Alliance Plantation House in Suriname: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Favorite Place”

 

Alliance Plantation House: Home to Three Generations of Sugar Planters

Thomas Shields: 1836-1905
Archibald Shields: 1864-1962
Jack McNiven and Ruth Shields McNiven: 1896-1973 and 1904-1995

 

Laurel and John Aird visited John’s Aunt Ruth Shields McNiven in the 1980s when she was living in Montserrat. Over the course of several evenings, Ruth told them family history and stories, including information about her father’s sugar plantation in Suriname. She talked fondly of the huge Alliance plantation house, admitting it was her favorite of all the various plantation houses she lived in.

Archie Shields and two others on the gallery of the Alliance Plantation House--believed to be Augusta Curiel photo circa 1905

 Alliance was so named because several smaller plantations were combined to form it. The plantation la up the Commewijne River from Suriname’s port city of Paramaribo. It is unclear exactly when Thomas Shields purchased the plantation. He had been affiliated with it for a while as the chief engineer of the sugar refinery on the premises. According to Ruth McNiven, he purchased it in 1889. However, a Dutch website that traces the history of the various plantations states that Alfred George Knott bought it in 1879, and sold it in 1894 or 1895 to Thomas Shields.

 Several of Thomas’ children and their spouses and families lived on and worked for the plantation over the years, including Bethia and her husband James Smith, Effie Shields’ son Jack MacNiven and his wife Ruth Shields (another of Thomas’ grandchildren), and even John Shields (John Shields Aird’s grandfather and Ruth’s father). John Shields ran the plantation lumber mill for a year or so. John Aird’s mother, May Shields, was born in Paramaribo in 1893 while her father worked at Alliance. Her birth date would seem evidence that Thomas Shields had acquired the property well before 1894.

Photo from Bethia Shields Smith grandchildren--Ancestry

Thomas’ eldest son, Archibald, was the family member most involved with Alliance.  “Archie” Shields managed the plantation for many years, first under his father’s direction, and after Thomas’ death in 1905, Archie became the company’s head. His three daughters spent most of their childhood living in the huge plantation house.

Ruth said that “bits” of the Alliance house had been brought to Suriname from Europe many years before Alliance was built, used for houses further up the Commewijne River. Plantations didn’t last long in the bush if unoccupied, so the materials were repurposed when the Alliance house was built. Ruth remembered that the railings in front were “pure Chippendale” and the paneling was Louis XVI. “Surrounds and the keyholes” (I think Ruth meant the door trim) was Spanish Provincial. She said the staircase was also special—a visiting architect was raving about its construction and style.  She also noted the paneling was mahogany, painted over.

Second floor interior 2006

            A modern description of the house by a Dutch tourist (translated from Dutch) echoes some of Ruth’s details:

“The former Alliance sugar estate lays along the Matapica Creek, and was founded in the 18th century. Nowadays, it is a citrus plantation. The great house dates back to the very beginning of the plantation, and has exquisite interior paneling in Louis XV style. It must have been a much smaller house in those days. In the 19th and 20th century it was extended. Until 1980 it was in use and in reasonable condition. After that, no maintenance whatsoever was carried out. At the moment, (2010) the house is a ruin.”

            The house was built on posts or pillars high off the ground, presumably to protect the wooden structure from water damage during the rainy seasons.

Amazing 3-D rendering of the house done by an architecture buff--shows the pillar structure and long staircase entries

 Ruth wrote a series of charming stories about the plantation as a high school student, and describes arriving at the house as follows:

“Plantation Alliance is up the Commewyne River from the town. We take the little river steamer, Johannah, and proceed up with the tide. The Commewyne is a muddy, silent river, the home of alligators, peri, eels and sometimes sharks, flowing on and on between densely overgrown banks, past deserted, tumble-down, abandoned plantations, to empty at last intothe tropical sea.

 Just as the sun is setting with all the fiery splendor of a tropical sunset, there comes a break inthe everlasting hush and I behold Uncle's .house, my new home, its windows blazing in the rays of the setting sun. 

The launch chug-chugs up to the landing; it could hardly be dignified with the name of wharf. We leave it, stretching our cramped limbs thankfully.

 

Alliance river landing modern day...

We walk along in the cool shade of giant tamarind trees, whose branches form a leafy arch overhead.

Halfway up the path a high, white picket gate is opened for us. Past it the tamarinds give place to a seven-foot box hedge of jasmine.

 

Last of the great tamarind trees--Alliance around 2010

The road widens in front of the house to make room for a conventional tropical garden with all its walks leading to an ancient sundial in the center.

 

Photo from Ancestry courtesy of Smith descendants

Sundial around 2010

The house itself is built so high off the ground that one could ride under it on horse-back. A high flight of steps leads up to the wide gallery which surrounds the house.”

Sundial and house during childhood of James Alan Smith and Bethea Smith--approx 1920

Although the house was quite a distance from Paramaribo, there was frequent contact with other planters and with the city. Ruth recalled that a river steamer came daily except on Sundays. It brought the mail and supplies to Alliance. Ice came out from Paramaribo by steamer two times a week. The workers packed the large blocks of ice in sawdust. Ruth and Jack had one of the first three kerosene powered refrigerators delivered to Suriname and she noted proudly that it worked for many years.

Sadly, after the Shields family sold the plantation in the 1950s, it fell into ruin. The Surinamese government took over the plantation, converting it from sugar cane production to the growing of citrus. The house was used in part for offices, but was mostly abandoned. The photos over the years show its sad degradation. Tourists now come to gawk at the ruin and take photographs. Ruth’s favorite plantation home is now nearly unrecognizable.

Sources:

https://www.surinameplantages.com/archief/a/alliance

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_(Commewijne)

de suikerplantage Alliance aan de Matapica kreek, auteur: Philip Dikland, 2003, aangevuld 2004, 2010, 2011.  http://www.kdvarchitects.com/smartcms/downloads/Alliance%20geschiedenis.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/StaatsbedrijfAlliance.sr/