The Mansion served as a stage for many complex antebellum social and gender issues. It was completed in the gentle south of 1839, and ended it’s political life over thirty years later with the resignation of Governor James E. Brown and the moving of the Capitol to Atlanta. During the Civil War, the mansion was claimed as a prize by General William T. Sherman during his “March to the Sea” on November 23, 1864. Governor Brown, his staff, including some seven slaves, the legislature and many townspeople had stripped the mansion and Capitol of all valueables “including the linens and glassware”.
Fittingly, our entrance into the Mansion, through the servants entrance, was decorated by an arrangement of the agricultural giant of the Old South.
Southern economy was based on the crops its fertile soil produced. The Governors Mansion pantry showed us how canning, drying, and smoking techniques were used to preserve these foodstuffs.
Upatairs, we visited the family dining room.
Each room had either a fireplace or a small woodstove in it. Summer heat was mitigated by large windows and high ceilings, as we saw in the Governors Office.
During several restorations, after a checkered career as a boy’s school, a girl’s school, a training facility for WAVE’s during the war, and a donation as a college building, the ceiling medallions were saved. There are seven in the house, with reproduction chandeliers. The medallions have been carefully restored in this ballroom.
A hidden surprise in the center of the home is a 50 foot high dome, complete with gold leaf decoration on the skylight.
The structure has been retrofitted with a nicely hidden elevator, but the original stairs are beautiful and original.
The Ladies Siting room is where the First Lady would have spent most of her day.
In this room is an original Governor Brown piano, refurbished and in tune!
The Children's Bedroom was full of toys, including a doll from antebellum days. Back in the day, several children shared one bed.
Mr. Jack Jones was a lonely figure in the girls toy box, so Governor Brown's daughter demanded that he be married. She was immediately presented with another doll and the two were married in a garden ceremony that was the hit of the social season! Mr. and Mrs. Jones' anniversary is still celebrated by the Mansion staff, with local notables invited to a full reception. It's the south, ya'll.
The formal dining room/ballroom is arranged to display the Brown Family quilt. It was the trend in the day to make a quilt with squares celebrating notable events and people in a family. The original quilt from pre Civil War days is on display in this room.
Milledgeville has been fortunate in saving many of it's antebellum homes. We drove around the historical district for an hour or so, following our noses, and took a few photos.
We learned that this home is called The House of Thirteen Columns!
Just a few miles north of Milledgeville lies the hamlet of Eatonton. Along with a handful of gracious antebellum homes that have fallen into disrepair, Eatonton's claim to fame is it's connection to B'rer Rabbit!
Inside the small museum that celebrates the traditional children's stories of Joel Chandler Harris. This park is a part of the home place of Joseph Sidney Turner, the "little boy" to whom the world famous stories of the "critters" were told by "Uncle Remus", Harris' unique creation. As we entered, a lovely elderly black woman greeted us and several others to her "home", constructed from three donated slave cabins. Miss Georgia Lee gave us a memorial verbal tour of her childhood growing up in Eatonton, from pre-Civil Rights days, to current social issues. She is a firm proponent of the retention of Southern statues, monuments, and names. As Miss Georgia said, "you can't change the past".
We enjoyed a long visit with Miss Georgia, and wish her well.
No comments:
Post a Comment