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57 The first structures on the property now known as Old Hickory Plantation— located near LaCour in Pointe Coupée Parish—were probably built about 1808 on land owned by Zénon Ledoux (1776–1817) and his wife, Marie Felicité Adelaide Armant (1779–1814). Ledoux had acquired the land about 1793. He later served as a captain of a militia company during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Little of the first building campaign has survived, and the present five-bay house appears to have been built by Zénon Ledoux, Jr. (1796–1860) and his wife Mathilda (née Vigne; 1799–1863) in 1842. Originally known as Raccourri, the main house is considered among the most significant Creole raised houses in Louisiana. Robert W. McRae (n.d.), who purchased the plantation from Ledoux on December 23, 1850, is said to have renamed the property Old Hickory in honor of Andrew Jackson. Captain Ovide Lejeune (1820–ca. 1879) and his wife, Laura Archer Turpin (1817–1896), bought the plantation in 1852. Their son, John Archer Lejeune (1867–1942), later a famous marine commander for whom Camp Lejeune was named, was born on the plantation. Only one photograph of Old Hickory Plantation, showing the original bell that established a routine for slaves, is accessioned in the Louisiana State Museum’s Tebbs Collection. The main house and outbuildings appear in the distance of this photograph. Old Hickory lay abandoned between about 1880 and 1936, when it became a school for African American children. It was abandoned again in 1957, but reclaimed as a private residence shortly thereafter. OLD HICKORY PLANTATION ca. 1808/1842 58 Butler-Greenwood Plantation (plantation store), vintage gelatin silver print, Louisiana State Museum, 1956.087.229b ...

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