Pigeonniers

[18thVirginia]

When we were in Normandy a few years back, our group ate our meals at this bed and breakfast in a chateau on a property that had been in the owner's family since the 10th Century. One of the buildings on the property was a "pigeonnier." Three of us walked around it a lot and debated what it was for, so we finally asked the owner who explained that the pigeons provided fertilizer for the kitchen gardens, were served as food, and used to carry messages. One of his ancestors had been a field marshall of France and the estate had several buildings that had been used to house troops or as military hospitals.

He also mentioned that pigeonniers were reserved for the elites of France, it required royal permission to have one. In Louisiana, many creole plantations adopted the custom and built their own pigeonnieres as status symbols. After reading about Civil War hospitals for a few threads, pigeon houses seemed like a welcome change.

An example of a French pigeonnier:

http://chapiteaux.free.fr/Bellesaintonge/Pigeonniers/pigeonnier_panloy_00.JPG

 

[18thVirginia]

Parlange Plantation, Louisiana

 

[chellers]

When we were in Normandy a few years back, our group ate our meals at this bed and breakfast in a chateau on a property that had been in the owner's family since the 10th Century. One of the buildings on the property was a "pigeonnier." Three of us walked around it a lot and debated what it was for, so we finally asked the owner who explained that the pigeons provided fertilizer for the kitchen gardens, were served as food, and used to carry messages. One of his ancestors had been a field marshall of France and the estate had several buildings that had been used to house troops or as military hospitals.

He also mentioned that pigeonniers were reserved for the elites of France, it required royal permission to have one. In Louisiana, many creole plantations adopted the custom and built their own pigeonnieres as status symbols. After reading about Civil War hospitals for a few threads, pigeon houses seemed like a welcome change.

An example of a French pigeonnier:

View attachment 94517

http://chapiteaux.free.fr/Bellesaintonge/Pigeonniers/pigeonnier_panloy_00.JPG

Very interesting, 18th. Thank you.

 

[18thVirginia]

Evergreen Plantation, Louisiana, Kitchen and Pigeonnier

https://latonola.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/evergreen-plantation-on-mlk-day/m1710016-2/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonyturducken/4455219122

 

[18thVirginia]

Oakland Plantation, Louisiana

https://myvintageeats.wordpress.com/category/louisiana/

 

[18thVirginia]

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM5FDE_Barthel_Pigeonnier_Baton_Rouge_LA

 

[18thVirginia]

Whitney Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana

http://www.slaveryandremembrance.org/_images/P0078_image0005.jpg

 

[18thVirginia]

Uncle Sam Plantation, Covent, Louisiana

 

[donna]

Very interesting thread. Love all the photos.

 

[Private Watkins]

So flocks of pigeons were housed in the pigeonniere's...? Seems curious that royal permission would be required to build a structure to house a bunch of birds... maybe I'm missing something?

 

[Legion Para]

 

[Waterloo50]

Interesting subject, we still have lots of Pigeonniers but we call them 'Dovecote's or Pigeon Lofts, the lofts are used to house racing pigeons and the Dovecote's are mostly found in our Victorian parks to house the white Doves. Its not unusual in England to see large numbers of pigeons flying overhead having just been released several hundred miles from their home loft.

 

[Legion Para]

Squab (young pigneon) is still eaton by many.

 

[18thVirginia]

Pigeonnier at Home Place Plantation, Louisiana

http://richardsextonstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/10-c007.jpg

 

[18thVirginia]

Thanks for that link, Legion Para.

 

[18thVirginia]

Squab (young pigneon) is still eaton by many.

Great link, Legion Para. I don't recall eating squab, but have eaten pheasant, which seems to be some meat on a lot of bones.

 

[18thVirginia]

Pigeonnier at Magnolia Plantation, Louisiana, photo from the 1930s

http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/ref/collection/LHP/id/3632

 

[18thVirginia]

So flocks of pigeons were housed in the pigeonniere's...? Seems curious that royal permission would be required to build a structure to house a bunch of birds... maybe I'm missing something?

A guy that was on our trip from England, who was a friend of the owner of the chateau, would always say, "It's a gallic thing" about any topic that we asked "Why?" There was also some variety of palm tree on the estate; the owner stated that palms were also reserved for the nobility.

Looking at the pigeonnier, it must have been awfully noisy. I'm trying to find my photos so I can show you the one we saw in person.

 

[18thVirginia]

Interesting subject, we still have lots of Pigeonniers but we call them 'Dovecote's or Pigeon Lofts, the lofts are used to house racing pigeons and the Dovecote's are mostly found in our Victorian parks to house the white Doves. Its not unusual in England to see large numbers of pigeons flying overhead having just been released several hundred miles from their home loft.

A family story of my great-grandmother is that she raised white pigeons to be released at jewish weddings. Sort of an odd story for a woman who lived in a North Texas town on the banks of the Red River, but every outlandish sounding story from that part of the family seems to be true, so I'm not doubting it. Her son, my grandfather did have a pigeon coop among the fighting chicken coops at my uncle's house, where he lived at the end of his life.

 

[18thVirginia]

Cane River Creole National Park, Natchitoches, Louisiana

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/59/c5/ea/59c5eaf6d3377edc7ac303b0a832e297.jpg