Lakeport Plantation is a historic

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 ...

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

located near

Lake Village, Arkansas Lake Village is a city in and the county seat of Chicot County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,575 at the 2010 census. It is located in the Arkansas Delta. Lake Village is named for its location on Lake Chicot, an oxbow lake for ...

. It was built around 1859 by

Lycurgus Johnson Lycurgus Johnson (1818-1876) was an American cotton planter and large slaveholder in the Arkansas Delta during the antebellum years. Born to the powerful political and planter Johnson family in Scott County, Kentucky, he became the owner and dev ...

with the profits of

slave labor 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 ...

. The house was restored between 2003 and 2008 and is now a part of

Arkansas State University Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

as a Heritage site museum.

History

The plantation was established in 1831 by Joel Johnson, from a prominent planter family in

Scott County, Kentucky Scott County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,155. Scott County is part of the Lexington–Fayette, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Native Amer ...

. He arrived with 23 enslaved people and set up a slave labor camp to produce cotton, an endeavor that made him one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the state. Joel Johnson died in 1846, leaving the plantation's ownership in legal dispute. In 1857, his son

, a successful operator of his own slave labor camp, acquired the title to Lakeport. He also took over the enslavement of 88 people. By 1850, he had 2,850 acres of land and had enslaved 95 people. The plantation's mansion was built around 1859Matthew D. Therrell and David W. Stahle, "Tree-Ring Dating of An Arkansas Antebellum Plantation House," ''Tree-Ring Research'' 68(2012): 59-67 in the

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 ...

architectural style. By 1860, owned more than 155 slaves, and forced them to work some 4,000 acres of land at Lakeport and his other Arkansas properties. Records show that most of the enslaved people were field hands, but some were masons, house-hold servants, and carpenters. Plantation life was exhausting for those forced to work it; many worked six days a week with only one day off, typically Sunday. The plantation was highly profitable as

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

prices increased with European demand, though the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

took a toll on Johnson's fortunes. Confederate forces burned 158 bales of the plantation's cotton in 1862 to prevent its capture by Union forces. Tax records show that by 1864 the number of people enslaved at Lakeport had declined to 24, as many former slaves fled after the

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

signed the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...

. The end of the Civil War resulted in the emancipation of the remaining enslaved people. While they obtained their freedom, they still held limited rights and faced continued discrimination and oppression in Arkansas. 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 ...

was created to help freedmen, transitioning many into

sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

and

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

ing. Lycurgus worked closely with the Bureau and negotiated wages for the no-longer-enslaved people to labor on his plantation and continue to grow cotton. Within a few years, many of the

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

worked for Johnson either as paid laborers or as

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

, as other jobs were few in the agricultural delta. He became well known in the county because he managed to continue to profit despite the war and subsequent flooding and economic depression. Lakeport was among the leading cotton producers in Chicot County in 1870. In 1875, a slave that was owned by Lycurgus had been suffocated by him during her trying to escape form the plantation. Her name was Anice (Johnson) Terry. She was the half-sibling of Lycurgus. Her body was left on the dusty road near the plantation The plantation went through several changes after Lycurgus Johnson died on August 1, 1876, as a result of complications from a gastrointestinal disorder. His wife Lydia owned it until she died in December 1898, when it passed to the youngest son, Victor Johnson. It remained in the Johnson family until 1927 when Victor sold it to the Sam Epstein family.

Legacy

In 1974 the plantation was placed 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 ...

. It was donated by the Sam Epstein Angel family to

in 2001. Restoration of the plantation began in 2003 and finished in 2007. Some of the restored parts were the doors,

floorcloth A floorcloth, or floor-cloth, is a household furnishing used for warmth, decoration, or to protect expensive carpets. They were primarily produced and used from the early 18th to the early 20th century and were also referred to as oilcloth, wax cl ...

, mantel,

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

in the attic, and the

smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...

in the back of the property. In 2007, it opened as a public museum. The plantation house is surrounded by cotton fields that are harvested every year.

References

External links

Plantation website
{{Authority control Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Greek Revival houses in Arkansas Houses completed in 1850 Houses in Chicot County, Arkansas Plantation houses in Arkansas Museums in Chicot County, Arkansas Historic house museums in Arkansas Arkansas State University University museums in Arkansas Cotton plantations in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Chicot County, Arkansas Lake Village, Arkansas 1850s establishments in Arkansas

History

Legacy

See also

References

External links