Adams: an 1860s Creole Cottage
Entry posted by KathieB
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Project Name: Creole Cottage: home of Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans
Construction photos can be found in my Blogspot blog.
2nd runner up in the Hobby Builders Supply 2008 Creatin' Contest!
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Marie Laveau (1802-1881) is legendary for an unusual combination of spiritual power, beauty, charisma, showmanship, intimidation, and shrewd business sense.] She also was known for her kindness and charity, nursing yellow fever victims, ministering to condemned prisoners, and her devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. She has always held my interest. When I saw the Adams, it occurred to me that two of the kits bashed together would make the perfect Creole cottage.
This cottage at 179 St. Ann Street in New Orleans's French Quarter, was built by Marie's grandmother. It is where Marie was born, reared 15 children, was widowed, and died. The parlor and Marie's bedroom make up the cottage; kitchen, additional bedrooms, etc., are in separate buildings at the back of the lot. The construction represented is wooden beams and bousillage, a mixture of mud and Spanish moss. Part of the plaster topcoat has chipped away, showing the construction.
The interior walls represent whitewashed plaster. The ceiling in the parlor is wood with beams painted in Paris green, typical of the period. The bedroom ceiling is plastered between the beams, also typical. The date is about 1860; the Civil War has not yet begun.
Marie (also known as the Widow Paris) and her daughter Marie Philoméne Glapion are at home awaiting a visit from the beautiful Sophia, a free woman of color, who is coming to consult Marie on a matter of the heart. [All three dolls were made and dressed by Gina Gagnon of Lone Wolf Miniature Creations, but I changed out Marie's original shawl and tignon (head wrap) with fabric that suited the scene better.]
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Separating the two rooms is a pocket door that slides into the wall, between the two walls of the Adams kit; it conserves space in the small rooms. Marie has made a gris-gris bag with special herbs and charms that Sophia will be pleased to carry away with her, a part of Marie's voodoo heritage. Two of the bags can be seen hanging on the chair, and Marie is holding one in the photo above. There are voodoo dolls in the basket by the trunk. One can only guess at what the trunk must hold! The shelves hold bottles of herbs and other medicinals. Skulls, candles, and the voodoo dolls In a basket are other symbols of her special spiritual powers. I made the shelves and the table at the foot of her bed from scratch, filled and labeled the bottles, made the gris-gris bags and voodoo dolls and the cotton lace curtains, typical of the period.
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Her bed has a yoyo quilt. The handmade yoyos were made by a dear friend who volunteered them when she learned I was looking for this kind of authentic bed cover. In a basket near the door is Marie's boa constrictor called Zombi, a familiar used in voodoo ritual. The chickens in the yard are used in rituals as well as the stew pot.
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Marie is a devout Catholic as well as a voodoo practitioner. The altar in the parlor is typical of Creole. I made the altar and the printed holy cards and pictures and assembled the tiny box on the bottom shelf from a 1:24 scale laser cut kit. Her bedside table (made from scratch) contains a Bible and her rosary. I embellished the Bible bought at HBS by painting the inside of the covers black, rounding the corners, and gilding the edges of the "pages" to make it look more like a well used book. The rosary comprises seed beads and a jewelry finding on fine wire; the wee cross is basswood painted gold.
By the door in the parlor are more wraps hanging on a pegged rack (made from a kit) and Marie's carpet bag (made from a pattern). The bag contains the medicines she will carry to the convicts at the city jail (near her home) and an umbrella. A picture of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, credited with saving lives during major hurricanes, was found in every Creole house of the period and many today. [The picture is a computer printie in an HBS frame. The chair and table are Chrysenbom kits that I made.]
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The fireplace screen is typical of New Orleans Creole architecture. Working from an actual screen photographed in an architectural recycle shop by a dear Creole friend who very gently nagged me to stick to authentic details, this one was made using polyclay, a jewelry finding, and the metal mesh from a real life pot scrubber. The square surround is bolted to the bricks, the arched part hinged to swing open to attend to the fire.
Bringing Marie Laveau's house to life has given me great pleasure. As I researched the details, I came to appreciate her complicated life and the times in which she lived. Although her history in print and on the internet is filled with inaccuracies and myth, an incredibly well researched and recently published book provided solid guidance. A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau by Carolyn Morrow Long (University Press of Florida, 2006). My thanks to the good folks at HBS for providing this opportunity!
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