The Myrtles Plantation is a historic house and a former prewar plantation in St. Petersburg. Francisville, Louisiana, United States. Built in 1796 by General David Bradford, it is touted as "one of America's most haunted houses."
Video Myrtles Plantation
Home and compound
Architecture
Located on a hill, the skeleton house faces east, with a walled exterior of a board, built in a Creole cottage style that marks many Louisiana plantation houses in the 19th century. The original house was built in 1796 and features six bays and three rooftops on the roof. By the mid-1850s, the one-and-a-half-story house was expanded to the south, almost double its size, and increased to nine bays including a new double entry door. Its entrance is surrounded by large and side windows, featuring original hand-painted stained glass, engraved and patterned after the French cross to accuse the crime. The main feature of the Myrtles is a 125 foot long veranda that extends the entire length of the façade, and wraps around the southern end of the house. The ornate cast iron fence, with its intricate wine-cluster design, supports a wide Dorabl entablature, and on a pointed roof, with six brick chimneys, two large double paneds, a Doric-style piled-up bedroom, interspersed with three single paned dormers. When the original roof of the house is extended to include new additions, the existing dormer is copied to maintain fine lines. The rear facing west façade features a central, open loggia that is enclosed on three sides by the house, and on the roof are five shaded identical dormitory forward.
Interior
The Myrtles has 22 rooms spread over two floors. The spacious entrance hall runs along the house and features faux-bois, open friezework molding, French Baccarat crystal lamps weighing over 300 pounds and cantilevered staircases. The floor and most of the windows in the house are original. To the left of the hall is a music room adjacent to the bedroom only found on the first floor. The main rooms of the house are found to the right of the hall. The walls of the original house have been moved and repositioned to create four large rooms used as the same female and male parlor, formal dining room and game room. Both rooms feature Carrara marble coats in the Rococo Awakening style on the north and south walls, and crowned with cornice plaster and a medal of ceiling, made of clay mix, Spanish moss and cow feathers, without the same two..
The second floor has five bedrooms with an en-suite bathroom. The largest bedroom, known as Judge Clarke Woodruff Suite, is the only room accessed by the main staircase in the entrance hall. The remaining four bedrooms, which are separated by the common living room, are accessed by stairs up from the rear loggia. The bedroom floor was raised one foot when the house was renovated, because the addition has a higher ceiling than the original house.
Grounds
The plantation landscape is currently centered on a large pond that has a small island centered with a gazebo accessed by a bridge. To the back of the main house is the oldest structure in the field. Now known as the General's Store, this is where General Bradford lived when the main house was being built. Currently used as a souvenir shop, laundry facilities, plantation office and breakfast place. To the south is another structure that houses the restaurant. Both additional buildings are connected to the main house with a 5,000 square foot (460 m) old brick yard. Scattered elsewhere on the grounds is a modern wooden cottage available for guests.
Maps Myrtles Plantation
History
19th century
The Myrtles plantation was built in 1796 by Gen. David Bradford on 600 hectares (0.94 sq., Mi; 2.4 km 2 ) and was named "Laurel Grove." Bradford lived there alone for several years, until President John Adams forgave him for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion of Pennsylvania in 1799. He then moved his wife, Elizabeth, and their five children to a plantation from Pennsylvania. After Bradford's death in 1808, his widow, Elizabeth, continued to run the estate until 1817, when he handed over the management to Clarke Woodruff, one of Bradford's former law students, who married his daughter, Sara Mathilda. The Woodruffs had three children: Cornelia Gale, James, and Mary Octavia, before Sara Mathilda and two of her three children died in 1823 and 1824 yellow fever.
When Elizabeth Bradford died in 1831, Clarke Woodruff and his living daughter Mary Octavia moved to Covington, Louisiana, and left a caretaker to manage the plantation. In 1834, Woodruff sold his estate, land, and slaves to Ruffin Gray Stirling. Stirling and his wife, Mary Catherine Cobb, are doing massive renovation of the house, almost doubling the size of the former building, and filling the house with imported furniture from Europe. It was during this time that the name was changed to "The Myrtles" after the crepe myrtles that grew around it. Stirling died in 1854 and left the plantation to his wife.
The Myrtles survived the American Civil War, despite being robbed of fine furnishings and expensive accessories. In 1865, Mary Cobb Stirling hired William Drew Winter to help manage the estate as a lawyer and his agent. Winter married Stirling's daughter, Sarah, and they then had six children, one of whom (Kate Winter) died of typhus at the age of three. The family's wealth disappeared after the war was tied to the Confederate currency, and Winters was forced to sell the estate in 1868, but was able to buy it back two years later. In 1871, William Winter was murdered on the porch of the house, probably by a man named E.S. Webber. Sarah remained at Myrtles with her mother and siblings until 1878, when she died. Mary Cobb Stirling died in 1880, and the plantation was given to his son, Stephen. The estate was heavily in debt, and Stephen sold it in 1886 to Oran D. Brooks, who sold it in 1889. The estate changed hands several times until 1891, when it was purchased by Harrison Milton Williams.
20th century
In the early part of the 20th century, the land around the house was shared among Harrison Milton Williams heirs. In the 1950s, the house itself was sold to Marjorie Munson, who seemed to notice strange things happening around Myrtles that produced many ghost stories. The estate underwent several more ownership changes in the 1970s before it was bought by James and Frances Kermeen Myers who manage the plantation house as a bed and breakfast. During this time Frances Myers, writing as Frances Kermeen, wrote a book about the Myrtles Plantation, naming it as the most haunted house in America. The current owners, John and Teeta Moss, continue to open the house for tours and overnight guests.
21st century
In August 2014, a fire broke out at the historic General's Store, located just 10 feet from the main house, causing great damage. Fortunately, the most severe damage occurred to the expansion of buildings built in 2008 so that most of the original structure remains intact and does not damage the house at all. Listed on the National Historic Site List, Myrtles Plantation continues to be a popular tourist attraction due to its connection with paranormal activity, and has been featured in many books, magazines, newspapers and television shows.
Legend and ghost stories
The plantation house is rumored to be on the ancient Indian Tunica cemetery grounds. It is currently a bed and breakfast, and offers historical and mystery tours. Touted as "one of the most haunted houses in America", this plantation is supposed to be the home of at least 12 ghosts. It is often reported that 10 murders occurred at home, but historical records show only the murder of William Winter. William Drew Winter is also a very popular character on the estate. He was a lawyer who lived on the estate from 1865 to 1871. He was shot by a stranger. After being shot, he staggered inside the house and died trying to climb the stairs. He died on the 17th staircase. To this day, visitors, as well as employees at the hotel, still hear his dying footsteps.
In 2002, Unsolved Mysteries filmed a segment of ghost allegations on plantations. According to host Robert Stack, the production crew experienced technical difficulties during segment production. The Myrtles also featured on the 2005 episode of Ghost Hunter . The TV series Ghost Adventure also filmed an episode there. The Most Terrifying Places in America television series mapped the estate.
References
External links
- Official Site -
- Official Website of Unexplained Rejection Research
- Myrtable Plantation Field Report Paranormal Investigative Team
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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