gallien, his mother, Ophelia, and his brother, Donald Rae. Other family members resided at the house periodically, including Dr. Gallien's niece Yvonne. When the family first moved to Magnolia, grandfather, Henry, became the overseer for the plantation, and father, Leslie, was initially the clerk at the plantation store. As Henry got older, Leslie, gradually took over more of the responsibilities of overseer. Leslie managed the ranch portion of the plantation since the Hertzog family had a large herd of cattle. This was his primary duty when he first left his position as store clerk. Many of the African Americans who lived on the plantation continued to call Leslie 'clerk.' Dr. Gallien's mother, Ophelia, was a housewife, as was his grandmother, Camilla, who was disabled. Dr. Gallien's Aunt Lula was a 'house lady' who did not 'work out'. Dr. Gallien and his brother went to school. 00:00) Dr. Gallien grew up at Magnolia Plantation where his grandfather was the overseer and his father was his assistant. His family moved to the overseer's house at Magnolia in either 1934 or 1935, and Dr. Gallien was born in 1943, and lived at Magnolia until either 1957 or 1958 when they moved to Cloutierville. 00:33) While they lived at Magnolia, the Gallien family consisted of Dr. Gallien's grandfather, Henry, grandmother, Camilla, Camilla's sister, Lula Vercher, his father, Lester [Leslie] Gallien, his mother, Ophelia Gallien, and his brother, Donald Rae Gallien. Other family members resided at the house periodically, including Dr. Gallien's niece, Yvonne. 01:15) At Christmas, the family had a lot of guests. They went to midnight Mass for communion after fasting all day on Christmas Eve in order to receive communion. After Mass, everyone would return to the house and partake of the roasted pig that Henry Gallien had prepared at the fireplace in the house. Santa Claus had also had visited the house during Mass. Christmas Eve was the highlight for the family at Magnolia. 01:45) When the family first moved to Magnolia, grandfather, Henry, became the overseer for the plantation, and father, Lester [Leslie], was initially the clerk at the plantation's commissary. As Henry got older, Lester [Leslie], gradually took over more of the responsibilities of overseer, in particular, Lester [Leslie] managed the ranch portion of the plantation since the Hertzog family had a large herd of cattle. This was his primary duty when he first left his position as clerk at the commissary. Many of the African Americans who lived on the plantation continued to call Dr. Gallien's father 'clerk' instead of Mr. Gallien. 02:38) Dr. Gallien's mother, Ophelia, was a housewife, as was his grandmother, Camilla, who was crippled. Dr. Gallien's Aunt Lula was a 'house lady' who did not 'work out'. Dr. Gallien and his brother did not “work out”; they went to school.“Most of the time kids played in the yard, and on the galleries. We rode horses and played games outside. At that time, kids just did not play in the house. The adults sat up in the house and talked, and kids were not allowed in the middle of it, as they are today, so we made ourselves scarce when visitors came.” 03:22) Dr. Gallien states that they had a lot of visitors including large numbers of family members who had moved to Illinois that came for a visit every year for two weeks. His grandfather Henry loved to feed people so there was always a lot of people at Sunday dinner, especially Father Becker and Dr. Corkin [sic] from Natchitoches. 03:34) The living room was the center of all social conversation. Dr. Gallien points out which of the family members occupied the different bedrooms. Henry and Camilla were in the back bedroom; Lester and Ophelia had the “Stranger's Room”; Lula was in the big bedroom; he and his brother, Donald, shared the-room next to Aunt Lula's. Dr. Gallien thinks the addition in back was either a bathhouse or storeroom. He had heard it was a kitchen at one time, but he never knew it as a kitchen. He does not know exactly why it was added on. 04:41) His first remembrance of the kitchen was in a huge building out back that had a wood stove in the middle of it. The family ate in the kitchen at a dining table at one of the kitchen. Dr. Gallien does not remember what year the kitchen was moved to the present-day kitchen in the house but when gas was installed in the house, his father purchased a gas stove, and the kitchen was moved to the house. Dr. Gallien remembers his grandmother was upset because she wanted her wood range in the new kitchen, so when she got well, she could start cooking again, but it was never put in. He describes the room where the interview was taking place at this point as equipped with a deep freeze and a pie safe since the room was always cold. 05:52) “Ms. Dee” [Hertzog] started taking Dr. Gallien to school the year before he actually started school, so he was able to read when he started first grade. She would pick him up in front of the store [commissary] every morning, and he would ride home with her after school and drop him off. He would go in the front door, and there usually would be rice and gravy for his snack, watch Howdy Doody and shows like that on the television, then do his homework. 