Bois Cotlette

A fine example of a Dominican Plantation of French origin.

This is one of the oldest surviving estates on the island dating from the early years of French settlement in the 1720s. It is situated at the head of the Soufriere Valley in the parish of St.Mark, standing in a valley created by the slopes of Morne Vert on one side and Morne Patate volcanic crater on the other. It was named after the Bois Cotlette tree (Citharexylum spinosum), which is common in the area.

It is one of the only estates that is still in the hands of the descendants of its original owners: a combination of the Dupigny and the Bellot families who both came from France via Martinique and intermarried. It is the best preserved example of plantation architecture in Dominica, combining buildings for the processing of coffee, sugar and limes as well as its French colonial "Maison de Maitre". It has the only existing windmill tower on the island. This was turned by wind blowing along the valley from the south east coast.

Bois Cotlette produced both sugar and coffee at the same time. In the 1820s under J.B. Dupigny the estate was worked by 20 slaves who produced 2,000 pounds of sugar, 140 gallons of rum, 254 gallons of molasses and 2565 pounds of coffee. A coffee blight hit Dominica in the 1830s and 1840s and the estate struggled on with sugar alone until a different type of coffee was introduced. By the 1890s sugar production had largely been abandoned and there was a shift to growing cocoa, which along with limes was seen as being the new salvation for Dominica. The old sugar boilers were adapted to boiling limejuice and a mechanized lime crusher replaced the old sugar crushing cattle mill.

Bois Cotlette House and yard in 1905 with the owners and plantation workers gathered together.

Mr. Joseph Bellot sits on a pony to the left, while Mrs. Bellot sits on a bull that she used to ride around the estate.

Visitors on a tour of Bois Cotlette on the lawn in front of the maison.

Here coffee was once dried. During the coffee era this entire space was paved and the coffee was spread out in the sun. When it rained, the coffee was swept up and stored in a building to the left of the picture.

Details of the buildings at Bois Cotlette and their uses

	The windmill tower is the only one of its kind on Dominica. It is located to the southeast of the other buildings and faces into the trade wind breezes that are channeled between the mountains on either side. The wind blows through the valley and the sails of the windmill were turned by this wind. The sails were made of frames of wood upon which canvas was tied. The axel of the sails was joined by cogs to the iron rollers standing upright at the base of the tower. As the wind turned the sails the rollers turned and crushed the sugar cane.
	The other mill at Bois Cotlette was the cattle mill. This was a mill with iron rollers standing upright, which were covered by a roof for shelter. The entire structure was turned by oxen or bulls that were tied to the arms of the mill. The animals were then led around and around the mill and this action turned the upright rollers which crushed the sugar cane and also limes. The juice was channeled into pipes that took it into the boiling house, which was located at a lower level than the cattle mill.
	The coffee pulping mill is located towards the north of the estate yard near to the kitchens and the 'Maison'. It is located in a round house with a conical roof. A trough of cut volcanic stone goes all around the inside of the mill house. A wooden arm extended from a central post and a heavey round carved stone, or a heavy piece of wood was attached to it. When the ripe coffee berries were poured into the trough, the wooden arm was turned round the mill by and ox and the heavy wheel rubbed the skins off of the coffee berries.
	The Maison was the planter's house in the centre of the yard or 'La Cou' of the estate. It was positioned from north to south so that the Trade Wind breeze would flow through the house. A large passage cut across the house from east to west and the partitions between the rooms had spaces above them for cross ventilation. There was little privacy. The wooden frame within the strong stone exterior walls is typical of the 17th century French L'habitations of northern Martinique. Large square posts support the roof and interior walls. All are pegged with mortise and tenon joints. There is a large attice with windows at all points of the compass. Baths and toilets were outside at the back.
	The Slave Huts, Les Case Negre. These were located a little way from the main yard on the slope above it and downwind of the main house. These huts were made of round wood, wattle and daub and kwash (small rough split boards) with thatch roofs of cane trash, the leafy tops of the sugar cane stalks. Herbs and medicinal plants were planted around the huts and they had plots of land for gardens in the forest on the edge of the estate. The site of the huts can still be seen edged with stone and scattered with broken pottery.
	The Boiling House and Distillery was where the crushed sugar cane juice and later lime juice was processed. Cane juice from the windmill and later the cattle mill was channeled into the boiling house. Here three boilers or taches sat over a furnace. As the juice boiled, the moisture evaporated until, in the last teach, it began to christalize into sugar. At that point the muscovado, as it was called, was put out in drying trays, perforated casks or clay sugar molds and the remaining moisture was left to drain out of the sugar. The liquid that was collected from this was the molasses. Cane juice and molasses was mixed and fermented and was distilled to be made into rum. Bois Cotlette produced sugar, rum and molasses. These products were carted down to the bay at Soufriere and shipped to England or France.
	The vegetable garden at the back of the maison provided the estate owners with a wide variety of fresh vegetables. The vegetable beds were fertilized with manure from the estate livestock.
	The Coffee House was where the dried coffee was stored and processed in preparation for shipping. Trays of coffee were laid out on racks inside this big barn to be brought out into the sun on the paved stone glacee for drying. When rain threatened it was brought inside. The coffee was cleaned and bagged inside this building.

 

The lands of Bois Cotlette are located between the letters "R" and "K" in the words ST. MARK, on this map. It is based on a survey carried out by a British team during the 1760s led by John Byres and it was published in 1776. It is known as The Byres Map.

The directory that accompanies this map shows Joseph Bellot as owner of the land at the time.

 

 

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