THE WINDSOR RUINS

This weekend was our 45th wedding anniversary, and yes I would elope  with this man all over again.  So, we thought it would be fun to go on a road trip to celebrate.  Friday we headed down south toward Port Gibson and Natchez.
 

We drove down the Natchez Trace and visited the Windsor Ruins near Port Gibson.  In 1860 local architect David Shroder was commissioned by wealthy plantation owner Smith Coffee Daniell, II to build the beautiful Windsor mansion.  Even way back then it cost some $140,000 to build.  The house contained 23 rooms and was built in the Greek Revival style.  You could see the Mississippi River from the cupola on top of the house.  Mr. Daniell died one week after the mansion was finished in 1861.  His wife and children continued to live in the house after his death.  It makes me sad even now to tell the story.  I can hardly get my arms around having to tend to such a huge house, 21,000 acres of cotton and care for the eight kids alone, but I have never had so much as a maid, much less a slave.  I think I am the maid.  She must have been some woman.  And there was the war going on right there in her own back yard.  Oh man!!!!

During the Civil War battle of Port Gibson the house was claimed by Union troops for a hospital.  Windsor mansion survived the war only to burn to the ground when someone was smoking carelessly in the house in 1890.  The 23 massive, ornate columns are all that was left.  It is truly a beautiful ruin and even more amazing are the columns which still stand perfectly straight after all this time. 

The columns are solid bricks which were made and fired there at the house site.  I can't even imagine how many slaves it took to make all the bricks in this whole structure.  Looks about like a million bricks in just the remaining columns. 

When Johnny and I found a local bed and breakfast to spend the night in, little did we know that it would have a connection to the Windsor mansion.  It was also built by architect David Shroder and is the only structure besides the Windsor ruins still in existence that he designed and built.  Rosswood Plantation is just beautiful and has a few similarities to Windsor.