Visitors to the mansion have reported seeing dark shadowy figures walking the fields and have heard the sound of chains rattling near the house.http://bellemont.weebly.com/history.htmlhttp://www.mystery411.com/Landing_bellemonttuscumbia.html. In 1983, concerned about the condition of the house, members of the Winston family donated Belle Mont and 33 surrounding acres to the Alabama Historical Commission. Indeed, it is the Christian character of America that has allowed us to recognize and seek to rectify our past errors. All information on this page was submitted to Alabama Haunted Houses and was believed to be accurate at the time it was posted. To avoid this, be sure to get in touch with the property owners before visiting a haunt, and respect their hours of operation, local regulations, and rules for visiting at all times. For more information, click here. It was then purchased by two women who in 1890 started a college which evolved into Belmont University. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. If you have lived in a haunted house you will not find this fun. . Blanket from Belle Mont Mansion. Although the actual design of Belle Mont is a mystery, this particular relationship provides a clue about the original designer, or at least his influence.The source of Belle Monts design is shrouded in mystery, but tantalizing clues suggest the direct influence of President Thomas Jefferson, gentlemen architect of the early Republic, the official Belle Mont pamphlet states (Commission 2). Belle Mont's out-buildings are no longer standing, but several foundations, including that of a slave house, have been located by archeologists. Related Videos Video #1 The historic home is the site of the annual Art of the Dish this week. It once stretched over 5400 acres and hosted celebrities, presidents, and countless southern gentlemen. This celebration clearly ignores the perspective of those who experienced Belle Mont as a forced labor camp., Slavery hard to teach in Cotton State of Alabama, elementary educators say. Violence against blacks and other disenfranchised groups have occurred across our nations landscape, many in popular and well-trod locales, North and South, East and West. Administrative use only. This 1860 census, also called a Slave Schedule, provides a limited picture of all who were living at Belmont and where they lived. Off Campus Book Store University of North Alabama, Norton Auditorium University of North Alabama. Wesley Thompson of Bethel Colbert Missionary Baptists Church also signed the letter. As there is not formal cemetery for the slaves it is likely that they were buried on some part of the estate. Constructed between 1849 and 1860, Belmont Mansion was the home of Adelicia and Joseph Acklen. A tour of this Nashville plantation tells the story . Founded in 2008, AlabamaHauntedHouses.com is a simple and unique online haunted event & attraction resource created to make it easy for locals to find Haunted House, Spook Walk, Corn Maze, and other Halloween Attractions in their local area. Intimate and elegant elopement ceremonies are popular at Belmont Mansion! The property is located just south of Tuscumbia and west of US Route 43 at 1569 Cook Lane. The house and surrounding property are reportedly haunted by the former slaves that lived and died on the plantation. Blue Star Museum: Belle Mont proudly offers free admission to active duty military personnel and their families between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Do not use all capital letters. Belle Mont Mansion is located outside of Tuscumbia. It was built by Joseph and Adelicia Acklen to serve as the center of their 180-acre summer estate in what was then country outside the city, and featured elaborate gardens and a zoo. This is not a good thing. Advertised as an event where people can experience the "hospitality of the Old South", "A Plantation Christmas" was held at the Belle Mont Mansion on Sunday evening. I contacted the historic society to find out about the planned restoration project that I had heard about, and asked if I could assist as part of my Eagle Scout project in the Boy Scouts. I dont think only certain places are as haunted, as the belief that there are paranormal things happening all around us everywhere, and just certain people are allowed to witness these things at certain times. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. The Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville hired a black historian to research the site's enslavement history and to offer tours so visitors can learn about the African Americans who were enslaved on the property. Four bedrooms surround the rear or south courtyard, forming its U-shaped brick exterior. Surely, we do not want to pretend these places dont have a violent, racist past. After finding lesson plans asking Alabama fourth-graders to write their own slave narratives, experts talk about the hardships of teaching slavery on an elementary school level. It also reflects the vulnerability of American businesses to the whims of leftist protest movements. Belle Mont, built between 1828 and 1832, was a plantation that used slave labor. The schooner Clotilda smuggled African captives into the U.S. in 1860, more than 50 years after importing slaves was outlawed. The Belle Mont Mansion was constructed from 1828-1832. Not sure if it did or not but sure does fit. What county in Alabama had the most slaves? I was amazed at the huge floor joist under the house, then I had that feeling someone had walked up behind me, I thought it was Ronnie, at that time I noticed some graffiti that had been put there, and asked Ronnie what he thought about, but when I turned around, Iwas there by myself. According to the letter, Christmas was a disturbing time for the enslaved. The use of the NPS name for any unauthorized events or activities is strictly prohibited. Your CommentsHave a photograph taken from this location? The