Historic plantations of the old South: stately homes and gardens mirror the romance of a bygone era - Tour Of The Month

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2002 by Angela Wibking

The most famous of the great plantations of the South never existed at all. But if the white columns and cotton fields of Gone With the Wind's Tara are fiftional, there are dozens of plantations across the South that are very real.

Many of these antebellum homes are open to the public and also boast bed-and-breakfast accommodations and fine restaurants. In fact, after you visit a real-life Tara, you'll probably agree that Scarlett O'Hara never had it so good.

GEORGIA

Scarlett didn't sleep at Barnsley Gardens near Adairsville, but Julia Barnsley, owner of the 1840 plantation on the grounds of Barnsley Inn and Golf Resort, is said to have been the inspiration for Margaret Mitchell's heroine. You can stay at the elegant country resort or just spend the day touring the hauntingly beautiful ruins of the original plantation home and the formal gardens. While you're in northwest Georgia, you'll also want to stop by Oak Hill in Rome, a beautifully preserved 170-acre plantation where a college--or rather Martha Berry, the founder of Berry College--was born.

Archibald Smith Plantation in Roswell, near Atlanta, is an 1845 beauty with lovely grounds and interesting out-buildings, while Stately Oaks in Jonesboro is an 1839 Greek Revival structure where guides attired in hoop-skirted dresses recount the plantation's history. Catalpa and Oak Grove in Newnan were both built in 1835 and are excellent examples of the Federal style of architecture. Both feature period horticulture displays and lush gardens.

For a different kind of antebellum experience, visit the Chief Vann House in Chatsworth in northwest Georgia. Built in 1804 by Chief James Vann, the home is adorned with Cherokee hand carvings, a "floating" cantilevered staircase, and fine antiques. Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation in Brunswick, an 1807 plantation in southeast Georgia, traces the history of rice planting in the Deep South. Live oaks draped with Spanish moss surround the 1807 home, and walking the grounds today transports visitors back to the era before the Civil War when rice was king in this part of the South.

Melhana in Thomasville also dates to antebellum days, though the 1820s plantation has been updated over the years. Today the main house is an elegant inn and restaurant. Even if you don't stay overnight, a guided tour of the plantation is a must and includes a stop at Melhana's own Showboat Theater, where Gone With the Wind was first screened to a private audience in 1939. Pebble Hill, a spectacular plantation also established in the 1820s, is just down the road from Melhana. The current home was rebuilt in the 1930s after the original was destroyed by fire, and its owner filled its rooms with Audubon prints, antiques, and Indian memorabilia that visitors can still marvel at today.

LOUISIANA

For the grandest concentration of restored plantation homes anywhere in the South, head west out of New Orleans along the Great River Road to Baton Rouge. First stop is Destrehan, a 1797 beauty that was the inspiration for the fictional plantation in Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire. From there you can criss-cross the Mississippi River to see San Francisco, an extravaganza of turrets and gingerbread trim; Laura, an 1805 home where the Br'er Rabbit stories were first told by slaves; and Oak Alley, with its famous avenue of 300-year-old live oaks. Houmas House in Burnside, Tezcuco in Darrow, Nottoway in White Castle and Madewood in Napoleonville complete the Great River Road plantation tour. While touring the grounds at Tezcuco (an Aztec word for "resting place"), you can see a Civil War-era submarine and visit the River Road African American Museum. Next head to the lovely little town of St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, just north of Baton Rouge. Here you'll find Rosedown, an opulent 1835 gem set on 28 acres of formal gardens; The Myrtles, a 1796 plantation where you can enjoy a delicious lunch at the Carriage House Restaurant; and Butler Greenwood, a 1790s home with bed-and-breakfast accommodations.

In Alexandria/Pineville you can search for ghosts and bullet holes at Loyd Hall, a former cotton plantation where a Confederate soldier's spirit is said to roam at midnight, and visit Kent Hall, a 1796 sugar cane plantation that is a classic example of a raised Creole cottage. Don't miss Magnolia, Melrose, and Beau Fort plantations in Natchitoches, a town famous for its delicious meat pies and the site of the earliest permanent European settlement in the state.

MISSISSIPPI

No tour of Southern plantations would be complete without a stop in Natchez, a town on the banks of the Mississippi boasting several antebellum homes. Many are open to the public year-round or during the famous Natchez Pilgrimages held in the spring, fall, and in December. Among the most famous of these homes are Stanton Hall, a stately 1857 structure with gorgeous double porticoes supported by four massive white columns, and Longwood, the largest octagonal house in the United States. Several Natchez plantation homes are elegant inns, including Dunleith, a Greek Revival beauty, and Monmouth, an 1818 charmer where you can also enjoy an elegant candlelit Southern meal in the evening.