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Hacienda Lealtad

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Coordinates: 18°14′00″N 66°53′03″W / 18.2332883°N 66.8840655°W / 18.2332883; -66.8840655
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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by The Eloquent Peasant (talk | contribs) at 12:17, 1 December 2022 (Changing short description from "Coffee hacienda in Lares, Puerto Rico" to "Coffee farm in Lares, Puerto Rico"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hacienda Lealtad
Hacienda Lealtad renovated structures
Map
La Torre barrio
Town/CityLa Torre, Lares, Puerto Rico
Coordinates18°14′00″N 66°53′03″W / 18.2332883°N 66.8840655°W / 18.2332883; -66.8840655[1]
Established1830
OwnerEdwin Noel Soto Ruiz
Area600 cuerdas (582.73 acres)
ProducesCoffee
StatusOperating as museum, hotel, agrotourism; open to the public, tours by reservation

Hacienda Lealtad also known as Hacienda La Lealtad,[2] and Hacienda la Esperanza (Lealtad Plantation in English) is a historic coffee plantation in barrio La Torre, Lares, Puerto Rico. A large hacienda, it was founded in 1830, by Juan Bautista Plumey, a French immigrant, who arrived in Puerto Rico with enslaved people. (Juan Bautista Plumey was born in France on September 8, 1797, and named Jean Baptiste Henri Plumey.)[3]

It would become the largest coffee plantation in Lares, with over thirty slaves and hundreds of day laborers working the 69 cuerdas of coffee farm. For many years the plantation was a large producer and exporter of coffee. Day laborers, jornaleros or braceros from Lares worked in the coffee fields of the hacienda. In 1880, it was owned by Miguel Marquez Enseñat.

It is now owned by Edwin Soto and his family, who invested millions into its restoration and operate the hacienda as a hotel, coffee shop and a living museum recreating the historical setting of the height of coffee production in Puerto Rico. Coffee growing in Puerto Rico has seen a resurgence and Hacienda Lealtad produces coffee under the brand Café Lealtad. The Café Bistro Hacienda Lealtad on Puerto Rico Highway 128 kilometer 55.8, is where groups meet for the start of their tour of the 19th century coffee plantation.

Brief history

The "Glácil" is the area where 21 female slaves worked, setting the coffee out under the sun to dry.

Lares was founded on April 26, 1827, and became an important location of coffee production in Puerto Rico. In 1830, Juan Bautista Plumey established Hacienda Lealtad, the coffee producing farm. Plumey, a French immigrant[4] had come to Lares with 32 slaves. On May 20, 1833, he married Petronila Irizarry from nearby San Sebastián, Puerto Rico (Pepino) and they had twelve children.[5] José María Marxuach Echavarría, twice mayor of San Juan, married one of Juan Bautista Plumey daughters.

Hacienda Lealtad is in mountainous Lares, Puerto Rico.

After Plumey established Hacienda Lealtad, it became the largest and most modern of its time given it was the first to generate its own electricity to power the hacienda's machinery and mills. A canal and aqueduct guided water from the mountainside to a 17-foot hydraulic wheel to generate power to the plantation.[6][7][8]

The slave quarters at Hacienda Lealtad was renovated.

By 1846, Juan Bautista Plumey's hacienda which at the time was called Hacienda La Esperanza "was the only property labeled as an hacienda in official documents. He had 69 cuerdas planted in coffee worked by 33 slaves."[9] Plumey did not allow his workers to work on any other farm.[10][11]

In 1868, Lares was the site of Grito de Lares, a two-day revolt against the crown of Spain.[12] While some documents state that people from Hacienda Lealtad participated in the revolt, a historian named Joseph Harrison Flores, with the National Archives of Puerto Rico, studied the history of the estate and Grito de Lares[13] stated that only an eight-year-old child of a slave from Hacienda Lealtad was at the revolt, and spent 6 months in prison.

In 1873, slavery was abolished and a few years later, "by the 1880s coffee had replaced sugar as Puerto Rico's leading export staple and principal source of wealth."[9]

In 1880, when it was called Hacienda Paraiso, it was owned by Miguel Marquez Enseñat[14] who paid workers with hacienda token money, which could only be used to purchase goods from a store at the hacienda itself.[15]

Coffee production and exportation dropped considerably after Puerto Rico was acquired by the United States- with the 1898 Treaty of Paris, and eventually, the plantation fell into disuse and decline.

