Plantation Road
Hello Everyone
I had a wonderful time today visiting 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.
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.
Labels: Around Town, Family Life, Photos
posted by Patty at
Sunday, May 25, 2008
2 Comments:
I am continually astounded at how many places there are around you that you can visit that has ghosts! Absolutely amazing. I'm so happy for you that you have that many adventurous places to go.
BTW, the paranormal group contacted me, I may still be going out with them after all!
Happy Memorial Day to you, dear Patty! We don't celebrate it here in Canada but I know what an important holiday it is to my American friends:-)
Thank you so much for your very supportive and caring comment you left me on my post regarding the nasty email I had received. I do remember you going through the same thing a while back...pppffftttt to those bloggers! lol Nobody is going to tell me who to visit and what I do in my personal life!! Anyway, just know how much I appreciated your comment.
You've been visiting such wonderful places...the plantations are just gorgeous aren't they! I wish we had some of those around here. It's the type of places I love to visit, especially if it has lots of history behind it!! I so enjoyed your videos as well.
Have a terrific day:-) xoxo
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