Nashville, TN
I guess “plantation” doesn’t mean that they plant stuff, as in agriculture. Turns out the main business of this plantation, which we toured today, was raising thoroughbred horses. We learned that one named Iroquois, and descendants of his are among 11 of only 13 triple crown winners. We toured the mansion in which the owners of that plantation lived. It was interesting.
One subject for further research on our part is the treatment of slaves. In one census, 138 slaves belonged to the plantation. Listening to the tour guide, the spin was that the slaves were quite happy and well treated, which is quite different from accounts in movies and books. It stopped operating as a plantation around the great depression, at which time rich people no longer were spending money on buying racehorses.
All the assets ended up being sold at auction in lots over a period of time, but the mansion and the land immediately around it (a small fraction of the original size of the plantation) was sold in 1903. In 1953 the State of Tennessee purchased the house and twenty-four acres and deeded the property to the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities, which maintains the property as a historic site.
Claudette’s 2 Cents: It’s a beautiful sunny day today – cold but sunny. Today’s agenda was to visit Belle Meade Plantation, a horse farm. As per Bernard’s comment above about the slaves, I had one professor at George Mason University imply that the slaves were very happy and treated like family. Sorry, I’m not buying that BS.
At the end of this tour, there was a wine tasting. Now, let me say that coming from Virginia where we have some amazing wineries and having had the pleasure of visiting several California winemakers, these wines were nothing to brag or spend any time talking about them. Just know that we did not buy any wine there. Call us wine snobs – I’m fine with that.