06:29) At night the family would gather in “mama and papa’s room” [his grandparents], to listen to the radio that was in their room. They would sit around in chairs in front of the radio. Dr. Gallien thinks this was because of his grandmother's need to go to bed early due to her poor health but wanted to spend time with the family. 06:56) In response to interviewer's question about animals. Dr. Gallien states there were “lots of animals”. He points out the picture of Rex, his papa’s German Shepard, and a picture of Dr. Gallien as a boy with two lambs.“If lambs, many times lambs’ legs got broken by the other livestock, and pop would bring them in here and splinter them until they got well, and the lambs lived on the gallery, and I'd bring them in to play, and I remembers one had gotten pretty big and butted a mirror in the chifferobe.”He states there were lots of horses, sheep, and mules, and cats all the time because of the mice. 07:55) Dr. Gallien explains that water was pulled from the cistern because there were no pumps. There were washbasins in every bedroom and in the room where the interview was being conducted at this time. The water was bought in to be heated and everybody would “wash up”. His grandparents would bathe in a sink tub in front of their bedroom fireplace, and his parents bathed in front of their bedroom fireplace, which the children also used to bathe. Teeth were brushed in the mornings at the bedroom basins. 08:55) Dr. Gallien always remembered having electricity, so he does not remember when it was initially installed in the house. “Now, the lights were just a bulb hanging from a cord in every room.” There was no air conditioner in the house, but he explains that because of the bousillage walls, the house did not get really hot or cold. In the winter the fireplaces were used for heating until gas was installed then space heaters were used. "In the summer all the activities were on the gallery where you get was a good breeze. Of course, with these big trees, the house stays shady all day... Oh, yes, we had a porch swing right at the corner, yeah that was always there in the center of the gathering on the porch."
NPS/ Historic Structure Report Room #102 - Aunt Lula Vercher's bedroom; Gallien states steps are correct for the room. Room #108 - Dr. Gallien and his brother Donald's bedroom. Room # 110 - Built-on addition that had been called a kitchen, but Dr. Gallien never has seen any evidence to support the idea. He states it was a washroom, catch all area when his family lived at Magnolia. He believes it is not very old but was added at later date. Room #109 - Bathroom that was put in later. Room #110 - Dr. Gallien states that the steps are correct for the room. Room #103 of the north wall - Dr. Gallien states that the mantle is authentic and correct. When he lived in the house, there were a number of rocking chairs in the room because people loved to rock. There was a couch along the west wall and a TV along the south wall, and Dr. Gallien states that he believes they got the TV in 1952, but not sure. There were rocking chairs along the south wall. 12:28) In response to question about rugs and larger furniture, Dr. Gallien states there were linoleum rugs. The floor was constructed of wide cypress boards that were very worn with cracks in them, so the linoleum rugs were put down to keep the cold air out. He explains that he remembers the rugs being somewhat blue, in multicolor squares, and that the couch was a dark blue in a velveteen fabric. His best memory of the rocking chairs was that they were all wooden, and there were no upholstered rockers in the house. There was no coffee table. 13:55) The television was an Admiral table model, and it stood on a stand. The reception was very bad and snowy, the picture could hardly be seen. There was an antenna outside by the cistern, and it was so high up that in a windstorm, “they had to crank it down to keep it from blowing over.” When his papa [Grandfather Henry] bought the TV the only station they could get was in Monroe and they could barely see it. There was no antenna directly on the TV, just a wire that ran off the TV to the antenna outside. 