In March 2014, we visited St. Francisville, LA to visit plantations. It was hear here that Isaac Franklin had his plantations that were taken over my my multi-Great Aunt Adelicia after his death. His plantations are on the left just above center.
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The site of his plantations is now the Louisiana State Pen! In their museum is a little history of the site.
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Adelicia sold the property in 1870 to another plantation owner who ran it until he sold it to the state.
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This is the James family who sold the property to the state.
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Mostly the museum there is about the Penitentiary!
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THis monument is in the St. Francis town center.
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St. Frnacisville was the capital of Louisiana for 74 days before becoming a territory of the US.
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The Mississippi River in the area is wide. On either side were the plantations growing cotton and sugar cane in the 19th century.
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We visited Rosedown Plantation, one of the neighbors of Isaac Franklin. This has an interesting history which we will tell in the next few slides.
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Rosedown was built in the 1830s by Daniel Turnbull who wed Martha Barrow and lived here all their lives. It was in the family until the 1950s.
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Rosedown encompasses about 374 acres and at its peak had about 450 slaves working the crops like this winter wheat.
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The familly sold it to the heiress of an oil fortune from Houston who spent over $10million restoring it in the 1950s. They had most of the original furnishings and were able to reproduce or find similar items like this wallpaper to restore it to the period.
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This hardwood staircase is all original. The house was built mostly from cypress wood.
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Looking down on the entry hall. The wallpaper is not just period correct - it is antique itself.
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Our tour guide explained the table was set with original table settings from the Turnbulls. the gadget above the table is a fan which was operated by a slave using the ropes near the doorway.
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Turnbull’s portrait.
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The dining room is all original including the portrait of Turnbull.
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This is a fly-catcher. You fill it with sugar water and flies get into it for the sweet liquid and get trapped.
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An original family pitcher.
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The Turnbull family, circa 1850s.
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An original painted table from England.
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The workroom where Mrs. Turnbull kept records of the plantation. These records are preserved- over 8000 pages of them.
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The parlor.
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One of the bedrooms.
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All the beds were set up for mosquito netting - a necessity!
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One of the children’s beds.
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This is a pole that comes up from the bed to support mosquito netting.
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As the family grew to several generations, another residence was built behind the plantation house.
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Looking out on the formal gardens.
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From the upstairs balcony, you can see the formal drive framed by live oak trees and the hedges in the gardens.
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A panorama of the gardens from the upstairs porch.
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The live oak trees were planted before the house was constructed to create the formal entrance.
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This is the “infirmary.” With so many people and slaves, a doctor used this to treat people living on the plantation.
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A 180 degree view of the plantation from the drive.
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And another view looking the other direction.
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After I returned, I got a copy of this book about Isaac Franklin. Not only was he the biggest slave trader, he was one of the richest men in America.
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This is his plantation in Gallatin, Tennesses, near Nashville, where he lived with Adelicia.
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Adelicia took over the plantations and Franklin’s fortune after his death in 1846. She was considered on of the “Queens of American Society.”
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Adelicia in the “Queens” book in the late 1860s.
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After we visited I found out about this book and was able to get a copy. It tells the story of Isaace Frankin and his businesses - he was the biggest slave trader in the country in the 1830s!
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