Southdown Plantation - Houma, Louisiana - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

The estate that sugar built.
Southdown Plantation was more than a grand mansion. With its own railroad system, refinery, sugar house, and company store, it was once a small town in itself--an enterprise that formed the root of Houma's sugar industry.

W.J.Minor built the first sugar mill here in 1846, one of 86 mills that operated in Terrebonne Parish during the industry's boom years.

Photo Points
1 - Molasses Tanks
Molasses, a by product of sugar refining, was used to make rum.
2 - Company Store
Plantation managers paid workers in scrip or tokens redeemable at the company store.
3 - Overseer's House
4 - Workers Cabins
Before and after the Civil War, Southdown laborers lived on site.
5 - Railroad Bridge to Mill
The plantation owned 16 locomotives. with 26 miles of track. Tracks cross the bayou here.
6 - Storage Warehouse
7 - Little Bayou Black
Southdown owned 26 barges, towed by steamboats, which picked up cane grown along the bayous.
8 - Sugarcane Fields
The plantation once incorporated 8.000 acres of cane fields.
9 - Mill and Refinery
The mill operated 24 hours a day during the grinding season. The refinery could produce as much as 40 million pounds of granulated sugar in a year.
10 - Mill Yard Crane Hoist
11 - Pecan Grove
Pecan trees provided shade, but also nuts for making Louisiana's famous sweet confection - pralines.
12 - Main House
Using bricks fired here, W.J. Minor built the first floor of the Greek-Revival mansion about 1858-1859.

Photo Captions
View of the mansion's dining room today. In 1893, Henry Minor built the mansion's second floor and added the stained glass panels featuring sugarcane leaves.

During WWII managers hired women to keep the refinery running. Sugarcane operations ended here in 1975.

In the early 1900s workers could redeem these Southdown tokens for milk at the company store. Labor laws prevent this type of payment today.

Group that erected the marker: Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Discover Houma Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 1208 Museum Drive Houma, LA USA 70360 URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

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