Belle Mina

Last updated
Belle Mina
Belle Mina 02.jpg
The main house in 1939
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Belle Mina, Alabama
Coordinates 34°38′41″N86°52′49″W / 34.64472°N 86.88028°W / 34.64472; -86.88028
Area9 acres (3.6 ha)
Built1826 [1]
Architectural styleLate Georgian
NRHP reference No. 72000164 [2]
Added to NRHPOctober 31, 1972

Belle Mina, known as Belmina during the 19th century, is a historic forced-labor farm and plantation house in Belle Mina, Alabama, United States. [3] Completed in 1826, the Late Georgian-style house was built for Alabama's second governor, Thomas Bibb. [4]

Contents

Originally located at the center of a 2,500-acre (10 km2) agricultural forced-labor complex, the red brick main house is one of the earliest Alabama examples of a stereotypical columned plantation house. [1] [5] The house and surrounding 9 acres (3.6 ha) were added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 1972. [2]

History

As the area was still being converted from a frontier, there was no sawed lumber or ready-made brick available when Bibb set out to build the house. So he used the profits from crops grown by enslaved people to raise a sawmill and build a brick kiln. Bibb enslaved skilled artisans to produce the construction materials and build the house. It took him several years to find and enslave a highly skilled mason and an expert carpenter. [5] The house was basically complete by 1826, although work on various buildings of the plantation complex continued up to 1835. [6]

Bibb died in 1839, but the plantation remained in his family until 1941. At that time it was purchased by Dr. and Mrs. Berthold Kennedy, who renovated the mansion shortly afterwards. Another renovation was completed in 1967. At that time a kitchen wing and garage were built and some minor interior modifications were done. [5]

Another plantation home, Woodside, was built on the estate one half-mile from the main house. This wedding gift for Bibb's daughter, built in 1860–61, was completely destroyed in a fire on November 18, 2022. [7]

Architecture

The two-story brick structure features exterior walls that are 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, laid in Flemish bond. The front (east) elevation of the house is dominated by a monumental Tuscan hexastyle portico that spans the entire five-bay, 60-foot (18 m) wide front facade. The floor of the stylobate and the columns are brick. The portico shelters the main front entrance with its delicate fanlight and sidelights in the central bay. A three-part window is centered above the front entrance. The remaining bays are defined by rectangular twelve-over-twelve sash windows on both levels. A hip roof, originally crowned by a balustrade, covers both the portico and main structure. An original one-story, semi-detached brick service wing with three rooms is located towards the rear of the house, on the south side. [6]

The main house and grounds of Belle Mina in 2011. Belle Mina May 2011 01.jpg
The main house and grounds of Belle Mina in 2011.

The house and grounds were originally surrounded by a 5-foot (1.5 m) high brick wall. It was demolished during the Civil War. The rooftop deck and balustrade were destroyed in a tornado on July 16, 1875. [6]

The interior of the house features Federal-style woodwork, Adam-style fireplace mantels, and a spiral primary stairway. [1] [6] The floor plan is based on the center-hall prototype, with two large primary rooms to either side of a 15-by-60-foot (4.6 m × 18.3 m) hallway. The first floor also features a side hall and a secondary stairway. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Alabama

The Alabama State Capitol, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. Located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery, it was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960. Unlike every other state capitol, the Alabama Legislature does not meet there, but at the Alabama State House. The Capitol has the governor's office and otherwise functions as a museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plantation house</span> Main house of a plantation

A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and expensive architectural works today, though most were more utilitarian, working farmhouses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffersonian architecture</span> American Palladian/Neoclassical architecture

