Last updated: September 7, 2023
Place
Oakland Main House Dining Room
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Natchez, Louisiana
Amenities
3 listed
Accessible Rooms, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible
The dining room was the social hub of the house. Prud’homme family meals were taken here, and guests were entertained in this room. Hanging from the ceiling over the dining table is a punkah, sometimes called a “shoo-fly”. The punkah was usually operated by an enslaved child and functioned as a fan to provide a breeze which also helped keep flies off the food. Mary Harris, interviewed in 1940 at age 86, recalled her experience as an enslaved child in Louisiana, “…Sure, I remember slavery times. I was a big girl, turned eleven. I used to pull the fan that hop off the flies while the white folks was eatin’. It wasn’t hard work, but my arms used to get tired, ‘specially at dinner when they set so long at the table…”
The room also reflects the changing technology along Cane River. Two telephones can be seen in the room. The older wall phone dates to around 1900 and would have been one of the first telephones in the area. The newer, beige rotary phone on the small table is from the 1960s. The original gasoliers (gaslight chandeliers) were electrified in the late 1930s.
The room also reflects the changing technology along Cane River. Two telephones can be seen in the room. The older wall phone dates to around 1900 and would have been one of the first telephones in the area. The newer, beige rotary phone on the small table is from the 1960s. The original gasoliers (gaslight chandeliers) were electrified in the late 1930s.