The Louis Bolduc House, also known as Maison Bolduc, is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at 123 South Main Street in Ste. Geneviève, Missouri. It is an example of '' poteaux sur solle'' ("posts-on-sill") construction, and is located in the first European settlement in the present-day state of Missouri. The first historic structure in Ste. Genevieve to be authentically restored, the house is a prime example of the traditional

French Colonial French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. Many former French colonies, especially those in Southeast Asia, have previously been reluctant to promote their colonial architectur ...

architecture of the early 18th century in North America and was designated in 1970 as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

History

Ste. Genevieve was founded in the mid-eighteenth century by French-Canadian settlers, most of whom migrated from villages on the east bank of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, such as

Prairie du Rocher, Illinois Prairie du Rocher ("The Rock Prairie" in French) is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. Founded in the French colonial period in the American Midwest, the community is located near bluffs that flank the east side of the Miss ...

. Because of repeated flooding from the

, with an especially bad occurrence in 1785, they decided to relocate to a higher site further away from the river. In 1792 Louis Bolduc, a successful merchant and trader, who also had

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

mines to the west, built a one-story house at the new village site, about three miles north of the first. First to be built in the one-story house was a large "keeping room", about 26' × 27', where the family conducted most of its activities. It has a large fireplace at the north end, and a wide-plank puncheon floor, made of logs cut flat on only one side, with the curved side laid down. Storage for lead, corn and other goods was in the attic above the room. In 1793, Bolduc had the wide hallway and a large sleeping chamber added, the latter also about 26' × 27' in size. Historians believe the sleeping chamber had two "sleeping cells," areas partially walled off for privacy: one for him and his wife and one shared by their three children. Bolduc had tall windows with glass installed in both large rooms, another mark of his wealth. The walls of the house were built with heavy

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

timbers set about six inches apart and infilled with ''

bousillage Bousillage (bouzillage,McDermott, John Francis. "bousillage, bouzillage, n. m.". ''A Glossary of Mississippi Valley French, 1673-1850''. St. Louis: , 1941. 34. Print. bousille, bouzille) is a mixture of clay and grass or other fibrous substances us ...

'', a mixture of mud, straw, and horsehair that hardened to a cement-like texture. Sometimes other animal or human hair was added to the mixture. Diagonal timbers on each supporting wall added stability.Carl J. Ekberg and Anton J. Pregaldin, ''Louis Bolduc: His Family And His House'', Tucson, AZ: The Patrice Press, 2002 The steep

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

, made of

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

shakes, was supported by heavy, hand-hewn

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

es held together by mortise and tenon joinery. It extends over the four sides of the house's porches to provide shade and cooling. The house is surrounded by a reconstructed stockade fence typical of the time (to keep out livestock that roamed in the area). Gardens have been reconstructed on the grounds. Located at 123 South Main, the property was owned by Bolduc family descendants until the 1940s. Furnished with pieces typical of the period, today it is operated as a

. Three items are original to the Bolduc family. The property has been owned since 1949 and operated by

The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1776, and whose services were rendered during the Colonial Pe ...

in the State of Missouri. It was restored in 1956–1957, under the direction of the architectural historian, Dr. Ernest Allen Connally. As may be seen by a comparison of photos below, the house was restored to show its original colonial style, whose elements were intact under later changes. In 1970 the house was designated a

. and It is a contributing property in the Ste. Genevieve Historic District, which has

status.

Photos of the Bolduc House

Recent

A Front View of the Bolduc House in Ste Genevieve MO.jpg, Front view, showing post-on-sill construction and ''

'' infill. Poteaux-sur-Solle Model.jpg, Model of the Bolduc House; shows diagonal framing timbers Bolduc-house.jpg, View of typical stockade fence; also view of side and front of house Bolduc House and Detached Kitchen in Ste Genevieve MO.jpg, Garden area of the property, showing detached kitchen and rear of house. Bolduc House Detached Kitchen in Ste Genevieve MO.jpg, Reconstructed kitchen building at rear of house Maison Bolduc.jpg, Rear view of house and detached kitchen

Archival

Bolduc House Gallery.jpg, 1930s–40s photo of the front of the house A 1936 Photograph of the Front and Side of the Bolduc House in Ste Genevieve MO.jpg, 1936 photo of the front and side A Photograph of the Norman Roof Truss in the Attic of the Bolduc House in Ste Genevieve MO.png, Norman truss components in the attic Photograph of a Room Restored to the Original Look in the Bolduc House in Ste Genevieve MO.png, Restored bedroom

References

External links