Jeffersonian architecture is an American form of Neo-Classicism and/or Neo-Palladianism embodied in the architectural designs of U.S. President and polymath Thomas Jefferson, after whom it is named. These include his home (Monticello), his retreat, the university he founded, and his designs for the homes of friends and political allies. More than a dozen private homes bearing his personal stamp still stand today. Jefferson's style was popular in the early American period at about the same time that the more mainstream Greek Revival architecture was also coming into vogue (1790s–1830s) with his assistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaineswood</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Gaineswood is a plantation house in Demopolis, Alabama, United States. It is the grandest plantation house ever built in Marengo County and is one of the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenworthy Hall</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Kenworthy Hall, also known as the Carlisle-Martin House, Carlisle Hall and Edward Kenworthy Carlisle House, is a plantation house located on the north side of Alabama Highway 14, two miles west of the Marion courthouse square. It was built from 1858 to 1860 and is one of the best preserved examples of Richard Upjohn's distinctive asymmetrical Italian villa style. It is the only surviving residential example of Upjohn's Italian villa style that was especially designed to suit the Southern climate and the plantation lifestyle. It has a massive four-story tower, windows of variable size and shape with brownstone trim, and a distinctly Southern division of family and public spaces. The building was designed and constructed for Edward Kenworthy Carlisle as his primary family residence and the centerpiece of his 440-acre (1.8 km2) estate. It, along with some of its surrounding ancillary structures, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2004. The house and a purported ghost are featured as a short story in Kathryn Tucker Windham's 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conde–Charlotte House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

The Conde–Charlotte House, also known as the Kirkbride House, is a historic house museum in Mobile, Alabama. The earliest section of the building, the rear kitchen wing, was built in 1822. The main section of the house was added a few decades later and is two and a half floors. The entire structure is constructed of handmade brick with a smooth stucco plaster over the exterior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottoway Plantation</span> Historic plantation in Louisiana, United States

Nottoway Plantation, also known as Nottoway Plantation House is located near White Castle, Louisiana, United States. The plantation house is a Greek Revival- and Italianate-styled mansion built by enslaved African people and artisans for John Hampden Randolph in 1859, and is the largest extant antebellum plantation house in the South with 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) of floor space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemount (Forkland, Alabama)</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Rosemount is a historic plantation house near Forkland, Alabama. The Greek Revival style house was built in stages between 1832 and the 1850s by the Glover family. The house has been called the "Grand Mansion of Alabama." The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 1971. The Glover family enslaved over 300 people from 1830 until 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goode–Hall House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

The Goode–Hall House, also commonly known as Saunders Hall, is a historic plantation house in the Tennessee River Valley near Town Creek, Alabama. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1974, due to its architectural significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnolia Grove (Greensboro, Alabama)</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Magnolia Grove is a historic Greek Revival mansion in Greensboro, Alabama. The house was named for the 15-acre (6.1 ha) grove of Southern magnolias in which it stands. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1973, due to its architectural and historical significance. It now serves as a historic house museum and is operated by the Alabama Historical Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McGehee–Stringfellow House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

The McGehee–Stringfellow House, also known as Oak Grove, was a historic plantation house near Greensboro, Alabama, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 1980, due to its architectural significance. It was accidentally destroyed in the 1980s during an attempt to move it to another location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Nathan Carpenter House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Everhope, known throughout most of its history as the Captain Nathan Carpenter House and more recently as Twin Oaks Plantation, is a historic plantation house near Eutaw, Alabama. Completed in 1853 for Nathan Mullin Carpenter, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage due to its architectural and historical significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protestant Children's Home</span> United States historic place

The Protestant Children's Home, also known as the Protestant Orphans' Asylum, is a historic orphanage building in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 18, 1973.
In 2015 the building was leased to the Infant Mystics society which began using it as a meeting lodge, renaming the place Cotton Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Alabama Quad</span> University quadrangle

The Quad is an approximately 22-acre (8.9 ha) quadrangle on the campus of the University of Alabama located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Home to most of the university's original buildings, this portion of the campus remains the geographic and historic center of the modern campus. Originally designed by architect William Nichols, construction of the university campus began in 1828, following the move of the Alabama state capital from Cahaba to Tuscaloosa in 1826. The overall design for this early version of the campus was patterned after Thomas Jefferson's plan for the University of Virginia, with its Lawn and Rotunda. Following the destruction of the campus during the American Civil War, a new Quad emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Different in form and function from the original design of the early 19th century, the modern Quad continues to fill its role as the heart of the campus. Although surrounded by academic and administrative buildings, only five structures are built directly on the Quad: the Little Round House, Tuomey Hall, Oliver-Barnard Hall, Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, and Denny Chimes. The remainder of the space is occupied by a grove of trees on the west side and a great lawn on the east. A feature on the northwestern side, known as The Mound, is the site of the old Franklin Hall. A popular gathering place, the Quad is home to pep rallies, a bonfire during homecoming, and numerous day-to-day student activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antebellum architecture</span> Neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States

