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A Delta Journey: Remembering Stubb’s Pecanland: When Pecans Were King
A Delta Journey: Remembering Stubb’s Pecanland: When Pecans Were King

A Delta Journey: Remembering Stubb’s Pecanland: When Pecans Were King

Eastern Ouachita Parish, Louisiana is loaded with pecan trees. They cover the land in great rows for miles and miles. These perfectly straight rows exist amidst subdivisions, new construction, and overgrown woods. Some of the trees are clearly 50 or more years old, and many of them have clearly not been cared for in years. On a satellite image, one is even more amazed; the perfectly straight rows of trees cover literally square mile upon square mile. What is the story of all these pecan trees? How did they get there?

Monroyans today have heard of Pecanland Mall, but long before there was a mall, there was Pecanland, an old rambling mansion of a house along Highway 80, about nine miles east of Monroe, with a metal arch bearing the name over its driveway and pecan groves as far as the eye could see. The story of the place begins with Francis Palmer Stubbs, a Georgia man who resettled in Monroe, Louisiana and soon began growing acres and acres of cotton. He was a Colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and had a son named Guyton Palmer Stubbs. In 1917, Guy (as he was known) was running the family plantations, and cotton was still the primary crop. But an article that year indicated that the family was diversifying their crops, and as early as 1923, Guy Stubbs was advertising in the Monroe newspapers that he had excellent pecan trees for sale. By 1931, he had the largest privately-held pecan groves in the United States, with four plantations, including one called Nutland and one called Pecanland. The farm manager in the 1970’s claimed that Guy P. Stubbs had planted the best available trees on the best available land, and that many of the trees were 50 years old and still bearing.

Although some of the pecans were harvested by hand, Stubbs Pecanland did not particularly like pecans sitting on the ground for any length of time. Instead, they employed mechanical limb shakers to knock the nuts down, and had a fairly elaborate mechanical nut grading system, which was used to separate pecans of varying grades based on how much meat they had. At the time, Monroe was famous for pecans, and for pecan-based candy, and Louisiana was the second-largest pecan producing state.

What happened to Pecanland, on the other hand, is not exactly clear. Guy P. Stubbs had two sons, Guy P. Stubbs Jr. and William King Stubbs. The latter chose to leave the pecan business and become an architect, becoming famous enough to have a book written about him. By the time I happened to see the house at Pecanland one day on Old Highway 80, it was clearly abandoned. I was curious, and figured that the mall had been named for it. It is possible that over time the price of pecans declined to the point that the business was no longer profitable. But it is also true that the city of Monroe began to more and more encroach on the massive groves. Stubbs Pecanland Inc. began to sell more and more of its land to developers, including the ones who built the new mall along Interstate 20. Soon, little was left except the old house and the groves in the immediate vicinity.

On a recent trip, even the old house is now gone, apparently torn down to make way for Pecan Haven Addiction Recovery Center, a youth drug rehab facility that nearby residents opposed. An old creole-style cottage still remains, with a driveway leading back to some other buildings, but as trucks were parked there, it is still private property and I didn’t walk back into it. There is no trace of the old overhanging arch that read “Pecanland” either, although there is a strange stone structure on the south side of Highway 80 across from the driveway. It resembles a fireplace, but might have once been some sort of fountain or water feature. Could it have had something to do with Pecanland? Was it perhaps built by William King Stubbs? At least the Stubbs name is preserved by a couple of road names in the vicinity, as well as Stubbs Avenue in Monroe. A junkyard nearby on Highway 80 proclaims itself Louisiana Pecan Shelling Company and sells bags of pecans and pecan candies, but due to its curtailed hours, I did not manage to make it there. It’s a far cry from the beauty of Guy Stubb’s old Pecanland place, of which soon there will be nothing left but the trees.

9 Comments

    1. admin

      I was wondering what that was. I still have not found all the facts about the wonderful place, and it is sad that it is being dismantled. People probably have no idea what Pecanland was, and think it is just the name of a mall.

  1. Joan Dupuy Davis

    I was friends with SueGravesStubbsCutler in high school. Many fun times driving out to Pecanland and gathering up all the pecans we could carry. A most influential and lovely Monroe family. Joan Dupuy Davis

  2. Bonnie Nickel

    While going through a hoard of cardboard boxes my husband saved from his parents’ house, we came across one that had contained 3 pounds of pecans from Stubbs Pecanland, with an illustration of the plantation on the cover. I would be happy to mail it to you if you like.

    1. admin

      I would love that, actually. Thank you so very much. Shoot men an email at jdoggtn@gmail.com. I will post a picture of it here at some point. What a shame Pecanland is not still open. It could well have become a tourist attraction if they still sold pecans and pecan candies.

  3. J Dawson

    Taking down an old bookcase and taped on the back is a paper that says Stubbs Pecanland 3/5 lbs cracked with phone numbers! I started ordering 5 pounds of cracked nuts after getting them from my parents. Boy were they good! Sitting on the living room floor eating pecans watching tv…nothing like it!

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