Historical Overview
"My interest in The Shadows as a national monument is purely
that of a private individual-yet it would seem that only infrequently
can an antebellum mansion be found that is preserved and documented in
such minute detail...Material of this type is the essence of history."
-Vernon Tate, Chief, Photographic Research, The National Archives,
to Ronald Lee, Supervisor of Historic Sites for the National Park Service,
Dec. 15, 1941
A white-columned brick building constructed between 1831 and 1834, the
Shadows is both a survivor and a reminder of another time. The Shadows
serves as a solid reminder of the many layers of history associated with
the site, each succeeding generation building on the one before to become
an integral part of the property's history. Fortunately, we not only have
the house and the historic site, but we also have the Weeks Family Papers,
a collection of over 17,000 invoices, receipts, business, legal, and personal
letters that testify to the joys, sorrows, fears, sickness, celebrations,
pain, prosperity and poverty, all the emotions and situations of life.
The site has been the stage for business entrepreneurs, politicians, soldiers,
a backdrop for the Civil War, and a comfortable, familiar setting for
childhood and old age, witnessing birth, sickness, and death, all of which
are documented in the Weeks Family Papers.
The house, the landscape, the people's faces through their portraits,
and their voices through the words they wrote in letters, have been preserved
and together form a picture of life on a nineteenth century Louisiana
plantation. They tell the story of change over time and emphasize the
stream of continuity connecting the present with the past.
Preserving more than just a house, more than just a portrait, more than
just a faded letter, we are preserving a link with our past, to help us
and future generations understand who and where we are by understanding
who and where we were. When you visit the beautiful brick house with tall
white columns encircled by towering live oak trees, you should see not
only an historic house museum. You should also gain an understanding of
the past, by "seeing" the many people and events and "hearing"
voices of the generations of people that constitute the history of the
Shadows-on-the-Teche.
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The Family / David & Mary Weeks
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