ABC Wednesday Letter S

NOTE:
For my regular readers I apologize. I know this is a re-post from the weekend, but I remembered that the letter for this week on ABC Wednesday withMrs Nesbitts was S and what better photos could I do than the beautiful plantations of SHIRLEY AND SHERWOOD.
So for your entertainment I present them both for this week.

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This is the Shirley Plantation As you can see from the slide show above the grounds and house sit beside the beautiful James River. We were able to walk around for as long as we wanted and also tour inside the "big house". The tour guide very very good and told a lot of the history. Although we were not able to take photos inside if you visit the website (click on link) it will show you a few. One of my favorite parts of the tour was the glass in the windows. Several of the woman in the family (11 generations have lived in the house) started a tradition of scratching their name into the glass using their diamond engagement rings. This was called testing the stone and was a fun way to see the quality of the diamond. Also we did see the haunted portrait but of course as luck would have it, it sat very still on the wall and didn't even give the slightest shake.
We had brought along a picnic which we ate under one of many tress on the grounds and after spending almost two hours we left and headed back toward home. Along the way we stopped at another plantation in the area.

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This one was called Sherwood Forest Plantation and was home to the 10th President of the United States John Tyler. Sherwood Forest Plantation has been the continuous residence of the Tyler family since the President purchased it in 1842. Known to be the longest frame house in America, it is over 300 feet long. The home itself is not opened to the public except by special reservations, but we were able to tour the grounds. The first thing we noticed when we came in was the Pet Cemetery. The Tyler's have been burying there beloved pets there since the time of John Tyler. There are two horses buried there along with a goat a duck and several dogs and cats. The house itself had glass doors which were open and all the curtains were open so we were able to peek into several rooms. I had not planned to visit this home so I didn't know the history of it. I found out later when I got home that there is a ghost in the house. I am glad I did not know at the time because we were the only ones on the grounds today (A family was leaving as we came in and one came in as we were leaving but other than that we were completely alone.)
We also found out that there are several other plantations in the area and we plan on going back up that way soon.