Quarters Community

Quarters Community. . The Quarters provided shelter and refuge for generations of laborers. In 1860, enslaved workers were housed in thirty cabins constructed of cypress with bousillage (boo-zee-aj) infill with brick fireplaces and galleries on two sides. Each one-room cabin was home to one enslaved family. The Quarters provided more than housing. Here enslaved people created their own institutions including their families, recreation, and religious values and practices., After the Civil War, sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and day laborers lived in the cabins. Residents personalized their homes by adding on rooms and fencing yards. During lean times tenants made money by doing additional work. John Helaire tended the Bottle Garden, Emile Llorance sharpened the cotton gin saws, and Martha Helaire worked as laundress. In 1949, tenant Lawrence Helaire moved away, and all the Quarters' residents had left by the early 1960s., The remaining cabins are a reminder of how workers, enslaved and tenant, lived and adapted., "We had to go somewhere we could find something to do and make some money." , Lawrence Helaire, Long-time Oakland Plantation Tenant, Captions , (Photo #1) NPS Artwork , (Photo #2) George Elie, Frank Helaire, Sr., Felix Helaire, and Ben Helaire were born to John and Ann Bobb Helaire. The Helaire family worked on Oakland Plantation as enslaved people from the late 1700s until 1865. They, like other formerly enslaved families, contracted with the Prud'hommes as tenant farmers and occupied this cabin from 1920 to 1957. The Helaire family story, like the story of all the enslaved and tenant families that worked on Oakland, is truly one of determination, faith, and ingenuity. Photos courtesy Ron Helaire