Stephen S. Speakman Research Paper

Scattered along many of Louisiana’s rivers and bayous are majestic, historical homes built during a time of Southern prosperity. In the South, these homes and surrounding property often called plantations, were the product of middle to upper class slave-owning planters. Central Louisiana is home to a plantation that is “the oldest standing structure” in this area. During a recent visit to Kent House Plantation, I learned of the history, operations, and current events that help to keep the past alive.

Oaklands Historic House Museum or Oakland’s Mansion is one of Middle Tennessee’s most historic homes known for its unique Italianate design. The Oaklands Mansion was settled by the Maney family almost two sanctuaries ago. They moved there in about 1818 and started out with a two room cabin which they later built around to make it bigger in the 1820s. With 8 children and the family growing, the next addition to the house was finished by the 1830s.

Since the beginning of slavery, leaders called on their faith to justify the immoral actions of the slave trade. These strong preachers for their communities’ strategically defined the meanings of scriptures to sway members into the ideals of North vs. South. Richard Furman and John G. Fee are historical activists using scripture to inform the community of their views. Both figures, arguments juxtaposed reveal the stark differences in their interpretations of the connection between human nature and scripture.

The literature and material that has arisen because of Steve Bartman’s life does little to tell of who he is. Bartman repeatedly declined to speak, even when it would be lucrative for himself. The infamous Steve Bartman incident occurred on October 14, 2003 with the Chicago Cubs and Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. He almost caught a foul ball that controversially might have been caught by outfielder Moisés Alou and turned the tide of the game they lost 8-3. The outpouring of blame and thrown objects forced Bartman, an avid Cubs fan, to leave, and even to sequester himself in his house for protection. This has raised issues related to

Millford plantation is a historic place located on SC 261, west of Pinewood, SC. Built in 1839-1841, Millford Plantation is considered by many to be the finest example of Greek revival residential architecture in America. The house is located in such a remote section of rural SC that it comes to a surprise to first time visitors, who must drive over miles of dirt roads and through thick forests to reach the house. The house has massive columns, sixteen foot windows, a domed rotunda enclosing a spectacular staircase. All these impressive features are inherent in Greek Rival architecture (Classical American Homes).

In Jim’s early life he was born in Logan County, Kentucky in April of 1796. When Jim was six years old his family moved to Bayou Boeuf, Louisiana in 1802. In Louisiana, he developed the spirit of adventure. His usual hobby was wrestling alligators and just exploring around the areas he lived by. In 1812 he enlisted in the Louisiana militia after the start of the war in 1812 against the British but he was too late to see any action. Soon he was back in the Louisiana selling timber. But with the money that he earned he bought slaves. Jim later met Jean Lafitte, who was a gulf coast pirate who was involved with illegal slave smuggling. Jim’s brothers bought smuggled slaves and said that they found them and kept the money when they were sold at

The eighth governor of Arkansas was Isaac Murphy. Isaac was governor from 1864-1868. He was not famous for just being a governor; he was famous for so many other things, but the thing that makes him the most famous was the Arkansas Secession Convention. He had a wife named Angelina A. Lockhart and he had five children with her. Isaac also had when to washington college.

While many of these large stately homes perished under the torch of Sherman’s Army, those that remain provide a unique glimpse into what life must have been like in antebellum America.

Born November 17, 1844,. Robert Troutman was my great, great, great grandfather with a fascinating life story.

Then she planned her escape to the north and she changed her name to Harriet. She returned to her birth place and starts to free slaves from there. She brought her parents and all her siblings to freedom and safety. Then the civil war begins and she works for the union in South Carolina. After that she becomes a spy and helps plan and led a union raid. Then her husband John Tubman dies in a fight and she marries Nelson Davis. They have a child named Gertie Davis. Later the little girl losses her dad to natural causes. Harriet purchases land in New York and helps found a home for the aged. Soon Harriet dies in Auburn, New York. After she told the people around her death- bed “I go to prepare a place for you.” She is buried at Fort Hill Cemetery in

John Coleman Boyd was born March 16, 1802. He settled in Chambers County, Alabama. He purchased land that was previously held by they Creek Indians and built a house. The original house was built with native fieldstone by slave labor. The home was known as the “Rock House.” Under the rock rooms there was room to store fruit, vegetables, and other produce. There was a smoke house for curing and preserving meat products. These were all a necessity to survive. In the grove there were log cabins that were the slave quarters. Today all that remains of the cabins is a lone chimney. John Coleman Boyd had about 1,900 acres and he acquired other properties. After looking in further it was shown that John Coleman’s total estate was valued at $88,000 and that he owned 42 slaves. John Coleman told a good friend Sam Jeter that a man should not stay in one place too long. Because of this John Coleman went to Northeast Texas there he purchased some land. He made his decision to move to Texas, he got the wagon train to be loaded and ready to leave. The night before they were going to leave John Coleman suffered a stroke. During his illness John Coleman continued to manage his Boyd Tank properties by having some slaves pull him around the farm in a rickshaw-type cart. During his illness his wife Elizabeth sold some of his properties in Texas. He later dies on March 2, 1861.

Prentis Beeman was born on October 19th, 1874. He was the son of Jay Beeman and May E. Beeman. Prentis was born in Jerseyville, Illinois and died on September 1st, 1914, close to Corning, Arkansas at the age of 39. In his lifetime.

A review of the house itself suggests that an architectural hierarchy of privacy increases level by level. At first, the house seems to foster romantic sensibilities; intrigued by its architectural connotations, the narrator embarks upon its description immediately--it is the house that she wants to "talk about" (Gilman 11). Together with its landscape, the house is a "most beautiful place" that stands "quite alone . . . well back from the road, quite three miles from the village" (Gilman 11). The estate's grounds, moreover, consist of "hedges and walls and gates that lock" (Gilman 11). As such, the house and its grounds are markedly depicted as mechanisms of confinement--ancestral places situated within a legacy of control and

In the mid-1800s, George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of the famous “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt , visited Asheville, North Carolina to enjoy the mountain views and mild climate. On one of his frequent rides through the hills, he came upon a spot which provided one of the most beautiful views in the area. Mr. Vanderbilt chose this spot as the site on which to build the finest country home in America. He continued to add land to this original purchase until his Estate consisted of 125,000 acres, including Mount Pisgah. Mr. Vanderbilt commissioned two of America’s most renowned designers to assist him in planning an ideal estate.

The tales of haunted houses is a long held genre in American Gothic literature. The haunted houses are usually described as South plantations homes. When the houses were in their prime, they were the best of the best. They represented the upper echelons of society, where only the super rich could own. The dark secret behind such plantation houses is that they were usually build and maintained by slavery. As time pasted and the Emancipation Proclamation was passed at the end of the American Civil War, slavery ended and the plantation homes fell into ruin. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892, short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” while the story does not take place in a typical haunted plantation house, it does take place in a vacation home