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Ashland Plantation, also known as the Belle Helene or Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation, is a historic building, built in 1841, that was a plantation estate and home of
Duncan Farrar Kenner Duncan Farrar Kenner (February 11, 1813 – July 3, 1887) was an American politician who served as a Deputy from Louisiana to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862. In 1864, he served as the chief diplomat from the ...
. Located in
Darrow, Louisiana Darrow is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 200. It is the location of three properties listed on the U.S. ...
, in
Ascension Parish Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...
. The
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
is an example of
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...
Greek Revival architecture The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
. With . The plantation was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1979.


Location

The Ashland estate is located south of
Geismar, Louisiana Geismar is an unincorporated community in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States and is at the heart of Louisiana's chemical corridor. The community is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. Geismar is south of Prairieville ...
on Highway 3251 (Ashland Road), shortly northeast of its intersection with
Louisiana Highway 75 Louisiana Highway 75 (LA 75) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs in a general east–west direction from a dead end in Bayou Pigeon to the junction of LA 22 and LA 942 in Darrow. The route makes a sem ...
. The entire property of the estate belongs to and is surrounded by the Shell Chemical, LP, Geismar plant.


History

By 1830, William Kenner and his brother-in-law Philip Minor consolidated 1,800 acres of land to form a
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. After William died, his two sons Duncan Kenner and George R. Kenner inherited the property. In 1840 the Kenner brothers acquired the Oakland, Belle Grove, and Pasture Plantations. Kenner was a man of considerable wealth and holdings. He acquired land and property that included not only what was to be named the Ashland Plantation and mansion that he built for his wife, Anne Guillemine Nanine Bringier, but also interests in the Bowden (1858),
The Houmas The Houmas, also known as Burnside Plantation and currently known as Houmas House Plantation and Gardens, is a historic plantation complex and house museum in Burnside, Louisiana. The plantation was established in the late 1700s, with the curre ...
, the 1400-acre Hollywood, the Hermitage (his wife was the granddaughter of Emmanuel Marius Pons Bringier), the Fashion (home of his brother-in-law and partner General Richard Taylor), and Roseland plantations. Supported by the forced labor of
enslaved people Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, Kenner was a horseman (with a race track built at Ashland), a lawyer, a gambler, an inventor, and a politician. Property also included leases in the
New Basin Canal The New Basin Canal, also known as the New Canal and the New Orleans Canal, was a shipping canal in New Orleans, Louisiana, operating from 1830s into the 1940s. History The New Basin Canal was constructed by the New Orleans Canal and Banking Comp ...
in New Orleans with Taylor. Kenner helped organize the New Orleans Jockey Club and the New Louisiana Jockey Club. Construction on the mansion began in 1839, was completed in 1841, and presented to Kenner's wife. Built in the traditional
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...
Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
style, the sixty-foot square, two-story home has 28 columns, each three feet square and thirty-five feet high. It has been called the "grandest and largest plantation house ever built in the state." Twelve-foot wide galleries wrap around the building on both floors. The building had eight Italian-marble fireplaces which were destroyed by vandals in 1959. In 1844, Duncan Kenner bought out his brother's share in the plantation and named it Ashland Plantation after Henry Clay's estate. Ashland Plantation was confiscated by the
Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...
in 1865 but returned to Kenner in 1866 after Kenner swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. On March 2, 1889, the Ashland-Bowden Plantation property was auctioned, being adjudicated to Hypolite P. Ousset for $85,100.00 (COB 34, Folio 425, Ascension Parish). The purchase price excluded the furniture and contents of the great house, the store, and the sugar, molasses, and rice crops of 1888. (COB 34, 425, Ascension Parish). Ousset sold the property to George Balthazar Reuss a few days later for $75,000.00. George renamed the plantation Belle Helene in honor of his infant daughter, Helene Eleanor Reuss. In the 1897-98 planting year Belle Helene was the second-best sugar-producing farm in the area. Helene Reuss became Mrs. W.C. Hayward, Sr. (She was named after her great-aunt, Helena Lotz.) From 1939 to 1946 the mansion was unoccupied and unattended, but in 1946 the Hayward family began a major restoration. By 1959 the grounds were empty again and subject to vandalism. Records indicate the invention of a
decortication Decortication is a medical procedure involving the surgical removal of the surface layer, membrane, or fibrous cover of an organ. The procedure is usually performed when the lung is covered by a thick, inelastic pleural peel restricting lung ex ...
machine by Duncan Kenner and Leonard Sewell (1880s). Excavations were done in 1989, and again in 1992, this time by Earth Search, Inc., for Shell after acquisition. Evidence of the
sugar house A sugar shack (french: cabane à sucre), also known as sap house, sugar house, sugar shanty or sugar cabin is a commercial establishment, primarily found in Eastern Canada and northern New England. Sugar shacks are small cabins or groups of cab ...
, 18 slave cabins, an overseer's house, a blacksmith shop, and other buildings were examined.


