ALABAMA'S VINE AND OLIVE COLONY

Alabama Heritage, Summer 2006 by Blaufarb, Rafe

In spite of these obstacles, the colonists somehow made a start at vine and olive cultivation. They imported grapevines and olive saplings from Europe, but many of the plants died en route. Many of the vines that were planted died, unsuited to the Alabama climate. In 1828 Ravesies predicted that it would take another seventy years of experimentation to find the right mode of grape cultivation. Some colonists, however, remained enthusiastic about wine making and even more exotic agricultural endeavors. As late as 1831, Corneille Roudet was still arguing for the viability of viticulture in newspaper editorials. Former Philadelphia silk merchant Jean Ghapron preferred to take a chance on silkworm cultivation (sericulture). He became a subscriber to Silkworm Grower magazine, ordered batches of eggs, and planted mulberry trees on the grant. All these efforts failed.

The only crop that thrived on the grant was cotton. But if they did not meet the congressionally mandated conditions of vine and olive cultivation, the colonists would lose their lands. Consequently, in 1827 the remaining French colonists, together with American newcomers, began to petition Congress to relax the terms of the grant. These efforts bore fruit. In 1831 Congress not only released the grantees from the obligation of vine and olive cultivation, but also lowered the price they would have to pay for their lands from $2.00 to $1.25 per acre. Congress also struck the clause limiting the amount of grant land any individual could own to 640 acres. With that, the Vine and Olive Colony lost its distinctive character. And, perhaps chastened by the land speculation and filibustering to which it had given birth, Congress would never again grant a group of immigrants a block of land on which to found a "colonial" establishment. Henceforth, American westward expansion would be carried out in a more individualistic way, according to the general laws on public lands.

The law repealing the original colony conditions was welcomed by French grantees like Jean Ghapron, who owned four thousand acres, and Americans like Alien Glover, who possessed over three thousand acres. The political savvy the colonists displayed in defending their landed interests highlights how the Vine and Olive Colony had changed. No longer a distinctly French settlement with a peculiarly Gallic agricultural vocation, it had become a collection of lucrative cotton plantations whose owners, both French and American, cooperated efficiently to advance their common interests.

By the 183Os, the Vine and Olive Colony had metamorphosed into something quite different than its founders had envisioned. By this time, most of the original 347 grantees had sold their allotments and left the colony, if they had even come. Many drifted into the formerly French towns of the Gulf, notably New Orleans and Mobile. Others returned to Philadelphia, and others even returned to France. Some of those who left sold their grants to wealthy Americans who began to establish plantations on the grant. But Americans were not the only ones to benefit from the misfortunes of the defeated. Some French colonists-those rich enough to afford slaves and with enough capital to weather hard times-snatched up the allotments of their compatriots at rockbottom prices. By the 183Os, shared economic interests, business partnerships, and intermarriage had created a mixed planter elite that eventually shed the trappings of French language and culture. Although little remains of the French presence, the descendants of the Vine and Olive families-many of whom still live in Alabama-cherish their unique heritage.