We visited Waverly Mansion here in Columbus, MS. It’s an antebellum southern plantation on 40 acres of what used to be a 6,000 acre plantation growing cotton and corn and supplying sawed lumber to the area. It was built by Colonel James Young in 1853. He oversaw the signing of the treaty with the indians which opened this whole area to the US. He was granted land purchase rights and bought 40,000 acres of land. He sold off 34,000 and kept 6,000 acres for his plantation on the Tombigbee river. He built the mansion and many other buildings, forming a small town of his own in the area of his plantation.

The antebellum mansion is really interesting. It has a huge (40’ X 40’) central hall with a four story open space with walkways and hand carved mahogany railings and hand turned mahogany spindles around each of the 3 successively smaller walkways on the higher floors, the fourth being a large cupola for viewing the landscape of the plantation. It also has incredible plaster frieze work of acanthus leaves in every ceiling medallion, fancy ceiling cornices and the original gasiliers (gas chandeliers, now electrified) that operated from a methane production shed outside the house.

The antebellum homes here were not destroyed in the Civil War because of the rivers and swamps that kept Sherman’s army from reaching them and completing their assigned mission of destroying all towns and plantations in Mississippi and other states. The Union Army just simply couldn’t get here.

This mansion was occupied by the Young’s family until about 1900. It fell into disuse and then disrepair until in the late 1950’s when it was completely overgrown by the forest, taken over by possums, bats, and the occasional hunters, who set up burn barrels in the center of the great hall to stay warm. It was also the site of many local fraternity and sorority parties in the 1950s. Then, in 1961, it was purchased by the current owner, Mr. Snow. He is a local antique dealer, not particularly wealthy, and he and his wife spent 40 years restoring the mansion to its current state, which is very nice. The guide explained how the couple had to spend a whole year picking mud dauber wasp nests out of the plaster friezes with toothpicks and toothbrushes so as not to damage the original plaster work. Mr. Snow, now 81, still lives there and continues to work on the house. The exterior, which was probably done first, needs it again, but the interior is really beautiful. He also filled it with period antiques which were fairly inexpensive in the 1960s and 70s, so you get a chance to see what it would have looked like before the Civil War.

The grounds had massive, 250 year old magnolia trees (one is the largest magnolia in the state) and boxwood bushes descended from the original boxwood bush lined garden walks of Colonel Young.

Today, I bought Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson, a book on the Civil War, recommended by an anonymous comment on my blog entry about our visit to Shiloh. The small bookstore in town had a whole large section on the Civil War and the young clerk at the store knew the author’s name as soon as I mentioned the title. You gott’a know we’re down South. Even Kathy, a good Southern girl, said “Huh?” when I first mentioned the book. I guess Texas isn’t as “into” the Civil War as is Mississippi.