Abe Hawkins

Duncan Kenner had a race track, raced horses, and in 1854 a slave named Abe Hawkins, riding Lecomte, won over a horse named Lexington in New Orleans. Abe was inducted into the Louisiana Racing Museum Hall of Fame in 1997. While Kenner was absent from Louisiana the Civil War ended. Abe left the plantation and in 1866 won the third running of the
Travers Stakes The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...
, riding Merrill for Robert A. Alexander. The trainer was another former slave named Ansel Williamson. In attendance that day were
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
, William Astor, Alexander Stewart, and
Commodore Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
. Abe beat top Caucasian jockey Gilbert Patrick Watson in a match race before 25,000 fans in New York City. Abe Hawkins was known as "Uncle Able Hawkins: The Black Prince”, “The Dark Sage of Louisiana”, “The Slayer of Lexington” and got his start at Ashland as a slave. Abe won at Saratoga in 1866, and the very next year returned to Ashland where he died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. He earned respect and was a renowned jockey; but he never made it into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, nor the American Racing Hall of Fame.


Shell ownership

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...
purchased the estate, including 102 acres, from the Hayward family in 1992, remodeled the exterior to the original colors, and replaced the roof for preservation in 1997. Complete and total restoration was completed in 2015 by
Shell Chemicals Shell Chemicals is the petrochemicals arm of Shell plc. The name "Shell Chemicals" refers to the nearly seventy companies engaged in chemicals businesses for Shell, which together make up one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world. T ...
LP., Geismar and is currently used for private corporate and employee functions.


In popular culture

The mansion was shown in several movies, including ''
Band of Angels ''Band of Angels'' is a 1957 psychological drama film set in the American South before and during the American Civil War, based on the 1955 novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren. It starred Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo and Sidney Poitier ...
'' (1957) where it also appeared on the movie poster; '' The Beguiled'' (1971), ''
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman ''The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman'' is a 1971 novel by Ernest J. Gaines. The story depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman. She tells of the major events of her life f ...
'' (1971), '' Mandingo'' (1975), ''
The Long, Hot Summer ''The Long, Hot Summer'' is a 1958 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt. The screenplay was written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based in part on three works by William Faulkner: the 1931 novella "Spotted Horses", the 1939 sh ...
'' (1985) and ''
Fletch Lives ''Fletch Lives'' is a 1989 American comedy mystery film starring Chevy Chase and the sequel to '' Fletch'' (1985), directed by Michael Ritchie from a screenplay by Leon Capetanos based on the character created by Gregory Mcdonald. Plot Fletch, ...
'' (1989).chronicle books excerpt
- Retrieved 2014-06-06


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Ascension Parish, Louisiana __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ascension Parish, ...


References


External links


Ashland web page
at
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
site
Ashland Plantation Journal
a
The Historic New Orleans Collection
{{Portal bar, National Register of Historic Places, United States Houses in Ascension Parish, Louisiana Greek Revival houses in Louisiana Houses completed in 1841 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Ascension Parish, Louisiana Slave cabins and quarters in the United States