At the time, the name of the plantation was not Gay Mont, but Rose Hill. I dont know any ghost stories but my mother tells a few funny stories. Its important the reality of what happened in these spaces is present, versus a romanticization of human rights abuses.. However, the pamphlet continues by claiming that, characteristics of Jeffersonian Classicism are exhibited at Belle Mont, including finely executed brickwork with contrasting woodwork and a hilltop setting. 3. Her eyes, big as saucers, alarm me. No profanity. The organization behind this growing movement, Color of Change, indicts vendors for using words like breathtaking to describe plantations. The architecture of Belmont Mansion makes it one of the most significant homes of 19th century Tennessee. Plantation Christmas at Belle Mont is held annually the first Sunday in December and features period costumed interpreters, decorations, refreshments, and entertainment. Many of them, even their detractors must admit, are beautiful, both in reference to their natural surroundings and their architecture. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Its two-story north entrance salon is flanked on either side by a formal dining room and parlor. Protest movements that perceive victimization and microaggression under every rock also wreak havoc on our countrys economy. 10 years later, I relayed the story for the first time to him the day my wife and I decided to visit the place and asked him if he would like to go see the man he saw that night. he respectfully declined. After finding lesson plans asking Alabama fourth-graders to write their own slave narratives, experts talk about the hardships of teaching slavery on an elementary school level. Montvale, the farm at Belmont, was destroyed in 1864. LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality Shoals, Shoals Young Democrats and Rev. He was not buried on the property as many legends say but in the Winston Family Cemetery in Tuscumbia as was his wife Catherine who died July 25, 1884. The home was built. Located in the middle of the Belmont University campusbehind Freeman Hall. That seems far more justified than puritannical policing of plantations. Isaac Winston owned 114 slaves according to the 1860 census and died August 13, 1863 at Bell Mont during the American Civil War. This was just word of mouth and may not have been accurate, but Im glad to hear it can be toured. The property is located just south of Tuscumbia and west of US Route 43 at 1569 Cook Lane. Group rates available. Earlier this month, prodded by the group Color of Change, four wedding websites said they . Jonece Starr Dunigan | jdunigan@reckonmedia.com, hired a black historian to research the site's enslavement history, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. No haunted tours for me. Is it possible that Dr. Mitchell built Belle Mont in this style, two years after Jeffersons death, to honor the late president? List of plantations in Virginia - Wikipedia The underlying premise of the anti-plantation movement is that Southern plantations cannot be romanticized. Belle Mont's out-buildings are no longer standing, but several foundations, including that of a slave house, have been located by archeologists. It was built by Joseph and Adelicia Acklen to serve as the center of their 180-acre summer estate in what was then country outside the city, and featured elaborate gardens and a zoo. Blanket from Belle Mont Mansion. You feel things passing by you. However, the pamphlet continues by claiming that, characteristics of Jeffersonian Classicism are exhibited at Belle Mont, including finely executed brickwork with contrasting woodwork and a hilltop setting. Although the original architect and builder remain unknown, the style of Belle Mont appears also to have been influenced by past. It was built in 1940 on some of the land near General John Coffees home. If such locales have tragic histories, this is all the more reason to reimagine them in ways that both recognize and overcome that past. The answer will always be a mystery. I came out of the cellar and saw Ronnie sitting in my truck, so I asked if he had came into the cellar, he told me no. Went back into the cellar a coupple more times, but never had that akward feeling again. My son says, Yes, hes walking to the house. Having passed the sign and turn to the house, I realized there is no way he could have known of the house based on his not being able to read and having no pre-exposure to the houses existence. All rights reserved (About Us). Just one if many weird, cant explain it things that have happened here. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. During the 1960s, star-crossed lovers camped inside the rotting mansion in the woods, and the home has long been the site of drunken high school parties. He says, the man that lives in that house. still pointing. An Alabama Historical Commission site, Belle Mont was built 1828-1832 and is one of the state's first great plantation houses. belle mont mansion slaves It's currently operated as a museum, and tours are available. Owning 1,680 acres of cotton and corn, Dr. Mitchell became known as one of the largest planters in the area before he quickly sold the mansion and the surrounding land one year after its completion. The best-known ghost tale from each Alabama county - al.com Beyond Jesus Revolution: 10 Outside-The-Box Faith-Based Films On The Horizon, Major Doctors Organization Publicly Embraces Dismembering Babies Until Birth, Congress Quietly Left The Door Open To Funneling More Tax Dollars To EcoHealth Research In China For National Security, Utah Considers Ranked-Choice Voting In Primaries Despite Disasters In Alaska And Maine. This area of the property can be accessed