The Myrtles Plantation is a historic home and former
antebellum
Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to:
United States history
* Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States
** Antebellum Georgia
** Antebellum South Carolina
** Antebellum Virginia
* Antebellum ...
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
in
St. Francisville, Louisiana,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
built in 1796 by
General David Bradford.
House and grounds
Architecture
Sited on a hill, the eastward-facing frame house, which features a clapboard exterior, is built in the
Creole cottage
Creole architecture in the United States is present in buildings in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South, and also in the U.S. associated territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. One interesting variant is Ponce Creole style.
Cre ...
style that characterized many Louisiana plantation houses in the 19th century. The original house was built in 1796 and featured six bays and three dormers on the roof. In the mid-1850s, the one-and-a-half-story house was extended south, almost doubling its size, and increased to nine bays including a new double door entrance. The entry doors are surrounded with a transom and sidelights, showcasing original hand-painted stained glass, etched and patterned after the French cross to allegedly ward off evil. The main feature of the Myrtles is the 125-foot-long veranda that extends the entire length of the façade, and wraps around the southern end of the house. The ornamental cast-iron railing, with an elaborate grape-cluster design, supports a broad Doric
entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
, and on the gabled roof, with six brick chimneys, are two large double-paned, pedimented dormers with Doric style pilasters, interspersed with three single-paned dormers. When the original roof of the house was extended to encompass the new addition, the existing dormers were copied to maintain a smooth line. The west facing rear façade features a central, open loggia that is enclosed on three sides by the house, and on the roof are five pedimented dormers identical to the front.
Interior
The Myrtles has 22 rooms spread over two floors. The spacious entry hall runs the length of the house and features faux-bois, open pierced friezework molding, a French
Baccarat crystal
Baccarat () is a French luxury brand and manufacturer of fine crystal located in Baccarat, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. The company owns two museums: the Musée Baccarat in Baccarat, and the Musée Baccarat in Paris on the Place des États-Unis. ...
chandelier weighing more than 300 pounds and a cantilevered staircase. The flooring and most of the windows in the house are original. To the left of the hall is the music room that is adjacent to the only bedroom found on the first floor. The principal rooms of the house are found to the right of the hall. The walls of the original house were removed and repositioned to create four large rooms that were used as identical ladies and gentlemen's parlors, a formal dining room and a game room. The two parlors feature
Carrara marble
Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...
mantles in the
Rococo Revival
The Rococo Revival style emerged in Second Empire France and then was adapted in England. Revival of the rococo style was seen all throughout Europe during the 19th century within a variety of artistic modes and expression including decorative ...
-style on the north and south walls, and are crowned with elaborate plaster cornices and ceiling medallions, made from a mixture of clay,
Spanish moss
Spanish moss (''Tillandsia usneoides'') is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern Uni ...
and cattle hair, with no two being the same.
The second floor features five bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. The largest bedroom, known as the Judge Clarke Woodruff Suite, is the only room that is accessed by the main staircase in the entry hall. The remaining four bedrooms, that are separated by a common sitting room, are accessed by a staircase that ascends from the rear loggia. The floor of these bedrooms were raised one foot when the house was renovated, as the addition had higher ceilings than the original house.
Grounds
The current plantation landscape is centered on a large pond that features a small island centered with a gazebo accessed by a bridge. To the rear of the main house is the oldest structure on the grounds. Now known as the General's Store, this was where General Bradford lived while the main house was being built. Currently it is used as the gift shop, laundry facilities, plantation offices and guest breakfast spot.
To the south is another structure that houses a restaurant. The two ancillary buildings are connected to the main house by a old brick courtyard. Scattered elsewhere on the grounds are modern wooden cottages available to guests.
History
19th century
The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by General David Bradford on and was named "Laurel Grove." Bradford lived there alone for several years, until President
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
pardoned him for his role in the Pennsylvania
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...
in 1799. He then moved his wife Elizabeth and their five children to the plantation from Pennsylvania. Upon Bradford's death in 1808, his widow Elizabeth continued running the plantation until 1817, when she handed the management to Clarke Woodruff, one of Bradford's former law students, who had married her daughter, Sara Mathilda. The Woodruffs had three children: Africa Gale, James, and Mary Octavia, before Sara Mathilda and two of her three children died in 1823 and 1824 of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
.
- America's Most Haunted: Myrtles Plantation
- "Haunted Plantation - Myrtles Plantation Bed and Breakfast, St. Francisville, Louisiana" by Joe Nickell, ''Skeptical Inquirer'', Septempter-October 2003, retrieved July 18, 2006
When Elizabeth Bradford died in 1831, Clarke Woodruff and his surviving daughter Mary Octavia moved to
Covington, Louisiana
Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is part of ...