15:15) There were pictures above the mantle, but Dr. Gallien did not remember what they were. He remembers a picture of an angel hanging on the south wall, and states it was probably a print of a classic picture of an angel walking with her robes flowing but does not remember the name of it. Dr. Gallien’s family was Catholic, and he was raised Catholic. He states that there were other pictures on the other walls, but he does not recollect what they were but, in his house, now he has pictures that were of great-grandparents, and probably some of them were hanging at Magnolia but he cannot be sure. He believes they were photographs that were enlarged, and maybe some watercolors, all in old-fashion ornate frames. 17:26) Dr. Gallien responds to question regarding what type of curtains were in the house, such as Venetian blinds.“There was none of that, they were all roll down shades, in every room…. They were khaki colored, that may have been from age.” There were no other curtains, “and that's strange because my Aunt Lula was a great seamstress, that she didn’t make curtains.” 18:32) The mantle in his grandparent's room, Room #104, he thinks was exactly like the mantle in Room #103. Pictures hung on the walls, there were no picture stands on the mantle. There were glass kerosene oil lamps on every mantle because the electricity went out frequently. The lamps were not hurricane lamps but were the type with a glass bottom and a shade. 20:05) Dr. Gallien responds to inquiry about what activities occurred in the living room.“Just normal family social activities. Oh, yes, I do remember this, there was a quilting frame that hung from the ceiling when I was real young, and they would lower it, and everybody would sit around and quilt, and they would not take it down. They'd just pull back up to the ceiling.” 21:11) The bed in the Stranger's Room originally belonged to Salome, Henry Gallien's first cousin who had Down Syndrome. He brought her to Magnolia to live for several years. 22:40) In the summer the furniture was placed along the walls but in the winter it was pulled in around the fireplace. 23:25) Dr. Gallien states that the mantle is authentic in Room #102. The light fixtures in the room are not authentic, there were no ceiling fans. The light was the pendant light, single bulb, no copper fixtures. The room was originally Dr. Gallien's parents for a while before it became his Aunt Lula's bedroom. There was a double bed in the northeast corner, and a later bed he remembers had wooden posts, but her first bed may have been an iron frame. There was one rocking chair and chifferobe along the west wall after the doorway; a washstand along the west wall, north of the doorway. The door in the north wall led to stairs that went to the outside toilet on that side of the house. At night everyone used chamber pots. The walls were all bousillage and painted white, throughout the whole house. There was a dresser that matched the bed, but he cannot remember where it was, maybe along the west wall, in the southeast corner. The bed was covered with homemade quilts, multicolor, he does not remember the pattern. 29:40) Dr. Gallien remembers that the washstand had a white wash bowl and pitcher. All the wash bowls and pitchers in the house was white, or off-white due to age. 30:18) Dr. Gallien states that there were crucifixes on every wall in every room because his grandfather was very Catholic. [Later in the interview Dr. Gallien states that there was a crucifix in every room, but not on every wall]. In response to inquiry about any Holy Water fonts, he states:“Oh, yes, we had Holy Water, and my aunt would almost drowned us with it every time a storm came up, you got sprinkled.” 30:54) Dr. Gallien agrees with the statement by interviewer that Aunt Lula was the matriarchal strong Catholic of the family, however, the Holy Water font was not in her room but in the living room on the mantle “...on this end, because that's where everyone gathered when there was a storm.” Dr. Gallien remembers that the font was a clear glass bottle setting on the mantle and the only one in the house. 