Acadia Plantation

About this property

The Acadia Plantation was a historic plantation house in Thibodaux, Louisiana, U.S.. It was the plantation of James Bowie, Rezin P. Bowie, and Stephen Bowie. James "Jim" Bowie, served in the Battle of the Alamo. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1987. It was demolished in 2010. In 2010 Acadia Plantation was demolished and a plaque was placed on Hwy 1 next to Nicholls State University in memory of the plantation. Construction crews worked from the inside out as they dismantled portions of the historic plantation home. The land and home was purchased by Jake Giardina and partner Ron Adams in 2003 from the Plater family as part of a 3,000-acre transaction. The home's future had been a topic of local debate since that time, although there have been no organized attempts to save it. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 3,400-acre plot of land is now a subdivision which includes a mix of stores, restaurants and homes to the people of Thibodaux. The 132-acres of Acadia Plantation is now developed into residential homes and businesses. The style and arrangement is similar to those found in the New Orleans French Quarter. A grammar school, children museum, doctors office are among the developments of the subdivision. Acadia Plantation, with its gables, dormer windows, and ornate gallery, was located south of Bayou Lafourche, along the crest of the natural levee. Highway 1 now approximately 50 meters to the north, and Nicholls State University is approximately 500 meters to the west-northwest. The home was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Plater Jr. The house was torn down in 2010. The long history of this plantation was a colorful tale of Louisiana's past. Acadia plantation was first owned by the Bowie brothers, Jim Bowie, Rezin Bowie, and Stephen Bowie who had a lucrative business that involved buying slaves from Jean Lafitte in Galveston, Spanish Texas, and bringing them overland to Opelousas to be sold. Indian trouble made this a dangerous route, however, so in 1819 operations were moved to Bayou Black and Bayou Grand Caillou in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. In 1825 a spring Mississippi River flood drove the brothers from the parish leaving them in need of new headquarters. In 1828 the brothers began buying several adjoining plantations naming the land Acadia. Separate homes were built only yards apart for Jim, Rezin, and the brothers' mother. On this land the Bowies built Louisiana's first steam-powered sugar mill, although it was unsuccessful and destroyed more cane than it crushed. In 1830 the brothers purchased the back land totaling the size of the plantation to about twenty-one hundred acres. Jim's restlessness soon had him joining the adventure of "GTT" gone to Texas, where he later became one of the many heroes of the Battle of the Alamo. Stephen Bowie served as Sheriff of Lafourche Parish for a short period, but abandoned the job and Acadia property, returning to Natchez shortly before he died in 1833. Rezin P., struggling with diminishing eyesight, moved to New Orleans with family, where he died in 1841. Brother John Jones, although he married America Watkins, of Terrebonne Parish, at the home in 1831, did not establish their home on the grounds. They first moved to Arkansas, and then to near Natchez. John Jones Bowie, died in 1860, and was buried at Bowie Plantation in Arkansas and America Watkins Bowie, died in 1891, was buried in Natchez, MS.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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