This is our last day before turning north to come home. It is with mixed emotions that we leave. While we are both anxious to get home, the weather is great here, today in the low 80s and about 65 last night. Best of all it's been sunny. As it is about 1100 miles back, we figure on taking 3 days to do it. Tomorrow night we plan to stop near Birmingham, AL, then Elizabethtown, KY before the final push.
This differs a bit from our original plan, but after the Space Center, we question if Huntsville will be of any value to us. Unfortunately, at Kentucky Horse Park, the museum and additional activities are closed on Monday/Tuesday after November 4th.
Our day was spent visiting one of the plantations along the Mississippi. We chose the Evergreen Plantation because it is the most intact plantation in the area. Since the early 1800s, it has withstood hurricanes, floods, and the Civil War. For us, these plantations differ from the ones we have seen in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. They are impressive but not huge like the mansions we have seen before. In New Orleans the crop was sugar cane. Harvesting sugar cane is very hard and dangerous work. It is harvested bent over using a machete to cut the stalks. Think about doing this for 14 hours per day in very humid, 90+ degrees, and subtropical conditions. In addition you are standing but a few feet from others doing the same thing. We wonder how many hands and feet got chopped off. This work was performed by slaves. There were 54 slaves on this plantation for about 800 acres of sugar cane.
Sugar cane is a perennial grass, but a declining yield forces replanting every 2 to ten years, A stalk of cane is planted, today it is done by machine, then by hand. The field is initially burned to get rid of dry leaves and to expose the stalk. The stalks are cut to length, chipped or ground, then pressed to extract the juice. The juice is boiled to invert the sugar. Then the liquid in the syrup is boiled away. The result is an unrefined sugar.
A couple of interesting tidbits we learned. The ceiling of the front porch of the main house is painted a sky blue. The superstition is that the blue will ward off evil spirits, keeping them outside the house. Second, did you know a Creole was anyone of first generation born in Louisiana? They can be German, French, or American. We thought they were at least part French.
Some pictures follow.
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| Evergreen Plantation Main House |
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| Evergreen Mansion Slave Quarter |
I have walked every inch of Evergreen, taken pictures from every angle and part of my soul cries to do it again. My wife and I had the privilege of a private tour with a member of the family of previous owners. Evergreen is truly unique and definitely worth the time of anyone wanting a better understanding of the resourcefulness of a plantation community.
ReplyDeleteIt is an inspiring piece of ground that was wisely chosen as a backdrop for the film Django.