Lakeport Plantation in Lake Village, Arkansas: From Slavery to Sharecropping

The land that would become Lakeport Plantation, in Lake Village, Arkansas about two hours south of Memphis, was purchased in 1831 and construction of the Lakeport mansion begun in 1858. The land has switched hands many times, usually through inheritance. Though it took much time to drive back the wilderness and "improve" the land fully, Lakeport Plantation has been a financial success for each of its owners, owing in the early days to cheap slave labor and later to the full realization of the cash crop cotton. The last, unaltered mansion in pure antebellum style, that sits on the Mississippi, will definitely be a must see once it has been fully restored as a museum that will focus on the South's transition from slavery to tenant farming. Grants were awarded to Arkansas State University in 2002 to begin the restoration. I know I'm excited.

Lakeport Plantation was founded in Chicot County located on the Mississippi river in 1831, just across the river from Greenville, MS on highway 82. Joel Johnson started the plantation after he moved there from Kentucky, where he had sold his business holdings and left behind a wife and several children, whom he visited quite frequently. He arrived with 23 slaves and money in the bank, which he used to purchase a tract of land from the United States government southeast of Lake Chicot. This was to become Lakeport, and it would be added to over the next fifteen years to include 3,700 acres and 95 slaves.

When Johnson died in 1846, the land was to be split between his wife and children, but this was held up for a number of years by legal problems. By 1858, Lycurgus Leonidas Johnson, Joel's oldest son had gained control of 4,400 acres and 155 slaves. Lycurgus then began construction on a plantation house, or rather mansion, on the Lakeport section of his plantation soon after the inheritance settlement. At a time when other plantation owners were suffering because the illegalization of slavery had eliminated the cheap, forced labor pool, Lycurgus prospered due largely to his reputation as a fair employer. In 1876, Lycurgus died, and the plantation was passed to his wife, Lydia Taylor. Shortly thereafter, Lydia took a trip to Kentucky and left her son and son-in-law, Theodore Johnson and Isaac Worthington respectively, in charge of the operation. At the end of the 1800's Victor Johnson, the son of Lycurgus and Lydia, and a physician friend got legal control of the holdings

The plantation changed hands again in 1930 when Victor sold the plantation to Sam Epstein, a Russian Jewish immigrant, for 30,000 dollars. Epstein died in 1844, leaving the plantation to his son-in-law, Ben Angel. Ownership has stayed in that family, today represented by Sam Epstein Angel. The mansion itself, having been vacant since the death of Victor Johnson, was once again occupied in 1950, this time by Alvin Ford, who was hired to administer agricultural matters at Lakeport plantation. The Fords moved out in 1972, and the mansion has not housed anyone since, though the plantation remains under the management of Alvin Ford Jr.

The Lakeport Plantation was a success from the beginning under Joel Johnson as slave-based agriculture became entrenched upon the west bank of the Mississippi river. As the wilderness was slowly pushed back, a very time consuming process made easier with the acquirement of more slaves, and the acreage of "improved" land was increased, Lakeport Plantation became even more successful. This success was based on the cheap labor of slaves and the cultivation of cash crops, most notably cotton. Prior to the inheritance settlement, Lycurgus Johnson was in control of 2,850 acres of which only 650 were listed as "improved," and at this time corn and cotton ruled the fields with Lycurgus's slaves producing 742 bales of the 12,192 produced in Chicot County in 1850.