The place had sentimental value to Edwin Soto, a Puerto Rican businessman from Lares, who had picked ripe coffee beans there as a child, with his family. Soto who had become a self-made millionaire decided he would buy the hacienda as a second home.[16] While Soto's initial intentions for the property, when he purchased it in 2007, were to keep it as a second home he later decided to conserve it for its historic importance. Soto invested millions of dollars into its restoration and Hacienda Lealtad now it is now a living museum with tours by appointment, a hotel, coffee shop, and educational tours for local and international tourists. It also serves as a place for people in the agriculture and coffee industry to meet and hold workshops.

In 2014, the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture began an initiative to develop agricultural tourism and in 2016, Hacienda Lealtad was endorsed by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (Compañia de Turismo de Puerto Rico). Since the start of its restoration Café Lealtad, Inc., as the company is called, has purchased coffee seeds and other equipment and services from the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture.[17][18]

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue held a town hall meeting in Hacienda Lealtad with Jenniffer González, farmers and other stakeholders after Hurricane María.

Students of agriculture and members of agricultural associations visit Hacienda Lealtad in groups for workshops[19] and as Puerto Rico continues to strengthen its agricultural industry, thirty Puerto Rican farmers completed an intensive, eight-week course on the business side of agriculture, at the hacienda.[20] The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez opened an Hacienda Lealtad Café in early 2019.[21]

Tours were underway regularly until Hurricane Maria hit on September 20, 2017. A week after a relieved Soto reported that Hurricane Irma had not done much damage to the coffee trees on the estate, Hurricane Maria destroyed all the coffee trees, around 60,000. Clean-up, restoration and planting began anew soon afterwards and tours and functions at the hacienda resumed.

A few months after Hurricane Maria struck, a meeting was held by the Secretary of Agriculture, farmers and stakeholders at Hacienda Lealtad.

Attractions

Corredoras were used to protect coffee beans from rain.

The 19th century, coffee farming culture of Puerto Rico where jornaleros[2] and slaves processed coffee for its distribution to Europe, is on display at Hacienda Lealtad. Educational tours where people can learn about coffee cultivation are available, by reservation, and the main attractions are:[22][23][24]

  • a former post office
  • the landowner's house
  • a coffee drying field (glácil)[25] and drawers (corredoras) for protecting coffee beans from rain
  • a mill to process the beans
  • a cell made of stone which was used for imprisoning slaves
  • coffee trees
  • a museum with furniture belonging to family of José de Diego, a Puerto Rican poet
  • Café Lealtad coffee
  • a nearby creek
  • former slave quarters with kitchen with wood-burning stove

Coffee growing

There's been a resurgence in coffee growing in Puerto Rico, despite the lack of manpower and other challenges facing coffee farm landowners.[26] Hacienda Lealtad in Lares has a coffee shop called Café Bistro Hacienda Lealtad. Café Lareño Coffee Shop is nearby and other such chic coffee shops have opened up along the mountainous hilltops of Lares and other municipalities in Puerto Rico.[27] Lares has been the Puerto Rican municipality with the largest emigration to the mainland United States, since being hit by a severe economic recession.[12]

The dress worn by Keysi Vargas, Puerto Rican contestant in the 2015 Miss World Beauty pageant, represented Hacienda Lealtad coffee.[28][29]

In 2015, a made-for-television movie, La Cenicienta Boricua (Puerto Rican Cinderella) was filmed at Hacienda Lealtad[30][31] and released on Telemundo.[32]

Scenes around Hacienda Lealtad:

