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Port Allen in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana — The American South (West South Central)
 

Poplar Grove Plantation

 
 
Poplar Grove Plantation Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, January 1, 2016
1. Poplar Grove Plantation Marker
Inscription.
(side A)
The principal residence at Poplar Grove was built as the Banker's Pavilion at the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition 1884-85 in New Orleans. The Victorian structure designed by architect Thomas Sully incorporated oriental motifs popular during the Aesthetic Movement period. The pavilion was moved by barge to Poplar Grove in 1886 and was the home of sugar planter Horace Wilkinson, prominent business and civic leader.
National Register of Historic Places
(Continued on other side)
(side B)
(Continued from other side)
James McCalop established Poplar Grove as a sugar plantation in the 1820s by combining several smaller tracts of land. Joseph L. Harris acquired Poplar Grove in 1885. Horace Wilkinson managed the plantation for Harris and purchased Poplar Grove in 1903. Originally 1,438 acres, the plantation was a thriving agricultural operation with its own sugar mill, workers' quarter, church, railroad, mule and hay barns, corn crib, and commissary. The mill, which produced raw sugar and molasses, operated until 1973.
 
Erected 2012 by West Baton Rouge Historical Association.
 
Topics.
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This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: AgricultureIndustry & Commerce.
 
Location. 30° 29.601′ N, 91° 12.232′ W. Marker is in Port Allen, Louisiana, in West Baton Rouge Parish. It is on River Road (State Highway 986) one mile south of U.S. 190, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3142 River Road, Port Allen LA 70767, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Louisiana’s River Parishes, in Acadiana — Cajun Country, and in Greater Baton Rouge. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, the Louisiana Purchase, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow
Poplar Grove Plantation Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, January 1, 2016
2. Poplar Grove Plantation Marker
flies: Sunrise (approx. 1.1 miles away); James "Slim Harpo" Moore (approx. 1.6 miles away); Dr. Julia Brogdon Purnell (approx. 1.9 miles away); Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (approx. 1.9 miles away); Southern University (approx. 2 miles away); Mississippi River (approx. 2 miles away); Scott's Bluff (approx. 2 miles away); Port Allen High School (1936-1978) / Port Allen Middle School (1979-Present) (approx. 2.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Port Allen.
 
Also see . . .  Poplar Grove Plantation. Plantation website entry (Submitted on January 10, 2016.) 
 
Poplar Grove Plantation Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Cajun Scrambler, January 1, 2016
3. Poplar Grove Plantation Marker
Poplar Grove Plantation House image. Click for full size.
via 64 Parishes, unknown
4. Poplar Grove Plantation House
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on May 6, 2024. It was originally submitted on January 8, 2016. This page has been viewed 983 times since then and 83 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on January 8, 2016.   4. submitted on March 19, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
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Aug. 7, 2026