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The big, pink and green house is hard to miss for travelers along Highway 311. Southdown Plantation’s unique look makes it one of the most recognizable places in Houma, but it is what’s inside that has captured art enthusiasts’ attention.
After learning that the Southdown sugar mill was set to close, members of the Terrebonne Historical and Cultural Society sought to preserve the plantation home on the property. The society was awarded the house, which opened as a museum in 1982 and hosts a variety of work from local artists.
“We do a lot of research and a lot of talking to other museums and other collectors” to decide which kinds of art to showcase, said Executive Director Rachel Cherry. “We try to get as local as possible. … Our big criteria is that it has to be handmade.”
The dining room serves as a gallery for temporary displays, which change every two months. The first floor also includes another space for rotating exhibits, the most recent being a set of pirogue making tools from Pierre Part that remained on display for about six months, Cherry said.
Among the temporary exhibits this year were quilts, African-themed works, primitive art and depictions of local landscapes. The museum’s permanent collection includes photographs and other pieces that are displayed at different times during the year.
“I guess we could be called eclectic in a way because we have such a broad scope of things,” Cherry said.
One room holds items from Native American tribes in the region, including garfish jewelry by Janie Luster of the United Houma Nation. Upstairs are a collection of porcelain figurines donated to the museum after their owner died and a permanent art gallery featuring paintings by Charles Gilbert, who was raised in Terrebonne Parish but spent much of his life in New York City.
“This collection is always growing because it has its own trust. People donate when they pass away – (people) from New York, collectors and followers that he had there,” Cherry said.
For more than 30 years, the plantation has hosted the Southdown Marketplace, where hundreds of vendors sell artwork, crafts, clothing and other items. The event, held the Saturday a week before Easter and the first Saturday in November, draws thousands of people.
Guided tours are available every hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and the museum is also open for school field trips.
Visitors “are excited first of all to go inside the big pink house,” said Cherry. “Then, when they get in here, they’re surprised that there’s so much history of Terrebonne. People say, ‘We didn’t realize there was so much to see.’”
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A permanent exhibit at Southdown Plantation featuring work by Charles Gilbert is pictured.
