Last updated: September 4, 2024
Place
How Do You Say Pecan?
Christy Hoover
Quick Facts
Location:
Natchez, LA
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
The pecan tree (carya illinoinensis) is native to North America growing natural groves near rivers or lakes. Due to the pecan's availability and taste, native people used them as a food source. Most native pecans are small but occasionally a wild tree would produce large pecans.
Antoine, an enslaved Creole gardener at Oak Alley Plantation in Southern Louisiana, received a cutting of one such tree. He succeeded in grafting sixteen trees to seedlings in 1846. This variety, known as Centennial, led to the establishment of a productive pecan orchard.
The original Oakland Plantation orchard was probably planted in the mid to late 1800s. Pecan trees provided additional food and revenue sources for plantation residents. According to oral tradition yardman, Leo Metoyer used money earned from pecans to purchase a car.
The pecan orchard, re-establishedin 2014, contains five varities that were likely present in the original orchard, including Centennial, Stuart, Money Maker, Success, and Rome.
We picked pecans that year, and [Daddy] went and bought a. . . Model A Ford." Mary Sue Metoyer, Oral History Interview, 2015.
Antoine, an enslaved Creole gardener at Oak Alley Plantation in Southern Louisiana, received a cutting of one such tree. He succeeded in grafting sixteen trees to seedlings in 1846. This variety, known as Centennial, led to the establishment of a productive pecan orchard.
The original Oakland Plantation orchard was probably planted in the mid to late 1800s. Pecan trees provided additional food and revenue sources for plantation residents. According to oral tradition yardman, Leo Metoyer used money earned from pecans to purchase a car.
The pecan orchard, re-establishedin 2014, contains five varities that were likely present in the original orchard, including Centennial, Stuart, Money Maker, Success, and Rome.
We picked pecans that year, and [Daddy] went and bought a. . . Model A Ford." Mary Sue Metoyer, Oral History Interview, 2015.