Edwin Epps House

Completed in 1852 and owned by Edwin Epps, a former overseer of Oakland Plantation, the Edwin Epps House stood originally on Bayou Boeuf near Holmesville in Avoyelles Parish and was a single story Creole cottage. Establishing himself as a planter, Epps owned Solomon Northup, who helped build the house. In this house, Epps was informed that Northup, a slave he had owned for ten years from 1843 to 1853, was a kidnapped free man who would be returned to his family in New York. After regaining his freedom, Northup told his story in the famous slave narrative "Twelve Years a Slave," which inspired the documentary “Solomon Northup's Odyssey" and the movie "12 Years a Slave.” The house was relocated to Bunkie, Louisiana, in 1976 and to LSU Alexandria in 1999, where that institution stands today.

Louisiana · United States