Shadows on the Tesche

I realized I forgot to tell you about the 1830's house we visited in New Iberia, Louisiana; Shadows on the Tesche. I mistakenly told you (on the 4th of July blog) that it was an 1880's house. Gab a nice cold glass of sweet tea and I'll take you on a tour of the gardens.

It was a beautiful day, albeit quite hot and very muggy...

The visitor's center has Greek columns and is all brick. We were given a little history video of the house, the family, and the property before beginning our tour.

Shadows on the Tesche was the town home that David Weeks, a plantation owner who grew sugar cane on Parc Perdu plantation, built for his wife Mary. They owned around 500 acres including about 50 acres in New Iberia, where this house was built. The house stayed in the family up until 1958, when the final heir, William Weeks Hall, gave it into the keeping of the National Trust the day before he died. William spent his adult life caring for and restoring his family home.

The house is 85% original, including the furnishings. It has had some restoration work done, and some of the interior furniture (wall paper, paint, etc.) is either restored, or new based upon the original. An interesting feature of this home is there are no interior stairways, or halls.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures of the inside of the house, so I'll show you the gardens. The house sits right on the edge of the Bayou (River) Tesche.

 

 At the front of the house is a beautiful formal statue garden

 

 

 

 

 The trees are draped with Spanish moss, the grass is green everywhere, and the river sweeps by beyond the gardens.




The family graveyard tells stories of children lost too soon, and lovers buried side by side. The final grave is the mausoleum of the last heir, William.

https://www.shadowsontheteche.org/