source of Belle Monts design is shrouded in mystery, but tantalizing clues suggest the direct influence of President Thomas Jefferson, gentlemen architect of the early Republic, the official Belle Mont pamphlet states (Commission 2). Open Letter Plantation Christmas by Jonece on Scribd. Today the Belmont Mansion Association, which was formed in 1972, owns the collection, runs the museum, and shares this unique story of 19th century Nashville with visitors from far and near. I remember her sounding really flippant about it and me wondering how being shot at was not a big deal! "While the holidays brought a brief respite from work, many enslaved people took the opportunity to escape the bondage of the plantation," the letter said. The letter was signed by social justice groups Project Say Something, Standing in Power, of Decatur, and Beyond the Women's March. Constructed between 1849 and 1860, Belmont Mansion was the home of Adelicia and Joseph Acklen. Belle Mont Mansion Tuscumbia, Alabama 65.4 miles from Tupelo, MS. A former slave plantation, it is believed to be haunted by slaves that lived and died here and also possibly by the ghosts of its former owners. The modern application of this practice is also redolent of any of those ancient heresies that are uncomfortable with the complicated reality that vice and virtue, spiritual and material, co-exist within the human experience. Slavery Plantation Agriculture Robert J. Vejnar, Kennesaw State University Dogtrot Cabin at Belle Mont Plantation Plantation agriculture was a form of large-scale farming that was most prevalent during the colonial and antebellum periods of American history. Montvale, the farm at Belmont, was destroyed in 1864. "The celebration of a 'Plantation Christmas' represents a willful ignorance of the experience of enslaved people and a concocted memory of a joyous, white supremacist Christmas celebration," the letter said. === A monument was errected in 2008 on the old Henry Courthouse square in Martinsville, VA. . Its also not as if Dixie estates were the only sites where acts of brutality were committed by one group of Americans against another. Jones says her new title is one she holds . One was a bluish light, the other one looked golden. However, the pamphlet continues by claiming that, characteristics of Jeffersonian Classicism are exhibited at Belle Mont, including finely executed brickwork with contrasting woodwork and a hilltop setting. Plantation Christmas at Belle Mont is held annually the first Sunday in December and features period costumed interpreters, decorations, refreshments, and entertainment. Is this place really haunted? Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), NPS Investigation & Research Education Resource, World Institute for Scientific Exploration (WISE), http://www.mystery411.com/Landing_bellemonttuscumbia.html. 10 years later, I relayed the story for the first time to him the day my wife and I decided to visit the place and asked him if he would like to go see the man he saw that night. he respectfully declined. What do you think? General Martin retired to his Belle Mont plantation at Leatherwood, which he purchased in 1796 from Benjamin Harrison V of Berkeley Plantation. Peace to everyone. Share Your Experience or Comments - Belle Mont. Me and a group of Freinds went out there one night and we first get there we get out the car and walking up the hill to the house and I get a snapchat (popular app used by teens) from someone I dont even got added and he said Im behind you then he sent another one and said I know where you are and I sent a snap and said where am I the. 2023 The Federalist, A wholly independent division of FDRLST Media. Intimate and elegant elopement ceremonies are popular at Belmont Mansion! It's currently operated as a museum, and tours are available. Is it not appropriate to celebrate momentous occasions in beautiful places? Weddings should be a symbol of love and unity. As there is not formal cemetery for the slaves it is likely that they were buried on some part of the estate. The home was built. Its important the reality of what happened in these spaces is present, versus a romanticization of human rights abuses.. n 1832. For some reason a lot of places in Tuscumbia AL are haunted. Belle Mont isnt included in either of Kathryn Tucker Windhams books about Alabama ghosts. Affordable Nashville Elopements start here! Nearby, an early 1800s mansion, Belle Mont, is available for touring. If such locales have tragic histories, this is all the more reason to reimagine them in ways that both recognize and overcome that past. It is best to play gospel or Christian radio in your house 24/7 to make them move on. Your email address will not be published. Simply by virtue of ones social justice warrior credentials and alleged victimhood status, these people deputize themselves the cultural police of our history, our language, and now apparently our wedding venues. Be specific. She said he would come out shooting if he caught trespassers. All rights reserved. The house is listed on the National Historic Registry (#19820223). Its two-story north entrance salon is flanked on either side by a formal dining room and parlor. Three years later, during the middle of the. According to census records, Mitchell enslaved 115 people at the cotton plantation. No haunted tours for me. Owning 1,680 acres of cotton and corn, Dr. Mitchell became known as one of the largest planters in the area before he quickly sold the mansion and the surrounding land one year after its completion. Built between 1828 and 1832 in the Jeffersonian style, Belle Mont was originally the home of Dr. Alexander Mitchell, who quickly sold the building to one Isaac Winston in 1833. Strange are there actually any African Americans who have memories of the antebellum period, given that it ended 160 years ago? I have heard quiet voices in the night. Visitors to the mansion have reported