  • Main door to Hacienda Lealtad, marked with 1830
    Main door to Hacienda Lealtad, marked with 1830
  • Hacienda Lealtad
    Hacienda Lealtad
  • Quebrada de Platanos, a stream
    Quebrada de Platanos, a stream
  • Hacienda Lealtad
    Hacienda Lealtad
  • Peacock
    Peacock
  • Coffee de-pulper
    Coffee de-pulper
  • Hacienda Lealtad
    Hacienda Lealtad
  • The hydraulic wheel which generated electricity for the plantation in 1830 is operational.
    The hydraulic wheel which generated electricity for the plantation in 1830 is operational.
  • This cement cell is where slaves were locked for punishment.
    This cement cell is where slaves were locked for punishment.
  • The estate had its own post office.
    The estate had its own post office.
  • A 190-year-old, hand-made dining room set
    A 190-year-old, hand-made dining room set
  • Newly planted coffee trees (after Hurricane Maria destroyed all the coffee trees in 2017)
    Newly planted coffee trees (after Hurricane Maria destroyed all the coffee trees in 2017)
  • Old washing machine
    Old washing machine
  • Palm trees
    Palm trees
  • View from inside one of the structures
    View from inside one of the structures
  • Wood-burning stove in what were the enslaved people's kitchen
    Wood-burning stove in what were the enslaved people's kitchen
  • Latrines at the meeting place for tours to Hacienda Lealtad
    Latrines at the meeting place for tours to Hacienda Lealtad
  • Wurlitzer jukebox in large meeting room at the estate
    Wurlitzer jukebox in large meeting room at the estate

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Hacienda Lealtad
  2. ^ a b "Lares: Antigua hacienda La Lealtad" (in Spanish). EnciclopediaPR.
  3. ^ "Plumey Family Tree". ancestors.familysearch.
  4. ^ Camuñas Madera, Ricardo R. (25 May 1989). "Los franceses en el oeste de Puerto Rico". Caravelle (in Spanish). 53 (53): 25–36. doi:10.3406/carav.1989.2405. JSTOR 40851824.
  5. ^ Richard Konetzke; Hermann Kellenbenz (1992). Anuario de historia del estado, la economía y la sociedad en América Latina. Böhlau.
  6. ^ "Hacienda Lealtad". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). 11 March 2012. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Category: Café". Biografía de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico (in Spanish).
  8. ^ "Hacienda Lealtad". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  9. ^ a b Bergad, Laird W. (25 May 1983). "Coffee and Rural Proletarianization in Puerto Rico, 1840-1898". Journal of Latin American Studies. 15 (1): 83–100. doi:10.1017/S0022216X00009573. JSTOR 155924.
  10. ^ James Alexander Robertson (1980). The Hispanic American Historical Review. Board of Editors of the Hispanic American Review.
  11. ^ "La esclavitud en Puerto Rico: inicios, desarrollo y abolición" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  12. ^ a b Robles, Frances (20 July 2017). "El éxodo de un poblado puertorriqueño que parece no tener fin". The New York Times (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Se digitaliza nuestra historia" (in Spanish). El Adoquín Times. 2 May 2017.
  14. ^ "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions". www.pressreader.com.
  15. ^ "Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish).
  16. ^ "Hacienda Lealtad". Biografía de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico (in Spanish).
  17. ^ "Oficina del Contralor de Puerto Rico - Consulta del Registro de Contratos". database of PR contracts (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-05-25. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  18. ^ "Contrato para la Producción y Compra de arbolitos de café". Oficina del Contralor Oficina del Contralor - Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (in Spanish).
  19. ^ https://www.uprm.edu/cms/index.php?a=file&fid=13534 [bare URL PDF]
  20. ^ "Gradúan más de 30 agricultores puertorriqueños". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 22 July 2018. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  21. ^ "Un pedacito de Hacienda Lealtad en el RUM". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 21 March 2019. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  22. ^ "Lares: Former La Lealtad Estate - Municipalities - EnciclopediaPR".
  23. ^ "A establecer la Ruta Turística del Café y las Haciendas". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 10 April 2016. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  24. ^ "Compañía de Turismo brinda certificación agroturística a Hacienda Lealtad" (in Spanish). 18 October 2016. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  25. ^ "Glácil". Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico (in Spanish).
  26. ^ "Ruta del Café - EnciclopediaPR" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  27. ^ "COFFEE SHOP". Cafe Lareño PR. Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  28. ^ "Inevitables las comparaciones entre los trajes típicos de las misses". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 18 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  29. ^ "La CTPR brinda certificación agroturística a la hacienda Lealtad". CB en Español. 19 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  30. ^ Henry, Metro Puerto Rico-Pedro Rafael Correa. "María Coral: Alentada y complacida como La Cenicienta Boricua". Metro. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  31. ^ "La Cenicienta Boricua (2015)" – via letterboxd.com.
  32. ^ "La Cenicienta Boricua trailer" (in Spanish). Telemundo Puerto Rico. 29 September 2015 – via YouTube.
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