Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Back in the early 1960s I was a student at Northwestern State College and worked for the old Natchitoches Enterprise and was also a stringer for the Shreveport Journal and Alexandria’s Town Talk. The Natchitoches Chamber of Commerce started a drive to have “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” at Hidden Hill Plantation at Chopin developed as a tourist attraction.

Legend has it that the Harriett Beecher Stowe book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” had its setting at Hidden Hill Plantation, now known as Little Eva. The book was published in 1852. It is said the character Simon Legree was patterned after plantation owner Robert McAlpin, and that there was a black man called “Uncle Tom” who worked there. The matter has always been controversial, but presents convincing arguments both ways. The book is credited with doing much to lead to the beginning of the Civil War.

On March 16, 1960, the Journal carried a story I wrote about the Chamber’s drive to have the site become a tourist attraction, which would be operated by the State Parks system.

The article brought a flood of letters to the Chamber, including one from Deacon Thomas C. Parry of Shreveport, and his brother Robert McAlpin Parry. They claimed to be grandsons of the original McAlpin.

One afternoon I caught a Trailways Bus from Natchitoches to Shreveport to meet the brothers. I walked from the bus station to their Milam St. home. I interviewed them for about two hours and took some photos of them. I then caught the bus back to Natchitoches.

Deacon Parry said his grandmother was Lucinda Harrison, an Indian slave of McAlpin’s who was brought from Shelby County, Tennessee.

McAlpin and Harrison had two children: Carrie and Cora.

The plantation master is said to have died in a drunken spree in 1852. After his death, all the slaves, including Harrison and her children were set free. They left Chopin and afterward several ended up in Shreveport in 1873. Once there, the elder lady helped care for the yellow fever epidemic victims that year.

In Shreveport Carrie McAlpin married George Parry and they had 12 children, six of which died in infancy. Deacon Thomas C. Lewis Parry was born Jan. 30, 1884 and was named after Capt. Thomas C. Lewis of the Confederate Army. His brother Robert was born Dec. 24, 1886.

The deacon remembered his grandmother telling about how mean McAlpin was and that he was a heavy drinker. She told how the whole community respected McAlpin because they were afraid of him.

“I guess he was mean to everybody,” Deacon Parry said. “My grandmother said he was very mean to her.”

He continued, “My grandmother was the mistress, so to speak, of the plantation. She was McAlpin’s property. She and McAlpin told the slaves what to do.”

The two brothers related that their grandmother hated so to have intercourse with McAlpin, that when she could not escape it, she would pull the hair on her head. Their mother was later born with gray hair, and they attributed that unusual fact to their grandmother’s hair-pulling.

It was interesting to meet and visit McAlpin’s two grandsons and listen to their stories and recollections of family lore. Whatever the exact truth of the matter to be, the tragedy all started more than 150 years ago, and the controversy of its legitimacy continues.

Renovations on the future ”No Man’s Land Museum in Many” are moving right along, according to Many Mayor Ken Freeman.

Kowonno Green Handyman Services completed extensive repairs and renovations to all woodwork in the building, and in some cases, new exterior doors had to be custom constructed to match the original two doors remaining in the depot.

A complete paint job throughout the exterior and interior of the depot is now in progress. Kevin Gosey Painting is doing the work, and it is expected to take at least another month to complete.

When complete, the exterior and interior doors will be painted an authentic Dover White with green trim. Ceilings in two of the display rooms will be stained to match the original dark brown paint on those ceilings. The “railroad history” room’s ceiling will be painted Dover White with medium green on the beams and the walls’ wainscoting. All outside trim and exteriors ceilings and eaves will be painted white. Interior designer Thomas Dunigan of Richard Eugene Miller Interior Designs in Houston worked closely with Mayor Freeman and members of the Cultural Advisory Committee to select authentic colors historically suitable to the early 1900s depot.

The two bathrooms have been retiled with small white octagonal porcelain tiles that closely match the original tiles that were installed in the depot when it was built in 1912. Toledo Center Floor Covering laid the tiles and also installed a new laminate wood floor is what will become the Train Display room.

Daniel Jones Electrical and Plumbing has installed new exterior security lighting around the depot, additional track lighting in the Depot Art Guild. Jones also installed porcelain pedestal lavatories in each of the two bathrooms. The pedestal sinks were also selected to remain true to the time period when the depot was built. New toilets and additional plumbing were scheduled to be installed recently by Tommy Byles Electrical and Plumbing as well.

EastGate Electrical installed new central air conditioning and heating throughout the depot. Hurd Electric completely rewired the building and installed ceiling lights and fans throughout.

A new roof over the main part of the depot was installed by Herman Miller Construction and Clevenger Roofing installed the portion of the roof over the baggage room that is already operational as the Depot Art Gallery.

Freeman said that the city has been very careful to seek bids on the different components of renovation and repairs. “Sometimes it takes us a little longer to get some work done because we are waiting on contractors to turn in their bids and we then select the lowest bid,” Freeman continued. “We are also very proud of the fact that we have used all local companies and contractors on this project,” Freeman added.
He is hopeful that the building itself will be finished sometime in early spring. “Then comes the fun part – we plan and install the exhibits,” Freeman said.

Freeman said members of the Cultural District are already working closely with various historians, tourism groups, colleges and universities to plan the exhibits. “This may take a little time, but we want to get everything just right because we believe our ‘Save a Building/Build a Museum’ project is such an important one for our town and the entire parish, and we want it to become a major reason for people to visit our town and parish,” Freeman said.

DON’T FORGET: This Saturday, Feb. 9, is the big Richard Bruce Cook Tribute to Elvis Concert for Valentine’s Day at Many Community Center [Sabine Theater.] The show starts at 7 p.m. and admission is only $7 for adults and $5 for kids. Veterans will be admitted free of charge. Concessions are always available for only $1 each.

Cook will present a special “I Love You Truly” Elvis Presley tribute for the holiday, so you don’t want to miss it! He’s one of the best Elvis artists around and Many is mighty lucky to have him back.

The show is part of the Music in Many annual concert series sponsored by the Town of Many, Mayor Ken Freeman and the Many Cultural District Advisory Committee, who all work hard to bring lots of cool activities and entertainment to Sabineland.

That’s all for this week. Please write or call with your ideas and suggestions for future articles. Send an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com or call me at (318) 332-8653. Recently archived columns are found below; older ones are archived on our Observations Facebook page under Photo Albums, where they are listed by date. To print this week’s column, simply right-click anywhere on the content and select Print.

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