31:53) Dr. Gallien does not remember anything on the walls in Room #102. There was linoleum rug on the floor, every room in the house had linoleum rugs. The rugs covered the center of every room and stopped about one foot and half to two feet from the walls. He does not remember what was on the mantle in Aunt Lula's room. Dr. Gallien remembers more about being on horseback outside. The windows had the same rolled shade as the living room; there were no curtains. The washstand was solid wood, no marble top. Dr. Gallien does not remember anything hanging from the nails in the ceiling in the room. 34:51) The interview moves to Room #101, the Stranger's Room. Dr. Gallien explains that when people traveled from New Orleans, they would stay at Magnolia, eating with the family but staying in the Stranger's Room so they could get up early the next morning and leave without disturbing anyone. The room is the only one that still has the chair rails along the walls, which would have been in every room in the house. The rail was painted white because there was not a variety of colors available, so everything was whitewashed. 37:22) Dr. Gallien remembers the earliest person to occupy the room was Salome [see above] with her four-poster bed in the southwest corner. His parents occupied the room after Salome with their double wooden bed against the west wall to the right of the window, a dresser with a mirror along the south wall, and chest of drawers in the corner of the east wall, right side of the chimney-three piece matching set with dark colored veneer. There were a couple of rocking chairs and a washbasin against the wall opposite the foot of the bed. There was a picture on the west wall, but he does not remember what it was, and states that he does not remember the breaker box being located on the wall. Dr. Gallien states that “back then, children did not come into their parent's bedroom that much.” 42:48) Dr. Gallien states there was a wind-up clock on every mantle in the house; he shares a picture of the clock that was in his parent's bedroom that was a wall-hanging clock that was on the wall above the mantle. This clock was given to his mother, Ophelia, by his father, Lester, on their first wedding anniversary. There were “nicknacks” on the mantle but does not remember any particular type of things his mother collected. There were no photos on the mantle. There were homemade quilts on the bed, which were on all the beds throughout the house. Dr. Gallien states that people did not have store bought blankets because nobody had money, they made everything. There was a linoleum rug in the room that covered the wide cypress boards. The door on the south wall was shut off during the time of his parents. 47:30) Dr. Gallien states that his mother did not sew but his aunt Lula sewed and her sewing machine was in the living room, Room #103. It was a treadle machine 'foot pump', as Dr. Gallien described it with its own table, and would be moved to the gallery so Lula would have more light to see. The machine was stored in different parts of the house, but remembers it being in the living room. The machine was the type that folded down into its own stand. 49:10) There were chamber pots under the beds. Dr. Gallien remembers high-back chairs in the house but cannot remember “where and when”. He states there were snuff jars or spittoons because everyone dipped snuffed except his parents, but his father did smoke but did not smoke in the house as far as he can remember. Both windows in the bedroom had paper shades. 50:30) Discussion of curtains and hardware put in by other occupants of the house after Gallien family. Dr. Gallien states again that he is surprised that his aunt did not make curtains since she was a good seamstress, and states that she mostly made clothes for herself, his grandmother, and Salome. 52:25) Interview moves to the 'Pink Room', Room#104. Dr. Gallien states this was his grandparent's bedroom, Henry and Camilla. The walls were all white with a mantle over a wood burning fireplace until propane was installed. There was a window instead of the screen door going into Room#105 while Dr. Gallien lived there. The window was just like the window between the living room and the 'cold room' and did not have any glass or wooden bars, only shutters. The shutters were closed from Room #105, and states he believes that indicates that Room #105 had been a gallery at one time. 55:15) There were two double beds; Henry and Camilla each had their own bed: one in the southeast corner [inaudible] headboard with dark wood and square with legs that splayed out and a shelf on the bottom between four legs; Henry and Camilla shared a chifferobe on the north wall, east side, right of the chimney. The radio was an Admiral, big brown plastic, he remembers sitting around the radio listening to Amos & Andy. There were at least two straight-back chairs and at least two rockers arranged around the radio, maybe more when there were more people present. Dr. Gallien states again in response to light fixture question that the entire house had only the pendant-type light fixtures with only one bulb in every room. Every mantle in the house had oil lamps and a clock. There was a mantle over the fireplace when he moved out of the house [Dr. Gallien moved to Cloutierville with his parents in 1957 or '58]. 