Historical Significance of the Bird Family Cemetery
There are only eight (8) Revolutionary War Soldiers buried in East Baton Rouge Parish. Virginia Militia Captain Abraham Bird Sr. is one. His DAR Ancestor No. is A0100298. His SAR Patriot No. is P-126935.
His Find-A-Grave.com Memorial No. is 202420467. He is buried in a damaged tomb in Bird Cemetery. He died in 1820 and was re-interred from a site two miles east of downtown Baton Rouge sometime between 1823 and 1830. This was when his oldest son, Abraham Bird Jr. purchased all of the Hollywood Plantation, whereupon Bird Cemetery lies. Abraham Bird Sr. was a Captain in the Virginia Militia before and during the American Revolution. He took his family out of Virginia to Kentucky in 1791. The family moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1798. In 1800, he established Birds Point, Missouri, a significant trading post from 1800 to 1860 at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He met Meriwether Lewis at Birds Point during the startup of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1810. Bird furnished the group with food, blankets he had traded with local Delaware Indians, and medicine. Bird was instrumental in the founding of Hannibal, Missouri. The Bird family, which was now composed of adult children arrived in Baton Rouge in 1815. The family became large land owners in East Baton Rouge Parish and Bird established himself as an influential member of the community. His Louisiana friends included Rezin Bowie Sr. (father of Jim Bowie), Armand Duplantier (primary aide de camp to General Lafayette - buried in Highland Cemetery, Baton Rouge), and General Philemon Thomas and Sargent John Randolph (two Virginians who fought in the Rev. War and both buried in East Baton Rouge Parish).
Bird's son, Abraham Jr. and wife Mary Bowie (sister of Jim Bowie) attended the reception dinner for General Lafayette at Armand Duplantier's home (Magnolia Mound) during Lafayette's visit 1824 to Louisiana.
A similarly aged, but larger area cemetery is the Historic Highland Cemetery in Baton Rouge, which dates to 1813.
The Cemetery ID No. of Bird Cemetery on find-a-grave.com is 2551974.
Abraham Bird Sr. & the History of Hollywood Plantation
Abraham Bird Sr. was born in the Shenandoah Valley and was a Captain in the Virginia Militia before and during the American Revolution. He is listed in several of the published rosters of soldiers of the Revolution. He left with his family for eastern Tennessee (a territory of North Carolina) in 1791. In 1793, they moved to Kentucky, where Abraham liquidated much of the land he inherited from his father. They set off to the "Illinois Country", down the Ohio River in 1798 and ended up at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. This was a temporary home, until he built a new estate and business center at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, called Birds Point. Here, he built a farm, trading post, steamboat landing and encouraged the development of a small community in the area.
Recurring floods caused another move to the Ouachita River/Catahoula area of Louisiana in 1808. This was six years before the tragic earthquakes of 1814 in the New Madrid area. His final move was to East Baton Rouge Parish in 1815, where, he and his four sons created a partnership business to enable his sons to have partial direct ownership in every transaction in the Baton Rouge Area. The family initially resided in the old Spanish Government house in town. A group of adjacent tracts two miles east of town resulted in a large estate, which included several houses which the family utilized. This was primarily a cotton farm. They also purchased five lots in Beauregard Town in 1815. Then, 999 acres on the River north of town in 1816. In 1819, the partnership purchased an estate on Wards Creek four and on-half miles east of town. As the days went on, Abraham Sr. did less and his boys did more. It is possible he was ill in his last years. He died on 22 Dec 1820 at the age of 65.
After their father's death, the brothers began selling various tracts of land north of Baton Rouge including near Bayou Sara. In 1822 the brothers purchased the first parcel of what would become Hollywood Plantation, ten miles south of town on "the River" (Mississippi). It was only 10 arpents wide and 40 arpents deep. They continued buying adjacent tracts up-and-down river of the first one. By 1929, they had accumulated 29 arpents along the riverfront. Thompson died in 1830. John Bird moved permanently back to Birds Point, Missouri. In early 1837 Abraham Bird Jr purchased the entire accumulated adjacent tracts on the Mississippi from his brothers. The partnership was dissolved. Abraham Jr. moved into the house near the river and named it Hollywood.
Abraham Jr., took ownership and direct control of the almost 1,600 acre facility and its more than 100 slaves. He began planting sugar cane almost exclusively, built a brick sugar house, and a cane storage building in about 1838. In the 1840's power for the sugar refining equipment changed from burning bagasse (cane stalk waste) to steam power to heat the cane. Abraham Jr’s sons, Thompson William, and John Abraham began working on the plantation after completing formal schooling and later owned their own plantations in West Baton Rouge Parish. Abraham Bird Jr. died in 1860 at age 76. The sugar mill operated between about 1825 and 1890. The brick cane storage building still stood in 1928.
After Abraham Jr. died, Hollywood came under numerous owners, including Duncan Kenner, James D. Houston, and Capt. Thomas A. Womack. In 1893, William & Abraham Adler purchased Hollywood and Mulberry Grove (owned by the Daigre family) plantations, which were adjacent to each other, and named it Ben Hur. From 1894 to 1929 Ben Hur changed ownership five times. Louisiana State University (LSU) purchased 664 acres of Ben Hur, then another 1,858 acres in early 1936. The two tracts enabled the development of land for plant and animal research, managed by the new College of Agriculture: LSU. The LSU AgCenter Doyle Chambers Central Research Center operates on this same land today.
Copyright © H. Paul Bledsoe 2024
There is a display about Hollywood Plantation at the new Great River Road Museum at Houmas House, Darrow, LA.
About this painting.....
The above painting is entitled "Far Beyond the Settlements" (Copyright David Wright 2023). It captures the personality of Capt. Abraham Bird so well! It was originally created by Tennessean David Wright. David has graciously allowed us to use this digital image in association with the story of Capt. Abraham Bird Sr. Paul Bledsoe sent a request to David asking for permission to use the image in the book he is co-writing with Sherry Johnson on the Bird-Byrd Family. The request included a brief synopsis of Capt. Bird's life. David was so taken by it that he not only provided permission, but also waived the charges usually attached to such permission. Take a look at his work at his beautiful website.
Where was Hollywood?
This is a small segment of the 1858 Persac Map, showing the area along the Mississippi, south of Baton Rouge. Hollywood is at left. In 1885 Hollywood & Mulberry Grove were both purchased by the Adler brothers and the combined tracts were named "Ben Hur".
Hollywood Plantation Structures - 1869
This is a segment of the 1869 E. Courier map of Hollywood Plantation. Text was added to the image for clarity. When the levee was enlarged in 1927/8, the River Road ended up immediately in front of the main home. By the early 1940's the main home, and most of the structures behind it, were demolished for the most recent levee expansion.
Copyright © H. Paul Bledsoe 2024
Main Home of Hollywood Plantation
One of three photos taken in 1928 of the Hollywood Plantation home by Adelia Bird Laycock. The photos found at the State Historical Society of Missouri Museum & Library, Rolla, Missouri are in poor condition.
Copyright 2024 H. P. Bledsoe
Is There a Cemetery of the Enslaved?
Most Antebellum plantations had a cemetery or two. Census records indicate a relatively large slave population at Hollywood and Mulberry Grove Plantations. This indicates that if a slave cemetery exists, it could be substantial. These graves would range from 150 to 200 years old. Wooden markers were likely the customary way to mark a slave's grave, so they would have rotted and withered in a few decades. Some may have even been interred above older graves, as was common practice. At this time, no trace of a slave cemetery has yet been found. If it is found, HPCA will pursue memorializing it in some way.