Antebellum architecture is the neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States, especially the Deep South, from after the birth of the United States with the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War. Antebellum architecture is especially characterized by Georgian, Neo-classical, and Greek Revival style homes and mansions. These plantation houses were built in the southern American states during roughly the 30 years before the American Civil War; approximately between the 1830s to 1860s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elm Bluff Plantation</span> Historic site in Elm Bluff, Alabama

Elm Bluff is a historic former forced-labor farm and plantation house in the rural community of Elm Bluff, Dallas County, Alabama, United States. Situated on a bluff high above the Alabama River, the now near-ruinous house is considered by architectural historians to be one of the most refined and unusual Greek Revival-style houses in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpine (plantation)</span> Historic site in Alabama, US

Alpine is a historic plantation house in Alpine, Talladega County, Alabama, United States. Completed in 1858, the two-story Greek Revival-style house was built for Nathaniel Welch by a master builder, Almarion Devalco Bell. The wood-frame house has several unusual features that make it one of the more architecturally interesting antebellum houses in the state. These features include the foundation materials, interior floor-plan, and the window fenestration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncle Sam Plantation</span> Human settlement in Louisiana, United States of America

Uncle Sam Plantation, originally known as Constancia, was a historic sugar plantation and elaborate Greek Revival-style mansion on the Mississippi River, near Convent in St. James Parish, Louisiana. It was established during the 1810s, with the main house and numerous outbuildings built by Samuel Pierre Auguste Fagot between 1829 and 1843. Once renowned as one of the most intact and architecturally-unified plantation complexes in the Southeastern United States, all of the structures were demolished to make way for construction of a new river levee in 1940. It was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey prior to its destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youpon Plantation</span> Historic site in Canton Bend, Alabama vicinity

Youpon Plantation, originally known as Mimosa and also known as the Mathews-Tait-Rutherford House, is a historic antebellum plantation house and complex near Canton Bend, Alabama, United States. The three-story Greek Revival-style plantation house was completed in 1848. It was extensively recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936 and 1937. It was named for the Yaupon holly trees that were once a prominent feature of the front grounds. Architectural historians at the Alabama Historical Commission consider it to be among the most notable of the "stately pillared houses" in Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodside (Belle Mina, Alabama)</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Woodside was a historic residence in Belle Mina, Alabama. The land on which the house was built was originally part of Alabama Governor Thomas Bibb's estate, Belle Mina. Thomas' son, Porter Bibb, built Woodside in 1861 for his daughter, Mary Chambers Bibb. The two houses stood one-half mile (1 km) apart. Woodside was a two-story Greek Revival house, originally with a central, double-height portico that was extended to the full width of the façade in the early 1900s. The house has a center-hall plan, with two rooms on either side of a hallway on both floors. The rear of the house was originally a pair of one-story wings, but a second story was added in an early 20th-century renovation. Greek Revival details continued inside the house, such as mantels and architrave-framed panels in the stairwell. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Woodside was destroyed by a fire in late November 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Robert Gamble (September 2, 2008). "Plantation Architecture in Alabama". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. Auburn University. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. Alabama's Tapestry of Historic Places: An Inventory. Montgomery: Alabama Historical Commission. 1978. p. 99.
  4. White, Ronnie (May 9, 2007). "Belle Mina is Bibb legacy". The Huntsville Times . Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Hammond, Ralph (1951). Ante-bellum Mansions of Alabama. New York: Architectural Book Publishers. pp. 48–51. ISBN   0-517-02075-0.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Gamble, Robert (1987). The Alabama Catalog: A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State. University, AL: University of Alabama Press. pp. 45, 260. ISBN   0-8173-0148-8.
  7. Kremer, Nick (November 20, 2022). "Plantation house destroyed in Friday night fire". WSFA-TV. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Belle Mina at Wikimedia Commons