Valcour Aime

Valcour Aime
Portrait by Jacques Amans
Born	François-Gabriel Aime 1797 St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, New Spain
Died	January 1, 1867(1867-01-01) (aged 68–69) Saint James Refinery, St. James Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
Burial place	Saint Louis Cemetery No. 3, New Orleans
Nationality	Creole-American
Occupation	Planter
Spouse	Joséphine Roman ​ (m. 1819)​
Children	Edwige, Joséphine, Félicité "Emma," Felicie, Gabriel

François-Gabriel "Valcour" Aime (1797–1867) was an American sugar planter, slave owner and pioneer in the large-scale refining of sugar. Known as the "Louis XIV of Louisiana," he was reputedly the wealthiest person in the South.

Aime owned a plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana, called the St. James Refinery Plantation, but it became known as Le Petit Versailles due to its opulence. (The plantation mansion burned down in 1920.)

Biography

François-Gabriel was born in 1797 in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana at the Aime Plantation, to François-Gabriel Aime II (1768-1799) and Marie Félicité Julie Fortier (1778-1806). He was called Valcour by his nurse as a baby and was known by that name for the rest of his life. His father died when he was two years old and his mother six years later. Aime was placed in the charge of his maternal grandfather, Michel Fortier (1750-1819), who raised him.

In 1795,

In 1854, his son Gabriel died from yellow fever, which devastated Valcour. He gave his son-in-law, Florent Fortier, complete authority over the operations of the sugar refinery and withdrew from public life. His wife, and his youngest daughter Félicie, quickly followed Gabriel in death over the next two years and Aime became a virtual recluse. He would spend most of his days and nights on his knees praying, and in reading his Bible and his son's journals.

After attending a Christmas mass, Valcour was caught in a storm on his journey home, and he caught a cold after the temperature plummeted to record lows. His condition did not improve, and Valcour Aime died of pneumonia on January 1, 1867.^[8]

Family

Valcour Aime married into the wealthy French Creole family of the Romans. In July 1816, he married Joséphine, daughter of Jacques Étienne Roman of

1. Edwige Aime (1819–1867), married her second cousin, Florent Louis Fortier, by whom she had issue. Fortier was the manager of Valcour Aimé's St. James Sugar Refinery.
2. Joséphine Aime (1821–?), married in 1839, Alexis Ferry II, by whom she had issue. Valcour bought the couple St. Joseph Plantation as a wedding gift.
3. Félicité Emma Aime (1823–1905), married her second cousin, Alexandre Septime Fortier, by whom she had issue. Valcour bought the couple Felicity Plantation as a wedding gift.
4. Félicie Aime (1825–1859), married her first cousin, Alfred Roman, son of Governor André Roman,^[10] by whom she had issue.
5. Gabriel Aime (1828–1854), youngest and the only son, died unmarried, had no issue.

Le Petit Versailles

Mansion

In 1836, Valcour Aime exchanged with his wife's brother, Jacques Télesphore Roman, a tract of land for the Romans' house which had been the childhood home of his wife Joséphine. Jacques Roman and his wife began construction on a house the following year which was completed in 1839. They called the plantation Bon Séjour, but due to the alley (French allée) of oaks which had been planted a century before, it became known as Oak Alley Plantation.

With a growing family and a friendly rivalry with his brother-in-law Jacques, Valcour remodeled the Romans' old French Colonial house into a spectacular new mansion. The new house was a typical double-galleried building with massive columns, but it had wings on each end that enclosed a rear courtyard, creating a very remarkable rear façade. Twin staircases on either side of the courtyard framed the rows of columns within.

The interior of the mansion boasted sixteen rooms, including a grand banquet hall and private children's dining room on the first floor and private parlors, bedrooms, and a library on the second floor. The large central hall contained a solid marble staircase and marble floors. Also, marble of various colors was found throughout the house in mantels, wainscoting, and in the rear courtyard floor.

Gardens

Valcour Aime created what was arguably one of the finest flower gardens in the nation. The gardens were designed on a twenty-acre plot as an English park. It has been suggested that Aime was inspired by

A large hill was constructed, covered entirely with violets, with a grotto below used as an ice house, and on top a crowning Chinese pagoda contained stained-glass windows and chiming bells. A small fort, complete with a cannon, was constructed and came to be known as St. Helene, in honor the island where

Large hothouses were filled with much tropical vegetation, while outside, the landscape was planted with fruit trees, shrubbery, and other plants from exotic locations. A small zoo was installed that included many species of songbirds, peacocks, and even kangaroos. In addition, the plantation's own railroad ran through the gardens to carry guests around the estate.^[11]

After the death of Valcour Aime in 1867, the plantation and its finances were in disarray, and the estate was sold to settle debts. Unfortunately, nothing remains of Le Petit Versailles. The mansion burned down around 1920 and the gardens have been taken over by nature, leaving hardly a clue of the magnificence that was there before.^[12]

Posthumous honors

In 1977, he was honored on a Mardi Gras doubloon as a "great man of Louisiana."^[13]

Further reading

• Valcour Aime, Plantation diary of the late Mr. Valcour Aime: formerly proprietor of the plantation known as the St. James sugar refinery, situated in the parish of St. James, and now owned by Mr. John Burnside (Clark & Hofeline, 1878).
• Dagmar Renshaw LeBreton, Valcour Aime: a biography (1948).

"Social Life in Old New Orleans, Being Recollections of my Girlhood" by Ripley, Eliza Moore Chinn McHatton, 1832-1912

References