Oakland Main House Wine Cellar

The bottles of wine were stored upside down to prevent the corks from drying out.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Natchez, Louisiana

The wine cellar is one of two rooms on the ground level that were part of the original 1821 house. The Prud’homme family imported casks of wine from France. Historical records show that in 1860 or 1861 Phanor Prud’homme and some of his relatives received twelve casks of claret from Bordeaux. Once bottled the wine would be stored in the wine cellar. The brick walls, built by enslaved masons, were painted red with mortar joints “penciled” in white, a popular treatment of brick until the 1900s, a technique meant to disguise irregularity of color, texture, coursing typical of handmade brick. The floor is paved with brick. The wooden racks along all four walls have holes to allow the bottles to be stored upside down. Storing wine this way prevented the corks from drying out. Bottles from the wine cellar would later be used to edge the flower beds in the formal garden in front of the house.