from the master bedroom through a large door with a window that leads directly to the courtyard area, which is where the detached kitchen would have been accessed as well.The Mitchell family sold Belle Mont and 33 of the surrounding acres to their friends Isaac and Catherine Baker Jones Winston, who were also from Virginia, in 1833. Violence against blacks and other disenfranchised groups have occurred across our nations landscape, many in popular and well-trod locales, North and South, East and West. This mansion is believed to have been influenced by Palladian style architecture for which Thomas Jefferson is known. Discover the largest house built in Tennessee prior to the Civil War. You can imagine me trying to picture my great aunt doing this, haha! Visitors to the mansion have reported seeing dark shadowy figures walking the fields and have heard the sound of chains rattling near the house. Belle Mont also illustrates Jeffersons reverence for the neoclassical architectural elements and ideas of the Italian Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio," (Commission 2). Located just outside Tuscumbia in Colbert County, the mansion is one of a few Palladian-style houses in the Deep South. It was one of those drizzly unpleasant days, so after a while I went into the Cellar area of the plantation. Well, all in all, me and my fellow troop members and family members spent about six weeks there, clearing underbrush, old trash, planting grass, removing small trees, etc. "Others feared the upcoming slave auctions commonly held in January and February in north Alabama as well as upcoming contracts for slave labor that was 'hired out.'". As of Thursday morning, Alabama Historical Commission members have not responded to the letter or AL.coms emails and phone calls. Belle Mont's out-buildings are no longer standing, but several foundations, including that of a slave house, have been located by archeologists. Belle Mont Mansion By Ken Weigandin Ashley Ann Lewis, Haunted Locations Belle Mont was erected in 1828 for a physician from Louisa County, Virginia, Dr. Alexander Williams Mitchell. At Belmont, several extended families lived in slavery over the course of several generations. === A monument was errected in 2008 on the old Henry Courthouse square in Martinsville, VA. . I grew up in Florence and my Great Grandmother lived near the mansion on Colbert Heights mountain. The Conway family purchased the property in 1670 and it remained in the family for 120 years. For more information, click here. I contacted the historic society to find out about the planned restoration project that I had heard about, and asked if I could assist as part of my Eagle Scout project in the Boy Scouts. Belle Mont Mansion Tuscumbia, Alabama 65.4 miles from Tupelo, MS. A former slave plantation, it is believed to be haunted by slaves that lived and died here and also possibly by the ghosts of its former owners. She said he would come out shooting if he caught trespassers. Belmont Mansion, or Belle Monte as it was known in the 19th century, was not a plantation but still relied on a large number of enslaved workers to maintain the estate. Some visitors say that the building . At first you think this is all in your imagination. It has been referred to as the Isaac Winston House and is listed as Belmont in the National Register of Historic Places and as the Henry B. Thornton Plantation House in the Historic American Buildings Survey. Forts, Battlefields & Archaeological Sites, Alabama Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program, Documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Pond Spring, the General Joe Wheeler Home, To apply for film/photo permit, please send requests to. A Pinterest representative, for example, announced that the website is working on de-indexing Google searches for plantation wedding. In December, a coalition of Alabama activists protested a Plantation Christmas event held at the Belle Mont Mansion near Tuscumbia, Alabama, because it memorialized white supremacist celebrations of Christmas. Belle Mont Mansion | Encyclopedia of Alabama The house and surrounding property are reportedly haunted by the former slaves that lived and died on the plantation. The historic home is the site of the annual Art of the Dish this week. The modern application of this practice is also redolent of any of those ancient heresies that are uncomfortable with the complicated reality that vice and virtue, spiritual and material, co-exist within the human experience. Yet self-righteous assaults on these places and the many ways they are used will not bring restorative justice. Owning 1,680 acres of cotton and corn, Dr. Mitchell became known as one of the largest planters in the area before he quickly sold the mansion and the surrounding land one year after its completion. Marble bust of Helen Keller. How many of the great nations of human history have so actively beat their breasts over their sins, both against their own citizens and the peoples of the world? Belle Mont is located south of Tuscumbia in Colbert Couty in northwest Alabama. 2019 was the year it finally became socially unacceptable to use a historic plantation as a wedding venue. Belle Meade plantation takes a deeper look into the lives of its slaves In its zealous desire to right previous wrongs, this goes too far in the other direction, and in the process, undermines the historical fabric of our nation. This is a list of plantations and/or plantation houses in the U.S. state of Virginia that are National Historic Landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, other historic registers, or are otherwise significant for their history, association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design.