Melrose Plantation
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Established by Louis Metoyer, son of Marie Thérèse and Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, it is said that the plantation was first known as Yucca Plantation. Yucca House, which can be found on the grounds of Melrose Plantation, was built in the 1790s, and may have been a residence for the Metoyers. It is a typical French colonial maison sur selles constructed from cypress timbers and bousillage. In later years, it was used as a plantation hospital.
The "big house" is a West Indies Creole plantation house with early Greek Revival details. It was built by slave labor under the direction of Louis Metoyer, and is thought to have been constructed by his nephew, Seraphin Llorens. It is constructed of mud bricks, posts, and bousillage. A gallery extends across the front and rear of the house, with square brick piers on the lower story and beveled wood columns on the upper story. The tripped, wood-shingled roof extends over the galleries, which have outside stairways leading to the upper floor. The house is only one room in depth, with two large rooms on each floor and a small cabinet at each end of the rear gallery. The garçonnières on either end of the house were added in the late nineteenth century.
Melrose Plantation, which is owned by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches, is on the National Register of Historic Places.