The Bindry

The Bindry. . , Originally located at Grand Ecore (a small community four miles north of Natchitoches on the Red River), the one-room log cabin, now known as the Bindery, is made of wooden planks with half-dovetail notches and contains a storage attic. Purchased by Cammie Henry in the 1930s, the Bindery was dissembled and brought to Melrose, and carpenters reconstructed the building Inside its walls, Cammie compiled her many scrapbooks., Scrapbooking , In the early twentieth century, scrapbooking became a popular pastime. It became an outlet to preserve important memories and artifacts of a world they felt was changing. As a young girl, Carmelite Garret Henry became fascinated with newspaper articles about everyday community activities, property sales, antique auctions, and general town business. Over her lifetime, this intense hobby and interest would produce more than 250 scrapbooks filled with photographs and clippings depicting the Cane River culture and its interactions with people across the country., Carmelite Garrett Henry. , Born in 1871, "Miss Cammie" grew up on a large sugar plantation in south Louisiana where her father was overseer. She earned a diploma and teaching certificate from Louisiana Normal College in Natchitoches (now Northwestern State University), taught school for two years, and served as a principal. She married John Hampton Henry, Sr., in 1894. His father had previously purchased the property known as the Metoyer-Hertzog plantation and renamed it Melrose. In 1899 the couple inherited the property and moved into Melrose after John Henry's father died. Having been unoccupied for many years, the historic house and surrounding buildings badly needed repair. Miss Cammie began her lifetime passion for preserving Melrose's unique French Creole architecture. She also saved other structures of a different cultural tradition and transported them to Melrose., Tragically, in 1918, her husband died, leaving Miss Cammie with a large household to manage, eight children aged three to sixteen years, and a cotton and pecan plantation to run. Unable to travel frequently, she turned her focus to her preservation interest., Among Cammie Henry's Notable Contributions to Melrose. With the help of American Naturalist Caroline Dormon, Cammie renovated the gardens around the plantation. , As a longtime benefactor, she supported artists Irma Sompayrac, Gladys Breazeale, and the Natchitoches Art Colony. , To provide a quiet retreat where her visitors' creativity could bloom, she converted some of the plantation buildings into art studios. , Cammie frequently hosted historians, researchers, photographers, architects, illustrators, celebrities, noted artists, and literary figures as Melrose artists-in-residence. These artists include Lyle Saxon, Alberta Kinsey, Harnett Kane, Rachel Field, and Ada Jack Carver. , She collected and preserved quilt patterns, looms, spinning wheels, and other artifacts made by local craftsmen. , Cammie curated more than 7000 volumes of historical periodicals, books, and manuscripts, bringing researchers and historians from across the country to visit her Melrose library. , She employed a cook, a young African American woman named Clementine Hunter, who became a world-renowned artist. , -------------------------- , Miss Cammie Henry died on Melrose Plantation on November 17, 1948. Her collection of scrapbooks and materials on Louisiana history and culture now forms the basis of the Melrose Collection at the Cammie G. Henry Research Collection at Northwestern State University.