The Tornado

A tornado struck Magnolia in January 1939. A newspaper account reported ten people injured, one mule killed and other livestock hurt by flying debris. Betty Hertzog later described the damage to the quarters, where generations of enslaved and then tenant workers had lived: of the eight brick cabins then remaining, six were damaged, and the engine house beside the cotton gin barn was destroyed. Archaeologists have studied the Quarters since the Park Service acquired the land in 1997, and the cabins that survive are what the storm left of the settlement.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. Augustine Church, Isle Brevelle — 3.6 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.
• Melrose Plantation — 3.8 mi
  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.
• Kisatchie National Forest: Longleaf Vista — 6.1 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.
• Cane River Creole National Historical Park — 8.7 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.

More markers nearby

• Unearthing The Past — steps away
• The Quarters Community — steps away
• Escaped! Freedom Seekers in 1804 — steps away
• Escaped! Freedom Seekers in 1863 — steps away