Kate Chopin House - Natchitoches, Louisiana

Kate Chopin House - Natchitoches, Louisiana

Kate Chopin is considered to be a forerunner of the feminest movement.  Born in 1850 she wrote such books as The Awakening which was met with shock and outrage by the people of the era.  She wrote short stories and novels before she withdrew from the writing world because of the difficulties of acceptance of her works.  Later she was recognized as a great writer.  Prior to her withdrawl she wrote for magazines such as Vogue, Atlantic Monthly and others.

The Creole style house was built by slave labor between 1805 and 1809, the structure exemplifies the early nineteenth-century homes of the area.  The house was first owned by Alexis Cloutier who was quite a character in his own right.  He failed in his bid to have his land made into the parish seat when he divided his land and created Cloutierville as his parish seat.  Due to his embarrasement at the loss he sold the land and moved down river.

Cloutier's ex-wife's brother bought the land and turned it back into farmland.  He owned the land from 1822 until it was purchased by the Chopin's in 1879. 

Kate Chopin, was an assertive twenty-nine year old woman who had lived her entire life in St. Louis and New Orleans. She had already had five children, and she was pregnant with their sixth child. Kate Chopin refused to conform to local traditions for women. She smoked, wore the latest fashions, had “Yankee” mannerisms, and reportedly flirted with other women’s husbands. Oscar’s relatives complained that he gave her too much freedom. When Oscar died of “swamp fever” in 1882, Kate continued to live in Cloutierville, despite being an unwanted outsider. She ran the general store and allegedly had an affair with Albert Sampité, a married man. In 1884, she left Cloutierville and sold the property five years later.

Dr. Josephus Griffin bought the house from Chopin.  Dr. Griffin and a partner from medical school opened a medical practice in the house.  The history of the ownership in the 1900's is somewhat merky it was owned by Dr. Lloyd Wenk purchased the house in the 1940s.  When Dr. Wenk moved out of the area the house was used for a rental property. 

The house had fallen into a serious state of disrepair, when Mildred McCoy, a lifelong resident of Cloutierville and an admirer of Kate Chopin, convinced Dr. Wenk to donate the house as a museum. Paying only the closing costs, Ms. McCoy acquired the house in 1965, began the restoration process, and opened it as the Bayou Folk Museum. However, in the mid-1970s, Ms. McCoy became ill and deeded the property and a trust fund to Northwestern State University. After spending the trust fund, NSU did not have the resources to maintain the house. In 1979, Miriam Nesom, an NSU English professor, played a key role in convincing the Association for the Preservation for Historic Natchitoches to become the stewards of the property. Lucille Carnahan and Emma Masson kept the house open to the public during this period, but in 1986, the property insurance company demanded a live-in overseer of the property. Two separate couples lived at the site until 1990, when Amanda Chenault became the overseer and curator of the Bayou Folk Museum/Kate Chopin House. A major renovation of the house in 1999 resulted in the installation of central air and heat. Today, the restored house offers visitors the opportunity to learn the history Cloutierville and its most famous inhabitant, Kate Chopin.

• Address: 243 Hwy. 495,  Natchitoches, LA 71416
• Phone: (318) 379-2233