Belle Mont is a historic Jeffersonian-style plantation house near Tuscumbia in Colbert County, Alabama. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1982, due to its architectural significance.

History

Belle Mont was built between 1828 and 1832 for Dr. Alexander W. Mitchell, a native of Virginia. Mitchell, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, was also one of the first large-scale planters and slaveholders in the area. Mitchell sold the plantation to another Virginia native, Isaac Winston, in 1833. It remained in the Winston family until 1941. The house and were donated to the Alabama Historical Commission in 1983. It has been undergoing a phased restoration since that time and is currently operated as a historic house museum.

Architecture

Considered by architectural scholars to be a clear example of Thomas Jefferson's influence upon the architecture of the early United States, Belle Mont is one of only a few surviving examples of Jeffersonian architecture in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

. Built in red brick, it features a raised, two story central section with flanking one-story wings. The side wings project toward the rear in a U-shape, forming a semi-enclosed rear courtyard.

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* * {{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Houses completed in 1832 Palladian Revival architecture in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Colbert County, Alabama Historic house museums in Alabama Museums in Colbert County, Alabama Houses in Colbert County, Alabama Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama Jeffersonian Revival architecture

History

Architecture

See also

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