Feature
September
16
Remembering Lorton
by Brittany Hebert
Three former students inspired a Southdown Plantation exhibit to pay homage to the prestigious Lorton Preparatory School, which was established in 1903. Lucius Ostheimer, Jr., Genevieve Trimble and Roland Champagne wanted to create an exhibit honoring the school and its founders.
The exhibit features a significant piece of Terrebonne Parish history that many don’t know existed. Founded by three sisters, Sarah, Nina and Louise Winder, Lorton taught kindergarten through high school classes. The faculty consisted solely of the three sisters. They were the first women to receive degrees from George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville.
Before Southdown Plantation started collecting pieces for the exhibit, Katie LeCompte, the plantation’s executive director, searched for information on Lorton, a task that proved fruitless.
“When we started asking for people to loan us their memorabilia, many people came forward,” Katie says. “I don’t think it’s ever been in one collective place, besides the school itself.”
The entire exhibit was put together “from scratch” as opposed to the prepackaged exhibits typically on display. A school ring, report cards, photos and other artifacts were graciously donated by some of the remaining graduates and their descendants.
Want to check out the Lorton
Preparatory School exhibit?
Tour Southdown Plantation,
1208 Museum Drive, Houma, and
view the exhibit for $6. If you’d
like more information, call 985-851-0154.
A card with Nina’s philosophy on teaching sits in a display case: “We never had grand buildings; we didn’t think buildings taught.”
The list of challenging subjects the students were expected to master remains on handwritten report cards that are on display. First-graders studied subjects like drawing, singing and, most impressively, French. Sophomores also studied intricate subjects like physiology, solid geometry and Latin.
One of the features of the exhibit are books that visitors are invited to study with their own hands. The fragile books creak with age as they open. They are unlike any other, as the students were required to hand write and illustrate entire textbooks themselves. The physics and chemistry books are filled with detailed diagrams of experiments and the equipment used. The handwriting and drawings are flawless, the result of studying penmanship at Lorton.
The Lorton exhibit at Southdown Plantation may be temporary, but considering all the donations from the three former students, Katie says Lorton will always have a home at the plantation.