58:53) The matching beds were iron and gray, almost black. A washstand was located along the east wall. Crucifixes hung over each of the beds; Dr. Gallien states that there was at least one crucifix in each room, but not on every wall, as previously stated, except when there were more than one bed. The window bars were before Dr. Gallien's time, probably when the house was originally built. Linoleum rug on the floor, oblong in the center. Shutters were closed only when there was a storm. There was not a home altar in the house. 01:02:34) The interview moved to the kitchen, Room #105. The door into the kitchen was not present when Dr. Gallien lived there. The room used to be his Aunt Lula's bedroom; he remembers when he was four or five years old, they put gas in the room, and it became the kitchen. There is an extension that was the kitchen before gas installation, where his grandmother had her old wood stove. When Lula moved out of the room, they put in a sink and stove, and the refrigerator was on the east wall, right of the northernmost window. Prior to electricity, the refrigerator was an icebox. 01:04:58) The milk pasteurizer was on the left side of the north most window, to the left of the refrigerator. The propane stove was counter-cornered in the southeast corner. An old sink was under the south window. A traditional-type pie safe with screen for dishes located at the southwest corner, also counter-cornered; there were no shelves on the walls. A long wooden table, probably homemade, was close to the west wall with a wooden bench along the wall where the children sat, and maybe four wooden straight back chairs around the other part of the tables for the adults. Linoleum rug on the floor which the present one may be original. There were no wall cabinets. Pots and pans were stored in the pie safe with the dishes. 01:10:15) Food was stored in the refrigerator and freezer, and a few canned goods stored in the cold room. Room #106 also had a pie safe. The “cold room” served as a pantry, which Dr. Gallien believes to have originally been the “butler's pantry” because the kitchen used to be a dining room, and the food used to be carried through the “cold room” from the old kitchen [the extension]. He believes that it was a backporch/gallery but at some point it was closed in to become the dining room. The sink had two bowls with single wing and a cabinet underneath and probably did not matter what side the clean and dirty dishes went. Dr. Gallien states his mother really did not wash dishes very often, and that either Aunt Lula or Tooky [sic] washed dishes.“Tooky was the black woman that worked in the house, Odelia [Randolph]…. She wasn't a housekeeper, she was part-time when they needed help, she would come, you know. She made the best BBQ sauce from tomatoes that I've ever eaten in my life… When papa [Henry] got sick, Tooky actually came down and took care of him all week, and she'd come back home on the weekends.” 01:14:30) Dr. Gallien states that his Aunt Lula did the cooking after his grandmother got sick. His mother, Ophelia, did some cooking but not too much. There was an oil tablecloth on the dining table. Dr. Gallien does not remember what kind of dishes, just lots of them that did not match. Cast iron pots were stored under the sink or on the stove. The doorway was used by everybody going to the backyard and to the cistern. The stairs were just outside the door. Dr. Gallien relates about the fieldhand, George, who was “retarded” and could not work like the other field-hands, so he worked around the house cleaning the yard and things like that. In the mornings, Dr. Gallien would sit on the steps with George and eat “clabber” with sugar on it for breakfast. There was rolled down shades on the windows in the kitchen. 01:18:00) Interview moved to Room #106, “cold room”. There are stairs on the back gallery. Deepfreeze was against west wall, left of the window; it was long chest freezer. Dr. Gallien's father would take a yearling to Natchitoches to be butchered, and the freezer would stay full of meat. The window was always a shutter. The door was never opened, and on the outside was a rolled down shade, same as the bedroom. Pie safe was on the north wall, left of the staircase, same as the other pie safe in the kitchen. Back in Room #105 where the present hot water heat is located, counter-cornered in east corner, Dr. Gallien points out that there was a wooden stand with ceramic ewer and bowl, traditional washbasin where everyone washed their hands before meals. The 'cold room' was used mostly for storage. A door was used to go to the 'old kitchen' [Kitchen Ell Room #111] after it was turned into a laundry room where his mother kept her washing machine. 