| Woodlawn Plantation | |
|---|---|
 Woodlawn Plantation owner's residence circa 1813 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Private Residence |
| Type | Plantation house in the Southern United States |
| Architectural style | Federal architecture |
| Location | Jefferson County, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Construction started | approximately 1813 |
| Completed | approximately 1815 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | Two |
Woodlawn was a deep-south, cotton plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi circa 1813. [1]
The Woodlawn Plantation land with its original owner's residence is located on the north side of Coles Creek, seven miles south of the Mississippi River town of Rodney, in Jefferson County, Mississippi. [2] Woodlawn was also just a few miles to the northwest of Old Greenville, Mississippi, which was on the Natchez Trace.
Woodlawn was created by cotton planter, and slaveholding entrepreneur David Hunt (1779–1861) approximately when he began having his Woodlawn residence built circa 1813. [2] [1] As shown on various maps, David Hunt's Woodlawn residence was built on the land at T9N-R1E, sections 6 and 8. [1] Thus, Hunt would have owned this just-under 300 acre site by 1813. According to the bureau of land management website, in 1820 Hunt purchased the rest of the adjoining land for Woodlawn Plantation at T9N-R1W, sections 7, 3/4 of 9, 23, and 24; and T10N-R1W section 49 [3] [4] The previous land parcels add up to approximately 1,500 to 1,600 acres, which adjoin both the Calviton Plantation site and the Huntley Plantation site. [4] [1]
After David and his wife Ann Ferguson married in 1816, they used Woodlawn as their primary residence for the rest of their lives. [1] [2] David and Ann had fourteen children at Woodlawn. [2] Many of them lived to adulthood, and married on Woodlawn. [2]
The Wagner's bought Woodlawn after the Civil War. [1] It was about 1,500 to 1,600 acres. [1] It was then increased to 2,200 acres. [1]
Woodlawn's cash crop was cotton. [5] Hunt believed in making his plantations self-sufficient. [5] Thus, he did not allocate all of his plantation land for cotton. [5] Cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and mules were raised on his plantations. [2] Mainly on his home plantation, Woodlawn, he had a program of home industry and trades to help supply his plantations. [2] Carpentry, black-smithing, thread spinning, cloth weaving, clothes making, sock knitting, leather tanning, and shoemaking were carried out on Woodlawn Plantation by the enslaved Africans. [5] [2] He also ensured that his crops were shifted to rebuild the soil. [5] He had to purchase the salt and iron needed on his plantations, though. [5]
In December, 1861 Woodlawn had the following stock and plantation supplies. [6] 132 sheep, 10 beef cattle, 10 yolk of oxen, 49 head of dairy cattle, 9 calves, 13 mares, 4 colts, 7 mule colts, 8 yearling colts, 28 mules, 4 plough horses, 1 stallion, 2 wagon horses, 11 carriage horses, 1 jack, 160 hogs, 2,700 bushels corn, 10,000 pounds fodder, 50 bushels peas, 1 cart, 3 ox wagons, 2 horse wagons, 10 ox yokes and chains, furniture of overseer's house, 90 fattening hogs, 1 lott carpenter tools, 13 axes, 40 hoes, 12 spades & shovels, 6 iron wedges, 22 ploughs, 15 harrows, 4 cotton drills, 6 sweeps, 2 separators, 2 large harrows, blacksmith tools and irons, lott of plough fixtures. [6]
David Hunt's enslaved African ownership numbers (thought to be for Woodlawn) from census data and other sources follow.
From 1800 to 1811, Hunt's money to expand Woodlawn Plantation came from working for his very successful businessman Uncle Abijah - first at $200 per year and soon at $3,000 per year - and also from reinvesting the profits from his cotton operation. [2] Hunt was said to be very frugal. At his uncle's 1811 death, Hunt did not inherit but about $300 of his bachelor uncle's $36,000 personal estate, which consisted of about 60 enslaved, livestock and equipment on two plantations, household furnishings, etc. However, he did inherit all of his uncle's real estate - two plantations (Huntley in Jefferson County, and the Abijah Hunt plantation adjacent to Port Gibson in Claiborne County, Mississippi) a house in Old Greenville, over 10,000 acres of land in the Natchez District and Cincinnati, and his uncle's share of the Hunt and Smith firm. The firm owned at least three general stores on the Natchez Trace (in Natchez, Old Greenville, and the Grindstone Ford), at least one public cotton gin in Old Greenville, operated a cotton brokerage and probably dabbled in slave trading. [2] This inheritance allowed David to own many more plantations than just Woodlawn. Hunt died with seven plantations (Woodlawn, Black Creek, Southside and Brick Quarters, and Fatlands in Jefferson County; Hole-in-the-Wall and Argyle just across the Mississippi River near Waterproof, Louisiana; and Wilderness on the Mississippi River in Issaquena County, Mississippi; and about 700 enslaved. Furthermore, he helped five of his adult children and their spouses finance their own plantations and residential estates (Homewood, and Lansdowne hunting estates near Natchez; Oakwood, Calviton, Wilkin Place, and Huntley Plantations in Jefferson County, Mississippi; Fairland, Georgiana, and Lockwood Plantations in Issaquena County, Mississippi; and Arcola Plantation near Waterproof, Louisiana) with about 800 enslaved.
The following are some details about Hunt's enslaved in Jefferson County.
| Woodlawn 123 enslaved | Fatlands 121 enslaved | Brick Quarters 128 enslaved | Black Creek 3 enslaved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter, age 15, $1,000 | John, $1,000 | Cyrus 1,200 | |
| Jane, age 35, $700 | Dinah, $800 | Matilda, $500 | |
| Peter, age 4, $200 | Peter, $800 | Anna, $100 | |
| Jacob, age 9, $400 | Sophy, $800 | Stephen, $100 | |
| Isaac, age 8, $400 | Stephen, $50 | William, $800 | |
| Matilda, age 6, $300 | Ann, $100 | Alice, $50 | |
| Matilda, age 20, $800 | |||
| Ann and Infant, age 48, $500 |
Twelve Years a Slave is a book (full text is available for free at the Project Gutenburg website) that describes what life was like for the enslaved, such as the ones owned by the Hunts.
The house, begun in 1813, took the place of a log house; and was constructed from cypress logs, which were sawed into suitable building material on the plantation. [1] It was still not totally complete by 1815. [2] The structure rested on brick pillars. [1] The first floor originally had a center hall with one room on each side. [1] This floor was later changed to have two rooms on each side of the center hall. [1] A stairway at the rear of the center hall led to the second floor. [1] The second floor originally had a small cloakroom to the right of the stairs. [1] The rest was one large room, used as a ballroom. [1] The ballroom was later partitioned off into three bedrooms, which made four rooms on that floor including the cloakroom. [1]
The first floor rooms were plastered. [1] The second floor had walls that were just rough boards with wainscoting. [1] The fireplace mantels were wooden with a distinctive design. [1] The house had a small portico on the front and a porch that ran the full length of the rear. [1] There were originally three cisterns around the house. [1] Food was passed through the dining room window from the separate kitchen building to the right of the house - with no door ever being installed. [1]
In December, 1861 the owner's residence, kitchen (and store room) and probably a carriage house on Woodlawn had the following. [6] parlor furniture, dining room furniture, hall furniture, furniture for 2 downstairs bedrooms, furniture for 5 upstairs bedrooms, 2 entries up stairs furniture, kitchen furniture, 10 barrels molasses, 8 sacks salt, 1,000 pounds meat, 1 loom, 2 carriages with harnesses. [6]
