A Week of Southern Mansions



Bouvoir after Katrina



Our week in Biloxi, MS and Vidalia, LA turned into a week of mansion and plantation tours. In Biloxi, we toured Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis, the reluctant president of the Confederacy. He wrote his book "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government" in one of the outbuildings that he converted to a library/studio. The house sits just a few hundred feet from the Gulf, and was badly battered by Hurricane Katrina 7 years ago, losing its porches, part of its roof and 30 of the 60 foundation support pillars. It has been restored to its original splendor through some fairly amazing historical research and restoration. The trompe l'oeil ceilings are something to behold.



Bouvoir today; Living room ceiling at right -
what looks like moldings and plaques is just paint!

 

In Vidalia we were guests at the FMCA Texas Roadrunner's chapter rally, and met some very warm and friendly folks. The first night of the rally, we were treated to Gringo Pie from Fat Mama's Tamales, a scrumptious dish of small spicy tamales topped with chili and cheese. We had lunch at Fat Mama's a couple of times when we were in Natchez in 2010 and had planned to return, but instead they came to us. Over the next two days, we toured Stanton Hall, Rosalie, and Longwood in Natchez, MS and Frogmore Plantation just west of Vidalia, LA. Boyce and Lisa Eldridge from Tyler, TX carpooled with us, and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. Since Natchez had no rail line, it was not of particular importance to the Union during the war. Many of the plantation owners who lived in Natchez were anti-war, and they agreed to allow the Union to occupy the town on the proviso that it not be burned, as were the towns along the river where resistence was met. Had the town resisted, the incredible mansions we toured would undoubtedly have been destroyed. Unfortunately, none of the mansions we toured in Natchez allowed interior photography, so our photos were limited to exteriors.



Stanton Hall front view



Finished in 1857, Stanton Hall is noted to be "one of the most palatial residences of antebellum America." In typical Southern style, it has very high ceilings and rooms on either side of a long, wide central hallway. This design, with tall windows that opened to the floor and large, high doors, ensured good air circulation during the long hot summers. Many of the original Stanton family furnishings have been returned by descendants - all dark rosewood with ornate carving. I'm not sure how people lived with all of the rich fabrics, floral designs, and heavy furniture that filled this house. We had lunch at the Carriage House restaurant on the grounds of Stanton Hall - Tom had their signature fried chicken, but Barbara went for the daily blue plate special, soft shell crab - which turned out to be the biggest soft shell we've ever seen. Both dishes were very good with crackling crisp breading - and reasonably priced as well.

Rosalie, which was finished in 1820 and served as the Union Army Headquarters during the Civil War, sits on a high bluff above the Mississippi river - the view from the second floor veranda looking upriver is spectacular. Although smaller than Stanton Hall, Rosalie has the same floor plan, with rooms opening onto a wide, high central hallway. The valuable furnishings were stored in the attic during the Union occupation, as the commander of the troups did not want them damaged during his tenure. We were therefore able to see the house as it was in its antebellum days of splendor. The picture here is one Tom took in April 2010, on a sunny day with the azaleas in full bloom.

Longwood, which was partially constructed in 1860-61, sits still unfinished on its spacious grounds. The architect and carpenters were from Philadelphia, and when war was imminent, they departed never to return. Fortunately, the exterior was finished, as were the 9 rooms on the basement level of this unique octagon-shaped structure with its onion-shaped dome. The family lived in great luxury on that first level, and many of the original furnishings remain. Dr. Haller Nutt, the owner of Longwood plantation, died of pneumonia in 1864, and the building was never completed. Each level was to have had eight rooms and 4 verandas surrounding a central rotunda. The rotunda was open to the dome from the principal floor upward. Had it been finished, this home would have had 32 rooms on 6 levels, and totaled 30,000 square feet. The finished basement level was 10,000 square feet - so it certainly didn't feel like a basement. The Haller children probably had a great time playing on the unfinished main floor, where they could run in a complete circle through the unfinished rooms.



As usual, if you click on this photo you can see an enlarged version of the planned bottom 4 floors



On a cold, blustery Saturday, we visited Frogmore Plantation, a still-working cotton plantation 14 miles west of Vidalia. As we sat in the early 1800's plantation chapel with its original pews, owner Lynette Tanner provided a history of cotton cultivation and plantation life, and the changes resulting from Eli Whitney's cotton gin, the 1884 Munger steam gin, and further developments up to the modern 900-bale-a-day gin that is still the mainstay of Frogmore. Interestingly, the Tanners do not charge farmers for ginning their cotton - they just keep the cotton seeds, which are valuable for oil, feed, fertilizer, and many other applications. We toured the well-preserved, rare Munger steam gin, and several of the early 1800's plantation buildings - the overseer's cabin, slave cabins, and kitchen house. Tom only took photos of the plantation store front and interior. 

At the plantation store, we bought a most interesting book, "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup, a free black man  from New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. He was rescued in 1853 and narrated his experiences in the following year. This book is considered by many scholars to be the most accurate accounting of lower Louisiana plantation life, as Solomon was a educated man who provided a most detailed accounting of the daily life on cotton and sugar plantations in the mid 1800s.