01:22:43) Dr. Gallien specified that the window between Rooms #106 and #103 had a roller shade on the side in #103 and shutters on the side in #106 for the purpose of hiding the shutter from view. This was the same as the window in Room #104 where the door is now that had a shutter in Room #105 and shade in Room #104. Dr. Gallien believes because of the window bars Room #106 is where another the gallery was located. 01:24:00) Dr. Gallien reiterates that the pie safe in Room #106 was a traditional pie safe with window screen. It was not used to store flour, which was stored along with cornmeal in big metal cans on the floor in the kitchen. The canning quart jars of vegetables were stored in the pie safe. The cans for flour and meal were probably used ones that had been filled with other things used on the plantation; they were bigger than lard cans. The cans may have been along the south wall in Room #106. Dr. Gallien's father would order jars of sausages that looked as if they were preserved in grease and were kept in the “cold room”; he would eat the sausages with hot biscuits. The interviewers state that the sausage brand was the Three Little Pigs, an oil sausage preserved in salad oil. Dr. Gallien states that Room #106 had only a bare floor, no covering. 01:29:00) Interview moves to Room #108. The bathroom fixtures were not present during Dr. Gallien's time in the house. There were no indoor bathrooms while the Galliens lived in the house. Room #108 was Dr. Gallien's and his brother, Donald Ray's, bedroom. Their room also served as the location for summer bathing for the entire household. The round bathtub would stay in their room all summer, and during winter the tub was hauled back in forth from the individual bedrooms with fireplaces. The round, circular bathtub was made of zinc, it was not galvanized. In Room #109 the current bathtub's location was where the old tub stood during the summer. 01:32:48) There was no closet in their bedroom. There was one bed with its head along the south wall, east of the doorway. Chifferobe along the west wall, and a homemade chest with drawers for clothing in the northeast corner of what is now Room #109, along the east wall. A crucifix was above the bed; nothing else on the walls as far as Dr. Gallien remembers. There was no washstand in the room; he and his brother would use the one in the kitchen. There was no fireplace so they used lots of quilts and the door would be left open for the heat to come through. The bed was a dark brown iron bed. The room had a single bulb. Dr. Gallien does not remember anything on top of the chest except for probably an oil lamp. The door into Room #110 was there. 01:38:04) Interview moves to Room #110. The type of flooring in the room is the same as it was throughout the house. Dr. Gallien states that he has heard rumors that the room was a kitchen because his mother always wanted a separate kitchen, and also heard it was used for storage, which it was used for during the time he remembers. There was no furniture in the room, only household junk. There is a hole in place that looks like it could have been a wood stove location, but there was never a stove during Dr. Gallien's time. He states it could have been a wood heat stove but there was not one during his time. There are two windows on the north side that he does not remember being there. The room was used for storage the whole time Dr. Gallien live there. 01:42:00) Interview moved to Room #111. Originally the kitchen for the Gallien family before gas was installed. The wood stove was in the center of the north wall, solid iron stove with a tank on the right of stove to heat water in. Homemade shelves on the south wall between the doors. An oblong 'eating table' on the east side, sat out from the wall, with four chairs; but it was never used to eat meals on, usually to have coffee while they were cooking. It was wooden and probably homemade with oilcloth. Washing machine was located on the west side, it was wringer-type washer with two rinse tubs and the clothes were hung outside to dry on clothesline outback. Dr. Gallien thinks the washing machine was a Kelvinator. Monday was wash day. 01:46:46) Interviewer enquires about any large pots -Dr. Gallien describes how hogs would be processed in boiling water in metal barrels over a wood fire outside. Interviewer asks about any big