seeing dark shadowy figures walking the fields and have heard the sound of chains rattling near the house. We might also remember that many of the most celebrated and visited historical sites in our country are Southern manors built and worked by slaves: Mount Vernon (itself a wedding venue), Monticello (another wedding venue), and Montpelier (also a wedding venue) among them. This area of the property can be accessed from the master bedroom through a large door with a window that leads directly to the courtyard area, which is where the detached kitchen would have been accessed as well. Belle Mont Mansion, known for its architecture, was built in 1828 for Alexander Williams Mitchell. By the following year, in 1890, all the houses occupied by enslaved Blacks on the estate had been destroyed, leaving no physical presence for interpretation. The celebration of a Plantation Christmas is racist, the letter reads. Top ways to experience Belle Mont Mansion and nearby attractions Florence, Muscle Shoals Multi-Attraction Pass 2 Attractions & Museums from $25.00 per adult Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Tour in Sheffield Alabama 72 Recommended Walking Tours from $20.00 per adult The Raptor, High Rope Course and Zipline Tickets, Wheeler Lake KOA 1 Tickets are available at Belle Mont Mansion and at Fiddledee D! Because of the tragedies that transpired therin, they powerfully communicate how far America has come. Violence against blacks and other disenfranchised groups have occurred across our nation's landscape, many in popular and well-trod locales, North and South, East and West. Have a haunt/halloween related news story or a tip? Some visitors say that the building . Belle Mont Mansion | Tuscumbia AL Protest movements that perceive victimization and microaggression under every rock also wreak havoc on our countrys economy. The Winston family maintained ownership and continued living in Belle Mont through the Civil War and until around 1940. All rights reserved (About Us). Black people dont have happy memories of the antebellum period and plantations, where our ancestors were beaten and tortured, said senior campaign director Jade Magnus Ogunnaike. Heading south about to pass by the Belmont sign, and not having said a word in at least 15 Min, my son asks a question pointing precisely in the direction of the house, not visible in the daytime, let alone at pitch black night, Daddy, who is that man? to which I reply, What man? Belle Mont was erected in 1828 for a physician from Louisa County, Virginia, Dr. Alexander Williams Mitchell. Visit BelmontMansionEvents.com to review options to Elope in Nashville at Belmont Mansion. Sold by the Acklen family in 1887, the house went to a developer who began one of Nashvilles early suburbs. Many "ghost hunters" have been arrested because they failed to contact property owners and/or local authorities ahead of time. However, while living in Belle Mont and planting the surrounding acres, Dr. Mitchell housed 152 slaves in 13 slave cabins on the property. I grew up in Florence and my Great Grandmother lived near the mansion on Colbert Heights mountain. Shes told me that prior to the restorations the mansion was a prime site for local teens to be dumb kids trespass, vandalize, etc. Magnificently sited on a commanding hilltop, Belle Mont is one of early Alabama's crowning architectural achievements.. Mitchell became known as one of the largest planters in the area before he quickly sold the mansion and the surrounding land one year after its completion. Belmont Mansion, or Belle Monte as it was known in the 19th century, was not a plantation but still relied on a large number of enslaved workers to maintain the estate. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander, and one would have to be a clinical narcissist to think future generations wont find us at fault for any number of things. He was also a founding member of a Presbyterian church in Tuscumbia and among the area's largest owners of, Throughout the antebellum period, Isaac Winston operated Belle Mont as a cotton plantation, and the 1860 Census lists him as the owner of 114 enslaved African Americans. And in the process, these attacks have unintended economic consequences on working-class Americans. This is a list of plantations and/or plantation houses in the U.S. state of Virginia that are National Historic Landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, other historic registers, or are otherwise significant for their history, association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design. Belle Mont Mansion is a historic house museum open for guided tours. Group of women standing outside Belle Mont Mansion. belle mont mansion slaves July 3, 2022 July 3, 2022 July 3, 2022 July 3, 2022. Records of the property's destruction includes information related to the number of slave dwellings on the property. Group rates available. The first slaves arrived to Belle Meade in 1807, and as decades rolled on, the number of slaves tripled to 136 of by 1860 based on the 1860 census record. No profanity. I havent asked in years the last I remember I think I may have heard it was being restored but privately owned and with no plans to open to the public. 