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Historical marker dedicated to Pointe Coupee oak tree, famous author years after original was stolen
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LAKELAND - In Pointe Coupee Parish, a new historical marker now sits in front of an over 400-year-old oak tree on LA-416.
It's dedicated to the late Ernest J. Gaines, a famous author born in Pointe Coupee and one of his most famous novels, "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."
"Community citizens and donors pulled our resources, and we are re-dedicating this historical marker to honor an international literary giant," Katrice Albert with the Albert Family Foundation said.
Gaines was arguably one of the most famous people to ever come from Pointe Coupee Parish.
When he was young, legend has it that Gaines would walk past the live oak tree on the way to the grocery store. The tree would later serve as an inspiration for "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."
It told the story of a fictional woman named Jane Pittman, who was born into slavery. The book then followed her life through the Civil Rights Movement.
"It is Ernest Gaines talking about, in a fictitious way, his time growing up in Pointe Coupee Parish. He told the stories of black, rural, farming life. Stories that would have been left untold. He told the stories of his family members and his friends," Albert said.
The oak tree became part of the story, being seen as a symbol of enduring strength over the ages, still standing after hundreds of years.
"What my grandfather did, he didn't do it for a job. He didn't do it as something that he needed or as work; he did it because he felt that he needed to," Gaines' grandson Nicholas Smith said.
Gaines passed away in 2019 at the age of 86. Just a few years later, the parish dedicated a historical marker commemorating him and his work, a plaque that stood in front of the Miss Jane Pittman oak. Shortly after residents dedicated the plaque, however, thieves stole the original marker.
"The last time we had the monument out here on a traditional pole, it was stolen about two months after we did the dedication. We hoped honestly that somebody would return it, and we went many months with that hope. That didn't happen," Greg Lacour with the Pointe Coupee Historical Society.
An effort by the Pointe Coupee Historical Society and investors, including the Albert Family Foundation, raised enough money to enable the creation of a new historical marker.
"This time it should be a little bit more sturdy," Lacour said.
Pointe Coupee residents and historians now hope the new historical marker will inspire new readers and writers to share stories dear to them, just like the man the plaque honors.
"He hated knowing that some people couldn't have their stories told, and that's how he lived his life, ensuring that those stories got told," Smith said.
Albert says placing the new historical marker one day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day carries significant meaning, saying that Gaines and King both shared the same birthday of Jan. 15.
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