Early Homes

Construction was difficult. The early homes were made of hand-hewn cypress, and since there were no nails, the wood had to be mortised, holes had to be drilled, and the boards had to be held together with wooden pegs. Lack of nails was not their only obstacle. The low-lying areas of Louisiana were swamp-like, and the houses had to be built high up off the ground for a twofold purpose: 1) to get the floor of the house far enough from the humid and damp ground to prevent rotting, thereby assuring safety from water during the spring floods; and 2) to take advantage of the prevailing winds for better ventilation. Since dampness was a problem, the roofs of houses had to be high pitched so rain waters would fall glancingly upon the roofs and would not penetrate the hand-split shingles (the only available roofing material), which were not water tight.

Also a carryover from Canadian architecture, the high pitched roof had another purpose. In addition to being a cover for the house proper, it formed a cover for the front porch, which was built in and extended across the entire length of the house. On this porch or “galerie” were steps leading to the attic or “grenier”, which was sometimes called a “garconniere” because this is where the boys’ bedroom was located. The concept of the “galerie” probably came from the West Indies, where Acadians had stayed. The steps on the porch were a result of Spanish taxes on interior staircases. “Garconnieres” were not always located in the “grenier” of houses, for the wealthier inhabitants built them in a separate building, away from the main house.

The simpler homes consisted of two rooms and a kitchen. The front room was the one used by the father, mother and small babies, and behind this was the bedroom, or cabinet, used by the girls. The bedrooms and kitchen were usually connected by a narrow hallway called an “entre-deux”, which was roofed but not enclosed. The kitchen was separated from the rest of the house to avoid odors, to decrease fire hazards, and to minimize the heat from cooking. Whenever an addition was made to the home, it was made in the form of a “lean-to,” which was usually added to the back so as not to break the cross ventilation. This kept the homes cool in the summer.

The outside of many homes was white-washed “avec de la chaux,” a mixture of lime and water, and the shutters were washed with the lime and water which was tinted with some color pigment or pounded brick dust. Original white-wash was made of crushed oyster shell and water.

All homes and chimneys for fireplaces that were used for heating purposes and provided structural rigidity to the house. These chimneys were constructed with a substantial open framework which was filled with a mixture of clay, moss, and water was often referred to as “tete de chat,” and it was also used to line the walls, thereby furnishing insulation from the elements.

The fireplaces were used to cook and to heat during the winter. At best, fireplaces did not provide the most efficient heating, because sometimes one’s face burned while one’s back froze.

The ordinary homes had wooden shutters. On the outside of the windows narrow shelves called “tablettes” were used to wash dishes, to clean vegetables, and to discard food.

In the yard there were wooden cisterns used to catch rain water. Around the house there was an upright picket fence. The swinging gate was kept closed by the weight of a wagon hub. Wood for the fireplace was always corded outside, on the porch, and in a “wood box” near the fireplace.

The larger homes were often two-story buildings. Sometimes the first floor had brick walls while the upper floors were wood. In the larger homes, the kitchen too separated from the rest of the house. Between the kitchen and the main house, there was a walk called “whistler’s walk” because the boy carrying the covered dish was supposed to whistle on his way to the dining room so that the master would know that he wasn’t tasting.

Furniture ~ How They Lived