, and left a caretaker to manage the plantation. In 1834, Woodruff sold the plantation, the land, and its slaves to Ruffin Gray Stirling. Stirling and his wife, Mary Catherine Cobb, undertook an extensive remodeling of the house, nearly doubling the size of the former building, and filling the house with imported furniture from
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. It was during this time that the name was changed to "The Myrtles" after the
crape myrtles that grew in the vicinity.
Stirling died in 1854 and left the plantation to his wife.
The Myrtles survived the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, though robbed of its fine furnishings and expensive accessories. In 1865, Mary Cobb Stirling hired William Drew Winter to help manage the plantation as her lawyer and agent. Winter was married to Stirling's daughter, Sarah, and they went on to have six children, one of whom (Kate Winter) died from
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
at the age of three. The family fortune was lost in the aftermath of the war due to it being tied up in
Confederate currency, and the Winters were forced to sell the plantation in 1868, but were able to buy it back two years later.
In 1871, William Winter was killed on the porch of the house, possibly by a man named E.S. Webber. Sarah remained at the Myrtles with her mother and siblings until 1878, when she died. Mary Cobb Stirling died in 1880, and the plantation passed to her son Stephen. The plantation was heavily in debt, however, and Stephen sold it in 1886 to Oran D. Brooks, who in turn sold it in 1889. The plantation changed hands several times until 1891, when it was purchased by Harrison Milton Williams.
20th century
![Myrtles Plantation Louisiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Myrtles_Plantation_Louisiana.jpg)
In the early part of the 20th-century, the land surrounding the house was divided among the heirs of Harrison Milton Williams. In the 1950s, the house itself was sold to Marjorie Munson, who apparently noticed odd things happening around the Myrtles resulting in numerous ghost stories. The plantation went through several more ownership changes in the 1970s before being bought by James and Frances Kermeen Myers who ran the plantation house as a bed and breakfast.
During this time Frances Myers, writing as Frances Kermeen, wrote a book about the Myrtles Plantation, naming it as the most haunted house in America.
The current owners, John and Teeta Moss, continue to open the house for tours and overnight guests.
21st century
In August 2014, a fire occurred in the historical General's Store, located just 10 feet from the main house, causing substantial damage. The most severe damage was in an extension of the building constructed in 2008 leaving most of the original structure intact and not harming the house at all.
Listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, the Myrtles Plantation continues to be a popular tourist attraction due to its association with paranormal activity, and has been featured in many books, magazines, newspapers and television shows.
Legends and ghost stories
![Myrtles Plantation Ghost Picture](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Myrtles_Plantation_Ghost_Picture.jpg)
The
plantation house
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 e ...
is rumored to be on top of an ancient
Tunica Indian burial ground. It is currently a
bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...
, and offers historical and mystery tours. Touted as "one of America's most haunted homes", the plantation is supposedly the home of at least 12 ghosts.
[Myrtles Plantation Bed and Breakfast Haunted House](_blank)
It is often reported that 10 murders occurred in the house,
but historical records only indicate the murder of William Winter.
William Drew Winter is very popular in the plantation. He was an attorney who lived in the plantation from 1865 until 1871. He was shot by a stranger. After being shot, he staggered inside the house and died trying to climb the stairs. He died on the 17th step of the stairs. To the present day, visitors, as well as employees in the hotel, still hear his dying footsteps.
In 2002, ''
Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...
'' filmed a segment about the alleged hauntings at the plantation. According to host
Robert Stack
Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack; January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC telev ...
, the production crew experienced technical difficulties during the production of the segment. The Myrtles was also featured on a 2005 episode of ''
Ghost Hunters''.
The TV series ''
Ghost Adventures
''Ghost Adventures'' is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Chann ...
'' also filmed an episode there. The television series ''
Most Terrifying Places in America
''Most Terrifying Places in America'' was an American paranormal documentary television series that premiered on October 9, 2009 on the Travel Channel as a stand-alone special. The special was subsequently broken down into an episodic series. Ea ...
'' profiled the plantation.
References
External links
Official Website-
Official Unexplained Apparitions Research Society website
{{National Register of Historic Places
Plantation houses in Louisiana
Historic house museums in Louisiana
Museums in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana
Reportedly haunted locations in Louisiana
Bed and breakfasts in the United States
Houses completed in 1796
Neoclassical architecture in Louisiana
Antebellum architecture
Houses in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
National Register of Historic Places in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana