Shadows-on-the-Teche
A National Trust historic house museum, garden, and cemetery in New Iberia, Louisiana, occupying a former sugar plantation site.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
Shadows-on-the-Teche is a historic house, garden, and cemetery on the banks of Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. Built in 1834 for sugar planters David Weeks and Mary Conrad Weeks, the property represents the domestic and agricultural world of antebellum Acadiana while also documenting the coercive plantation economy and enslaved labor on which the Weeks family's wealth depended. The site is now preserved and interpreted as a historic place rather than operated as a commercial consumer brand. The approximately 3,750-square-foot, two-and-a-half-story house is an important example of Greek Revival architecture adapted to a Creole domestic plan. Its handmade red-brick construction, seven-bay front elevation, tall Tuscan columns, second-floor gallery, restrained ornament, symmetrical dormers, and rear loggia give the building a distinctive architectural character. The interior contains rooms arranged around exterior galleries and the loggia rather than conventional hallways. Federal- and Empire-style furnishings, decorative finishes, wallpaper, painted cypress doors, and fireplaces designed to resemble marble reflect the family's social position and connections with the eastern United States. David Weeks and Mary Weeks were associated with several sugar plantations totaling roughly 3,000 acres. The house was built on a 158-acre tract near one of the family's plantations and was intended as an urban-style residence for hospitality and social life. David Weeks died in 1834 while seeking medical treatment in New England. After his death, Mary remarried attorney John Moore but maintained her children's inherited property separately, including the people enslaved under the terms of Weeks's will. The household's history therefore includes both architectural achievement and direct participation in slavery. The property experienced further upheaval during the Civil War. John Moore supported slavery and participated in Louisiana's 1861 secession convention. Federal forces later occupied the house, using part of it as officers' quarters, while Mary Weeks died there in 1863. The property passed through the Weeks family during Reconstruction, but the surrounding land was progressively sold after William F. Weeks died in 1895. By the early twentieth century, the estate had been reduced to approximately two and a half acres. William Weeks Hall acquired the remaining family interest in 1922 and lived at Shadows-on-the-Teche until his death in 1958. An artist and preservation-minded custodian, Hall organized family papers and maintained the property. He also hosted cultural and public figures, including Lyle Saxon, Cecil B. DeMille, Emily Post, Walt Disney, and Henry Miller. Hall's donation of the house and garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation established the basis for its modern public-preservation role. The grounds include boxwood hedges, aspidistra walks, live oaks, bamboo, camellias, azaleas, a brick cistern, and a 1928 summer house designed to echo the house's rear arches. The Weeks family cemetery contains four generations of family burials, including victims of the 1856 Last Island hurricane and Hall himself. Shadows-on-the-Teche became a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974. It is maintained as a visitor and educational site, and in 2022 the Iberia African American Historical Society opened a research and learning center on the property. Its present positioning combines architectural preservation, landscape interpretation, local history, and a more complete examination of slavery, race, and community history.
History
Shadows-on-the-Teche was constructed in 1834 for David Weeks and Mary Conrad Weeks on a tract near the Weeks family's sugar plantations in Iberia Parish. The Weeks family owned several plantations and held wealth generated through sugar cultivation and enslaved labor. The house functioned as a refined residence for family life and entertaining rather than simply as a plantation worksite. Its brick Greek Revival design, Creole room arrangement, galleries, and rear loggia made it an unusually substantial residence for the area. David Weeks became ill during construction and died in New England in August 1834 while seeking medical care. Mary Weeks later married lawyer John Moore, while preserving her children's inherited property as separate from Moore's estate under Louisiana law. That inheritance included 164 enslaved people. The history of the house is consequently inseparable from the legal, economic, and social structures of slavery. Members of the Weeks household supported slavery, and Moore took part in Louisiana's 1861 secession convention. The Civil War brought federal occupation. Union officers used portions of the property as quarters, and Mary Weeks died at the house in December 1863. Her eldest son, William F. Weeks, inherited the property and rebuilt part of the family's finances during Reconstruction. After his death in 1895, the estate passed to his daughters Lily and Harriet. Financial pressures led to the sale of much of the surrounding land, reducing the property from 158 acres to roughly two and a half acres. In 1922, Lily's son William Weeks Hall bought out his aunt's interest and moved into the house. Hall was an artist, collector, and preservation-minded steward. He organized family documents and donated important papers for archival use. During his residence, he entertained a range of visitors, including writers, entertainers, and public figures. Henry Miller later described a visit in his travel writing. Hall died in 1958 and donated the house and garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The organization has owned and operated the property since then as a historic site. The surviving grounds include formal plantings, mature trees, a summer house built in 1928, a large brick cistern, and the Weeks family cemetery. The cemetery contains members of four generations, including relatives who died in the 1856 Last Island hurricane and William Weeks Hall. Federal recognition followed with National Historic Landmark designation on May 30, 1974. In the modern period, Shadows-on-the-Teche has served as a site for tourism, preservation, research, and public history. Interpretation increasingly addresses the enslaved people who sustained the Weeks household and the wider African American history of Iberia Parish. The 2022 opening of an Iberia African American Historical Society research and learning center on the property broadened that educational mission. The site remains active under National Trust stewardship.
- 2022
African American history center opens
[1]The Iberia African American Historical Society opened a research and learning center at the site.
- 1974
National Historic Landmark designation
[1]Shadows-on-the-Teche was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 30.
- 1958
Donation to the National Trust
[1]William Weeks Hall died and left the house and garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
- 1928
Summer house added
[1]A summer house modeled on the rear arches of the main residence was built as a focal point in the gardens.
- 1922
William Weeks Hall takes ownership
[1]William Weeks Hall bought out his aunt's interest and moved into Shadows-on-the-Teche.
- 1863
Civil War occupation
[1]Federal troops occupied the property and used part of the house as officers' quarters; Mary Weeks died there in December.
- 1861
John Moore participates in secession convention
[1]John Moore, Mary Weeks's second husband, served as a delegate to the Louisiana convention that voted for secession.
- 1856
Last Island hurricane deaths
[1]Three members of the Weeks family died in the Last Island hurricane and were buried at the property.
- 1834
Construction of the house
[1]David Weeks and Mary Conrad Weeks completed the Greek Revival residence on a tract associated with the Weeks sugar-plantation holdings.
- 1834
Death of David Weeks
[1]David Weeks died while traveling in New England for medical treatment soon after the house was completed.
Products and positioning
A National Trust historic site presenting architecture, landscape, family history, plantation history, slavery, and local African American history through preservation, interpretation, and public education.
Historic architecture · 1834
Historic house
The principal building is a 3,750-square-foot, two-and-a-half-story Greek Revival house with handmade red-brick walls, eight full-height Tuscan columns, a second-floor gallery, symmetrical dormers, and a rear loggia. Its Creole plan places rooms around exterior circulation spaces. Furnishings and decorative treatments reflect the Weeks family's nineteenth-century domestic life and social position.
Historic landscape · 1928
Historic gardens
The grounds were substantially shaped by William Weeks Hall and include boxwood hedges, aspidistra walks, live oaks, bamboo, camellias, azaleas, and a summer house built in 1928. A large underground brick cistern is also preserved on the grounds.
Historic cemetery
Weeks family cemetery
The cemetery contains the remains of four generations of the Weeks family, including relatives who died in the 1856 Last Island hurricane and William Weeks Hall, the property's final private owner.
Recent events
- 2022
Iberia African American Historical Society opens a research and learning center at Shadows-on-the-Teche[1]
Other
A research and learning center opened at Shadows-on-the-Teche, expanding the site's interpretation of African American history and strengthening its educational relationship with the local community.
- 1974
Shadows-on-the-Teche receives National Historic Landmark designation[1]
Other
The historic house and associated property were designated a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974.
Sources2 sources
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