We've spent the last week in Greenville, MS and West Memphis, AR - subject of the next post in this blog!



On the Road Again

After 5 months spent mostly in Barbara's daughter Jennifer's yard in Gainesville, FL (broken up by rallies with our Florida Manatee's chapter of the Newmar Kountry Klub), we are again traveling with Shelby.
Last Wednesday we went south to Ocala to finish the towing set-up for our new-to-us Saturn Vue, then headed north to Monticello, FL just northwest of Tallahassee. The first part of the trip was uncomfortable, as the smoke from brush and forest fires in central Florida was so thick that visibility was down to 1/4 mile in places. Our eyes burned and our noses were sore for days.

The small town of Monticello is centered around a classic county courthouse, which sits in the middle of the road in a traffic circle. Many stately old homes sit on the tree-lined streets. Five miles north of town, we turned into a half-mile long dirt driveway leading to Golden Acres Farm, one of our Harvest Hosts overnight stops. It's fun for Tom, who was raised on a small family farm, to visit places like this and chat with the owners.

We were a little dubious about the trees arching overhead, but had no problems slowly wending our way up to the farmhouse, where we were warmly greeted by the owners, Bobbi and Fred Golden. They raise goats, sheep, chickens and guinea fowl, and sell lamb, goat meat, eggs, and jellies. They also have a dog boarding operation. We bought some very pretty (and tasty) light turquoise eggs.

Bobbie walked the grounds with us and said we could park wherever we'd be most comfortable - we ended up in a nice level spot at the edge of the woods.If you increase the size of this photo, you'll see little black spots all over the front of the motorhome - these were the stickiest bugs we've ever run into - instead of squishing like most bugs do, they just stuck to the motorhome intact. After I moved my tomato and basil plants from the shower stall to a sunny spot near the motorhome, we went for a walk back out to the road to stretch our legs a bit. The goats were very curious and watched us carefully as we passed by their pasture. The sheep didn't acknowledge our presence. Walking in the shade was very pleasant, but out in the sun we were very warm. Shelby was very interested in all the new smells along the way.

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast, and departed for Vernon, FL (just south of I-10 north of Panama City). The drive along US 90 between Monticello and Tallahassee was like driving through a park - crepe myrtle trees were planted years ago along both sides of the road, and even now when they are not in bloom the peeling pale trunks and fresh green leaves are very pretty. We stopped at the Costco in Tallahassee to do a bit of stocking up before heading on to Three Oaks Winery in Vernon, another Harvest Hosts site. In contrast to our previous stop, here there was no driveway per se - we had to pull wide to the left of the parking area and make a u-turn close to the tasting room in order to park on the grass.

A motorhome with a larger turning radius than ours would have had difficulty getting into this spot. The site was level, my tomato plant had sun, and the winery actually had some interesting wines, so we weren't unhappy. The wine maker George was unlike any other winemaker we've encountered - most are very eager to talk about their operation, their wines, and their vines. George countered our questions with the most vague of answers: "How many cases of wine do you make a year?" "Some." "Where do you grow your grapes?" "Out back." Tom walked a mile back through the property, past the motocross course George built for his son, and never could find any grapevines.

On Friday the 13th we made the short trip to Orange Beach, AL, where we stayed two nights with Newmar friends Ginny and Jack Pitts. They have a lovely house on a canal that leads to Perdido Bay and thence to the Gulf of Mexico, a driveway long enough for us to park, and 50 amp power. Jack and Ginny were wonderful hosts - they drove us on a tour of Orange Beach, and treated us to a lunch of some of the best fried shrimp I've ever had at the Sea-n-Suds in Gulf Shores. Saturday morning we all went for a long walk on a pedestrian/bike trail near their house, then that afternoon they drove us over to Pensacola and treated us to lunch again, followed by a visit to the biggest fish market I've ever seen, Joe Patti's Famous Seafood Market. Even though it was late Saturday afternoon, the place was mobbed, but they've got so many people manning the counter that we didn't have to wait long at all. They had all kinds of fish I've never heard of, and also have a little gourmet market and bread bakery. The fish are very reasonable priced, but the gourmet stuff was not.

Sunday morning we said our farewells to Jack and Ginny, who were heading to their principal home in Lowndensboro, AL. We surely hope to see them again, as we had a great time getting to know them better, talking genealogy and our own histories, enjoying wine and good conversation.

Later that morning we packed up again, and drove over to Biloxi, MS, where we will be until Thursday. We are at Cajun RV park right across the road from the beach - haven't been out yet, as it's really warm and windy. The sand on this long beach is blindingly white. This morning was clear, but now it's cloudy and windy with a chance of rain. We actually had to close up and turn on the A/C, it's so hot and humid. We are clearly here at the end of the season - the park is only about a third full. Nice manager, and Tom met one of the work campers when he was up getting coffee this morning who is from McLeansboro, IL, where his sister lives. They had a good time talking about growing up in southern IL.