cast iron pots possible used to make cracklings. Dr. Gallien states that he has these pots at his house and will take a picture of them. “They were also used to boil the quilts in to clean them at the end of winter: one was used for the quilts, another to cook cracklings.” The pots were kept outside along the north side of the addition, and there were three different sizes. The shelves on the wall were used to store pots, pans, and flour, whatever they needed for cooking. There were also some dishes, including regular size coffee cups, because they drank coffee all day long; coffee pot sat on the stove all the time, as it did in the new kitchen later on. Dr. Gallien remembers dish towels but no potholders. The present flooring is the original wood. 01:49:56) Dr. Gallien states that they always had a lot of great food and always included “two or three types of meat such as pork, geese, Guineas, hogs, beef. They also had wild game: squirrel, and rabbits.” There was always an abundance of food with lots of rice “since the family was French.” Vegetables included potatoes, okra, tomatoes, lima and string beans, and probably purple hull peas since his father loved them. Dr. Gallien indicated that there were fruit trees, and his grandfather would make wine out of plums by putting lots of sugar on them and letting it ferment in a crock, covered with cheesecloth to keep the flies out. 01:51:55) All the males in the family hunted, except when Dr. Gallien came along, his grandfather did not do a lot of hunting. His brother fished, and his father only fished a little. After the kitchen was moved, Room #111 was used to wash clothes. Does not know what happened to the big wood range that was in the room, because it was in there when they moved to Cloutierville. The range was used to heat the water for washing the clothes. They also “heated water in the big black iron pots outside with a lot of bucket brigading”. Dr. Gallien states that Tooky would come to help on wash day. He does not remember seeing the ironing board set up anywhere but may have been stored under the stairwell in Room #107. 01:54:12) He states that when it was hot they most likely ironed outside on the gallery. There were rocking chairs on the gallery, on the front gallery there was a porch swing, several rocking chairs, and a few straight chairs. There was a small, square, homemade table on the porch, near the back door of the kitchen where “buckets of water were kept for use in the kitchen, because it was near the cistern at the back steps.” Dr. Gallien states that water did not run into the house until after electricity was installed and the new kitchen had running water. They had electricity before water running into the house. 01:55:58) Dr. Gallien states that the propane tank was somewhere along the fence with the trees somewhere. The “cistern was placed next to the stairs with the antenna on the other side of the cistern.” The small table on the back porch was to the right of the kitchen door. 01:57:24) Dr. Gallien states that the fruit trees were along the fence line and were primarily yellow plums and peaches, and some pear trees. Fig trees were back toward the garden at the fence line at the row of trees. He points out the former site of a very old stable, probably built with the original house because it was falling down when he was a child. 02:00:28) Dr. Gallien expresses his thoughts on the theory that the overseer house was a slave hospital. There were very few hospitals during slavery years in Louisiana and they were just for white people. When the slaves got sick, they were treated in their cabins. There was a Dr. Scruggs in Cloutierville called when valuable slaves were sick, but there was no separate hospital for the slaves. He believes the slave hospital belief started when the Union soldiers burnt the big house at Magnolia and used the overseer's house as a hospital for a brief time, and there might have been slaves that had run away and were fighting with the Union, been wounded, and treated while it was a Union hospital. [An 1858 plat map of Magnolia Plantation shows a building labeled “Hosp” in the area of the overseer’s house.] This segment is regarding the “carriage house” -garage and was recorded on the same day as the interview above.Dr. Gallien states that the “so-called carriage house” was built as a garage for his father, Lester's, car. It was also used at a later date for a surrey that “Mr. Matt” [Hertzog] purchased maybe in the early 1950s, but he really is not sure about the date. The surrey was ordered from New York, and it was stored in the “carriage house”. End of Interview |
Last updated: January 7, 2024