Posted by
Gray Ghost on Saturday, June 13, 2009 11:33:57 AM
I have been so busy the last four weeks that I have not had time to do much more than work. However, during my business travel this last week, I was in southeastern Mississippi (South of Vicksburg). I had a chance to visit one of my state's most famous historical sites. Southwest of Port Gibson, Mississippi, there is located an old house site that has been featured in movies ("Raintree County") and has graced the cover of many magazines. The home that was located at this site was called Windsor. It was completed in 1861.
Perhaps some of the history of this home is appropriate. The Windsor Home and its plantation at one time covered 2,600 acres. Smith Coffee Daniell (who was born in Mississippi in 1826) built this house as a home for his family. In 1849 he married his cousin Catherine Freeland (1830-1903) by whom he had three children.
The home was constructed between 1859 and 1861 and cost over $175,000.00 to build. (In 2009, this corresponds to about $4,000,000.00.) Basic construction of the house was performed by slave labor. David Shroder, a noted architect of the time, designed the house itself. The bricks used in the construction of the columns were made on the plantation. The columns were then covered with mortar and plaster. There were 29 of these columns supporting the projecting roofline.
The fluted columns had wrought iron Corinthian capitals and were joined by an ornamental balustrade (handrail). The wrought ironwork was manufactured in St. Louis and shipped down the Mississippi River to the Port of Bruinsburg, three miles west of Windsor. Sadly, Smith Coffee Daniell lived in his new home only a few weeks before dying at the age of 34. During the War Between the States, both Confederate used the home and Union troops. In February of 1890, the home burned, leaving only what you see in the above photographs.
A Union soldier made the only known sketch of Windsor (before the fire) in 1863. Below is a copy of that sketch.
Margaret Mitchell had it correct. Looking at the ruins left of what was probably the most beautiful home ever to grace the State of Mississippi, I can only think of her famous book. These remaining columns represent a world and life style now departed.