Cherie Quarters at Riverlake Plantation

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Originally constructed in 1820, this well-preserved example of Creole architecture is now part of a privately-owned plantation. This plantation and the area known as “Cherie Quarters” which are behind the plantation were featured as settings in Ernest Gaines's novels "Catherine Carmier' and "A Gathering of Old Men." Gaines is an African American author, and his work Catherine Carmier tells the story of love between a light-skinned woman of mixed racial ancestry and a dark-skinned African American man. Although little is known of the enslaved people who constructed and worked at this plantation, Carmier's work shares some of the experiences of the diverse sharecroppers that followed and the often complex nature of race relations in this part of Louisiana.

Images

One of the remaining cabins at Cherie Quarters on Riverlake Plantation

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Cherie Quarters is a set of former slave quarters located on Riverlake Plantation. The area was home to generations of Ernest Gaines' family and many other Black Louisianans. Though Gaines moved away from Cherie Quarters to California, the area remained a major source of inspiration in his life. Gaines often visited Cherie Quarters when possible, and included the location in several novels. Though currently only two cabins remain, it is believed that Cherie Quarters was once composed of about 30 tin-roofed cabins, each with two rooms, a window, and a front and back door. The cabins at Cherie Quarters are a few of a very small number of slave cabins to still exist in Louisiana. Additionally, the authenticity and age of the cabins are uncontested due to the age of the nails used in the construction of the cabins, making them an excellent example of what slave cabins were like during the antebellum period.

Sources

Cherie Quarters Cabins. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/che.htm

Teutsch, Mathew. Land, Literature, and Preserving Black History in Louisiana, Black Persepctives. October 25th 2017. Accessed November 29th 2020. https://www.aaihs.org/land-literature-and-preserving-Black-history-in-louisiana/.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/buildings/che1.jpg