Amid sun-dappled lawns along a stretch of Bayou Lafourche, surrounded by centuries-old live oak trees, stands the E.D. White Historic Site—an architectural icon suffused with historic and community significance. This National Historic Landmark has served as home to two illustrious Louisiana figures: Edward Douglas White Sr. (Louisiana’s governor from 1835 to 1839) and his son, Edward Douglass White, who was appointed to the United States Supreme Court in 1894.
The house itself was initially constructed as a Creole cottage and completed in 1825. In later years the building was remodeled to reflect the Greek Revival style, which became popular in the mid-nineteenth century. On November 15, 2025, the site will mark the two hundredth birthday of its building with an “Oaks & Origins Bicentennial Celebration,” marking not only the house’s storied history, but also its contributions to the community’s and the region’s commerce over two centuries.
“Our board decided we wanted to celebrate that,” said Pamela Folse, President of Friends of the E.D. White Historic Site. “And also connect the historic age of the house with how the site connects with Bayou Lafourche, its origins and history with the sugarcane industry in the area, and how all of that intertwines and connects with the origins of the city of Thibodaux.”
“We wanted to … connect the historic age of the house with how the site connects with Bayou Lafourche, its origins and history with the sugarcane industry in the area, and how all of that intertwines and connects with the origins of the city of Thibodaux.”
—Pamela Folse, President, Friends of the E.D. White Historic Site
Back when Bayou Lafourche was connected to the Mississippi River, the E.D. White House served as a frequent stopping point for traveling steamboats loading and unloading sugarcane product. The site is also intertwined with the history of American Indians who were the Bayou Lafourche area’s original inhabitants, the Acadians who settled here in the eighteenth century, and the Isleños (Canary Islanders), Chitimacha Indians, French Creoles, and enslaved Africans who have added new layers to the region’s complex and colorful history in the years since.
“We thought that, instead of just celebrating the site, we would speak to and have a celebration of how the site plays an integral part in the economic development of Thibodaux, and how it’s connected to the history and the use of Bayou Lafourche,” Folse added.
The Oaks & Origins Celebration gets underway with a grand opening ceremony, and promises folk life exhibits, oral history presentations, museum tours, cooking demonstrations, a boucherie, Cajun music, jam sessions, craft vendors, vintage games for little ones, a chance to come nose-to-snout with a real alligator, and even get in an early visit with Papa Noël. This being South Louisiana, there will be good food, of course—jambalaya and cracklins to feast upon, and demonstrations related to the sugarcane industry.
“I think this will be a great showcase of what the city has to offer, of what the site has to offer,” said Dr. James Bishop, Louisiana State Museum Projects Coordinator. “We are one of ten Louisiana State Museum sites here in Louisiana, and I think it has been somewhat ignored by its own citizens, the history here. I think that this event will be a nice attempt to remedy that.”
To learn more about the Oaks & Origins Bicentennial Celebration, visit friendsofedwhitesite.org/events-programming
.jpg)
