Pierre Phanor Prudhomme, born and raised on the Oakland Plantation, was one of the second generation Prudhomme family members of Natchitoches Parish planters. His father, Jean Pierre Emmanuel, obtained a land grant from the Spanish government in 1789. Initially raising crops of indigo and tobacco, the Prudhommes were the first to grow cotton on a large scale west of the Mississippi River in the Louisiana Purchase territory. The Oakland Plantation quickly grew and eventually turned into a small village.
   Today, 27 historic buildings still stand on the Cane River Creole plantation property. Besides the main house, scattered about are slave quarters, a carpenter shop, doctor's cottage and the plantation store, shown here. This retro convenience store offered newly freed slaves and sharecroppers general merchandise, gasoline and also doubled as the post office for almost 100 years.
   The plantation was turned over to the National Parks Service in 1997, with a full scale restoration following. The two hundred year old plantation offers a great insight into the lives of its former residents and is part of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

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