Today turned out to be a fantastic day all around. The afternoon was comfortably warm and
pleasant, a relief from the last two days of colder temperatures. It looks like the next few days will be just
as nice.
Tom, Ed and Joe rode their bikes less than 2 miles to the
Rosedown Plantation. We signed up for
the guided tour and soon found we had a wonderful guide named Paul, a fountain
of knowledge who described the family and plantation life and history and made
it very interesting. Here is a description
of the plantation from the guide pamphlet:
“Rosedown Plantation was built in 1835 by Daniel and Martha
Turnbull, over the span of six months and a cost of $13,109.20. This was a cotton plantation and consisted of
3,500 acres and at its height, 450 slaves worked at Rosedown and three other
Turnbull plantations.
The couple raised three children on the plantation, two sons
and a daughter. Their youngest son,
James died of yellow fever at the age of 7 and the oldest son William drowned
in a boating accident at age 27, this left their daughter Sarah as their only
heir. After the Civil War, former slaves
became sharecroppers at Rosedown.
In the 1850’s Sarah married James Bowman from the
neighboring Oakley Plantation, and together they raised ten children – eight girls
and two boys. Four of their daughters
inherited the property, living at Rosedown until the last, Nina Bowman died in
1955.”
Rosedown is now owned and operated by the state of Louisiana .
After the guided tour, the three rode into the historic section of town and then had lunch at a very nice restaurant, Magbolia Cafe.
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