African House and Clementine Hunter's Murals

The African House has been argued over by scholars. A 1974 National Park Service description called it nearly square with an umbrella-like roof and said it might be of direct African derivation. A 2002 study of Creole building practices found no evidence of African traditions and saw French rural structures in its design and techniques. Early twentieth-century owners gave Melrose's buildings their names as part of promoting the plantation as a cultural center, so the label tells more about the Henry years than about the builders.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Melrose Plantation — steps away
  The Cane River estate built on land granted to Louis Metoyer, son of Marie Thérèse Coincoin, with the Yucca House and African House, later an artists' retreat; guided tours Thursday to Sunday.
• St. Augustine Church, Isle Brevelle — 0.6 mi
  The parish church at the heart of the Cane River Creoles of color, begun by Augustin Metoyer on his family's land and still holding Mass for the community that grew from Marie Thérèse Coincoin's children.
• Cane River Creole National Historical Park — 4.9 mi
  Oakland and Magnolia, two Cane River cotton plantations kept as they stood, told through the enslaved families who worked them, the 1864 and 1804 freedom seekers and the tenant farmers who stayed into the 1960s.
• Kisatchie National Forest: Longleaf Vista — 8.8 mi
  A free ridge-top overlook and 1.5-mile loop above the 8,700-acre Kisatchie Hills Wilderness on the Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, in the forest Caroline Dormon helped win in 1930.

More markers nearby

• Clementine Hunter Home and Studio — steps away
• Yucca House — steps away
• Big House — steps away
• Ghana House — steps away