ROSSWOOD PLANTATION

The bed and breakfast where we stayed this past Friday stands majestically back off the road among the Spanish moss covered oaks.  It was obvious a lot of history is hidden in that beautiful estate, and we were about to hear the story.  Mrs. Jean and Mr. Walter Hylander are in their twilight years and we could just see the love they have for every inch of the plantation - Rosswood Plantation - located just south of Port Gibson in the countryside near Lorman, Mississippi. 

The same architect that built the Windsor mansion I talked about in my last post built Rosswood Plantation three years earlier.  Rosswood is not nearly as grand in scale as Windsor, but is still a beauty in its own right.  I did not know any of the history of either place, but when we first drove up to Rosswood I made the statement that the columns reminded me a lot of the columns we had just seen at Windsor. 

Mr. Walter, the eighth and current owner of Rosswood, is a retired WWII Army Colonel who has dedicated 37 years of his life to uncovering the history of  this beautiful house.  We heard intriguing tidbits of history and lore about the Civil War years and how the Hylanders rescued the structure from a state of disrepair some 37 years ago and restored it to its former glory.  The original detached kitchen building was destroyed by a cannon ball during the Civil War.   I could almost hear the pop of the rifles and cannon reports as I visualize Widow Wade and her eight children down in the slaves' quarters in the basement of the house wishing husband and father Dr. Walter Ross Wade was there to protect them.  Dr. Wade, the original owner of Rosswood, had just died from cancer leaving Maybella Wade to raise her three children, his three children and their two children, as well as tend the plantation and oversee hundreds of slaves during the war years.  Eventually she freed all her slaves because she thought it was the right thing to do.  Much to her surprise they all refused to leave and stayed with her and continued to work the cotton plantation. 

The stories of these two houses, Windsor and Rosswood, have lots of similarities and real life tragedies.  We complain so much these days about the tough times and horrors of war, but in lots of ways there is just no comparison when you look at the struggles the families had, as well as the non-existence of support services and medical help for those soldiers.  Lots of young widows were left to survive and support families as best they could. 

This rope bed is a replica of what the slaves would have slept on down in the basement.  You can see a concrete floor, but originally the floors were brick laid in dirt.  The wooden pegs you see under the ropes made the bed "springs" tighter and more comfy and the mattress was a pieced feed sack full of hanging moss from the trees, bugs and all.  Thus the saying "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."  Makes sense now, huh?

The upper front porch.  I could have swung and enjoyed the view all day.

This is Mr. Hylander down in the old slaves' quarters showing Johnny some of the old artifacts they have found on the grounds over the years - from guns to pieces of the cannon ball that destroyed the kitchen 150 years ago.

This is a picture of the Mount Locust Plantation where the original lady of the house, Dr. Wade's wife, Maybella and her family lived.  Mount Locust Plantation is some 30 miles from Rosswood Plantation and is located on the Natchez Trace not far from the Mississippi River.  Obviously they lived a very different life, but they also were a highly successful plantation.  Mount Locust was the place where Natchez Trace travelers would find overnight accommodations while on the way back up north after selling their goods and crops down the Mississippi River at Natchez or New Orleans. 

Mount Locust Plantation is a cypress house with five moderate sized rooms which housed two parents and nine children.  Eight little boys slept in one bedroom less than 10'x10' in size.  Bedtime in that room must have been like a barrel full of monkeys.  Maybella grew up as the only girl and had a bedroom to herself.  Lucky little girl.  The kicker was that there was no heat in her room.  Every other room had a fireplace.

What a beautiful, fun history lesson for us.