Sylvest House - Franklinton, LA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Mile Branch Settlement is a group of significant structures from rural Washington Parish on display inside the fairground complex. The structures are of local importance. Interaction is allowed when the Settlement is opened. Great history of a wonderful area. The home is humble, but very unique log cabin in south Louisiana. Here is a breif history from the Register application, located here.

The significance of the Sylvest House is both architectural and agricultural. It is a surviving representative example of a log constructed dog trot house. Rare in the area, it is quite possibly the only extant example in Washington Parish. Its irregularly sized logs, its irregular corner construction, and its use of windows mark the Sylvest House as a distinctly late example. Preserving this late example is important because it represents the last generation of dog trot houses and log construction. It shows the degree to which vernacular architecture can perpetuate traditional forms. In addition it helps to give an overall sense of the development of the dog trot form and method of construction over time. The late date (c.1880) of the Sylvest House provides an indication of the rather late date of the development of Washington Parish and is therefore an excellent representative of the local history of the area. According to local historian Daunton Gibbs, "Washington Parish was the center of a vast wilderness area and remained as such until 1900. Most of the land owners were stock raisers with a few acres of land in cultivation." The occupants of the Sylvest House seem to have been typical of the time and place. According to local tradition, the Sylvest House was built by Nehemiah Sylvest in 1880 - 1881 while he, his wife, and their four or five children lived in a small structure which was to become their smokehouse. Ultimately the parents reared a total of twelve children in the house. (Since a courthouse fire in 1897 destroyed the local records of Washington Parish, most important early documents on the Sylvest House no longer exist.) In 1880, Sylvest was a thirty-five year old “farmer," according to the federal census. His wife Lenora, twenty-five years old, was "keeping house." They had been born in Louisiana, and both of their fathers had come here from Portugal. In 1880 they had four children -- two sons and two daughters -- ranging in age from one to seven.

Street address: Washington Parish Fairgrounds Franklinton, LA USA 70438 County / Borough / Parish: Washington Year listed: 1979 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1875-1899 Historic function: Agriculture/Subsistence, Domestic. Sub - Single Dwelling Current function: Recreation And Culture. Sub - Museum Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Privately owned?: Not Listed Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
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