Kate Chopin House

[djtphotography]

Have you guys done an investigation @ the Kate Chopin House in Cloutierville? I had heard it was haunted and ther was an article about it in The Town Talk yesterday!

[Brad-LaSpirits]

No, we havent got to investigate that one yet, but I have heard stories on the place. Thats what is so great about Louisiana...it seems like we always have an endless amount of places at our fingertips!

[Ray-LA Spirits]

I.m gonna have to do some research on that place to find out exactly where it is and the contact info.

[Brad-LaSpirits]

Its in Natchitoches. I wouldnt worry about trying to get in there, b/c others have investigated it and found nothing. Besides, I wouldnt want to look like we are copying others. That would just be cheesy.

[Daniel-LaSpirits]

And far be it from us to be ever thought of us "cheesy". Comical, Cynical, Maniacal, Far Fetches, Absurd, But never... "cheesy"

[Daniel-LaSpirits]

Kate Chopin (born Katherine O'Flaherty on February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904) was an American author of short stories and novels, mostly of a Louisiana Creole background. She is now considered to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century.

From 1889 to 1902, she wrote short stories for both children and adults which were published in such magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, the Century, and Harper's Youth's Companion. Her major works were two short story collections, Bayou Folk (1884) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Her important short stories included "Desiree's Baby", a tale of miscegenation in antebellum Louisiana; "The Story of an Hour" and "The Storm."

Chopin also wrote two novels: At Fault (1890) and The Awakening (1899), which is set in New Orleans and Grand Isle. The people in her stories are usually inhabitants of Louisiana. Many of her works are set about Natchitoches in north central Louisiana. In time, literary critics determined that Chopin addressed the concerns of women in all places and for all times in her literature.

Kate, deeply discouraged by the criticism, turned to short story writing. In 1900 she wrote The Gentleman from New Orleans, and that same year was listed in the first edition of Marquis Who's Who. However, she never made much money from her writing and depended on investments in both Louisiana and St. Louis to sustain her.

While visiting the St. Louis World's Fair on August 20, 1904 Kate was felled by a brain hemorrhage and died two days later, at the age of fifty-four. She was interred in St. Louis cemetery.

Kate Chopin has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Awakening. Yet because of it’s controversial nature, the novel was met with shock and outrage. The reaction prompted Kate’s gradual withdrawal from writing and contributed to her much delayed entry into the halls of literary fame.

A master storyteller, she was 75 years ahead of her time. Kate O’Flaherty was born in St. Louis in 1851. Brought up by three generations of widows, she was strong and self-reliant. At the age 19, she married the man she loved, a French-Creole from Louisiana, Oscar Chopin. They settled down in New Orleans to a comfortable life and happy marriage. Oscar encouraged Kate’s independent, if somewhat unconventional nature.

She smoked, rode horses, and explored the streets of New Orleans alone. But by all accounts, Kate was also a faithful, loving wife and mother – charming, gracious, and witty. The Chopin’s pleasant city existence ended in 1879, however, when Oscar’s business failed. The family moved to his family’s plantation in Cloutierville and quickly settled into the society of Cane River country.

For four years, Oscar ran the plantation and general store, and Kate raised their children. In 1882, their life abruptly changed again, when Oscar died of swamp fever. Kate was left, at 31, with six children under twelve. For over a year she managed the plantation and store, finally yeilding to her mother’s pressure to return to St. Louis. Her mother died the following year.

Kate survived the next difficult years with the support of her remaining family and numerous friends and with a comfortable income from her mother’s and husband’s estates. In 1889, encouraged by friends, she published her first poem, and her writing career was launched. Many of her works first appeared in periodicals such as Vogue, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper’s Young People, and were later published as collections.

Kate’s stories and poems reflected her open, independent nature. Many were drawn from memories of better times in New Orleans and the recollections of the bayou folks of Natchitoches Parish. When Kate published The Awakening in 1899, she was 48 at the time of her creativity and popularity. Her daring story described a woman’s sexuality and desire for self-fulfillment. She may have had some idea of the reaction her novel would cause in Victorian America, but she was hardly prepared for the total censure it brought. In St. Louis and other cities, the book was condemned and banned from public libraries. Many of Kate’s friends and acquaintances shunned her, and her regular publisher rejected a third collection of short stories without comment.

In 1904, two days after a visit to the St. Louis World’s Fair, Kate Chopin died of a brain hemmorage. Her literary reputation lay tarnished and her writings almost forgotten. Not until many years after her death did she receive the recognition and acclaim she ahd long deserved. The first Kate Chopin biography was published in 1932 by Father Daniel Rankin. Twenty years later, a French translation of The Awakening appeared, followed by the first English reissue in 1964. In 1969, Norwegian Per Seyersted wrote wrote Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography and The Complete Works of Kate Chopin, both were published by Louisiana State University Press. A British edition of The Awakening appeared in 1978, followed by several other editions. In 1979, Northwestern State University of Louisiana in Natchitoches published Seyersted and Toth’s third book, A Kate Chopin Miscellany.

Interest in Kate’s work continues to grow. Today she is acclaimed not only as a great woman writer but also as a classic nineteenth century American storyteller.

The Kate Chopin Home in Cloutierville was established in 1965 by Mildred McCoy as the Bayou Folk Museum and is now owned by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches. The house built by Alexis Cloutier in early eighteen hundreds. Located on Hwy 1 twenty miles south of Natchitoches, LA.

[Brad-LaSpirits]

Very nice write up Danny! Thanks!