2019 was the year it finally became socially unacceptable to use a historic plantation as a wedding venue. Tell Us About Your Experience(s) at Belle Mont. I came out of the cellar and saw Ronnie sitting in my truck, so I asked if he had came into the cellar, he told me no. He is the author of The Persecuted: True Stories of Courageous Christians Living Their Faith in Muslim Lands. We also dont need to police their repurposing. Belmont Mansion, or Belle Monte as it was known in the 19th century, was not a plantation but still relied on a large number of enslaved workers to maintain the estate. Required fields are marked *. If you've had a paranormal experience here, or have any additional information about this location, please let us know! Just one if many weird, cant explain it things that have happened here. 68 were here. Now, thats poetic justice. Plantations used for bourgeois ceremonies with language that obscures or even glorifies the estates dark past are one example. Gift Shop (111 S. Main St., Tuscumbia). Belle Mont Mansion , built circa 1828, is one of the few examples of Palladian-style houses in Alabama. Ninon Parker puts candles out on the table fully set for dinner at Belle Mont Mansion in Colbert County. Then you maybe talk to family members and realize everyone feels the same way. These families included the Baker and Snowden families, among others. I have lived here since 1963. All submissions made to The National Paranormal Society, for the purposes of data analysis, article or editorial publication, team, individual or service listing, or any other submission category not listed become the property of the NPS. Yet self-righteous assaults on these places and the many ways they are used will not bring restorative justice. Moreover, are the perpetrators of our historical-cultural cleansing so naive to think their children and grandchildren wont do the same thing to them, who have fostered and encouraged a paradigm of national seppuku? Being new to the area, none of us knew of the Belmont Mansion or its location. Admission: Adults $6; students, seniors, military $5; and children 6-18 $3. It was built in 1940 on some of the land near General John Coffees home. The site is 1/4 mile west of US 43 South on Cook Lane, three miles south of intersection US 43 and US 72. It's estimated that 40 percent of slave owners may have been white women. Please report any inaccuracies. She was caught due to a news story that came out in the local paper about the travesties of vandalism happening to the historic landmark by local youth. Belle Mont Mansion is being restored and partially furnished to reflect the antebellum, or pre-Civil War, time period. The Alabama Historical Commission owns this historic site. Sold by the Acklen family in 1887, the house went to a developer who began one of Nashvilles early suburbs. Jonece Starr Dunigan | jdunigan@reckonmedia.com, hired a black historian to research the site's enslavement history, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. Owning 1,680 acres of cotton and corn, Dr. Mitchell became known as one of the largest planters in the area before he quickly sold the mansion and the surrounding land one year after its completion. Then they could celebrate their wedding reception at a Southern manor and have a hell of a good time. Belmont Mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, and originally known as Belle Monte, Belle Mont or Belmont, is a historic mansion located in Nashville, Tennessee. Most Americans know that George Washington owned enslaved people at his Mount Vernon home. Yes, its true that some historical artifacts across Americas landscape are honored in ways that belittle or demean our fellow countrymen. One account is from young William Acklin, a enslaved worker, and the other from a visitor to the estate. Indeed, I wonder how many black Americans even have a deceased grandparent who could have had a memory of antebellum America. One night while we were both watching TV in the den with the lights off, we both saw two colored orbs gliding through the room from the back door toward the closet, then they disappeared. I was born and raised in Tuscumbia. First, there is no such thing as a slave plantation. There are cotton plantations, sugar plantations, tobacco plantations, etc., etc., but no slave plantations. Clicks to Website: 293 A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, he was a physician, planter, and an early elected official of Franklin (present-day Colbert) County, where he settled around 1820. Many of them, even their detractors must admit, are beautiful, both in reference to their natural surroundings and their architecture. Marble bust of Helen Keller. Well, all in all, me and my fellow troop members and family members spent about six weeks there, clearing underbrush, old trash, planting grass, removing small trees, etc. 1569 Cook Lane, Tuscumbia, Alabama 35674 View Map CONTACT Site Director: Ninon Parker Museum: 256- 381-5052 Email: bellemontmansion@gmail.com Your email address will not be published. The other residents seem to tolerate it OK, but I hate it. We have located just two first-hand accounts of slavery at Belmont. Gradually, the family gatherings became less frequent until the home was completely abandoned.The abandonment of the home was the largest cause of its deterioration and the vandalism that occurred at Belle Mont. Belle Mont also illustrates Jeffersons reverence for the neoclassical architectural elements and ideas of the Italian Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio,The Winston family maintained ownership and continued living in Belle Mont through the Civil War and until around 1940. An Alabama Historical Commission site, Belle Mont was built 1828-1832 and is one of the state's first great plantation houses. It was the centerpiece of a 1,760 acre cotton plantation and had one of the largest slave populations in the state. Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray, Georgia Senate Passes Bill To Close Sneaky 'Zuckbucks 2.0' Loopholes, 3 Things Anti-America Agitator Angela Davis Can Learn From Her Pilgrim Ancestors, Just Like Real Socialism, Real Feudalism Has Never Been Tried, Amid Personal Loss, Washington And Lincoln Became Fathers Of Their Country. I mention this because Gay Mont was his home. He was not buried on the property as many legends say but in the Winston Family Cemetery in Tuscumbia as was his wife Catherine who died July 25, 1884. Dr. Mitchell and his family of seven were already living in Belle Mont when it was fully completed in 1832.
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