This antebellum mansion is the only surviving plantation house in South Florida. It is believed that Confederate Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin, took refuge here after the fall of the Confederacy, until his safe passage to England could be secured.
In 1925, the house and 16 acres were saved by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and donated to the state. Today, the mansion is furnished in the style of a successful mid-19th century plantation
The two photo's above show one of the bedrooms. Each room had a docent dressed in period style. Each Bedroom had a fireplace and the ceilings are 12 feet tall.
Every room in the house had hard wood floors and all of them had the rugs you see in this photo. we were shocked to find we were standing on rugs made from Sail Cloth. Docent said at that time it was The Thing to have decorated canvas covering the floors. that was yet another new thing I learned.
The bed in the second bedroom was 10 feet tall, it almost touched the ceiling. It is very narrow, smaller than the double we have now.
there were two items displayed on this bed. Can you guess what they are?
answers coming up on the next post!
thanks for dropping by, don't forget to leave me a note
8 comments:
Beautiful pictures of beautiful place.... love the quilt. Great job at narrating also.
Carole
Thanks for showing us some of the interior of this mansion. Sail cloth rugs are new to me as well.
I usually don't do well at guessing, but here goes: one item definitely looks like a night shirt. I'm guessing that the paddle was used to carry a warming plate to warm the sheets during cold weather.
As always, beautiful pictures & commentary. Gorgeous furniture/rooms.
Carole's email & George's comment sound right for the paddle, unless it's to fan the fire in the fireplace. I agree with the nightgown. Anxiously awaiting the answers!
Great bedroom pictures. I hope you have a post of each room! I notice in the first picture that bedspread fabric os rolled around the bedstead bar. What's the deal with that? Now to the guessing. I think the one is for sure a nightshirt. I also think George is right about the other, but I won't cheat by copying him, so I'll give my first guess, which is likely wrong. A mirror.
a night gown and a very large paddle thingie to smack your husband or kill critters that crawl in the night. bw
You know how I am about guessing --so I'll pass on this one... I LOVE the quilts though... SO gorgeous!!! Don't you just love to visit old plantations???? I love it---and always wonder about the people who used to live there.
My Great Aunt was a member of the UDC and my mother was a member of the DAR.... I never had much interest in either --although I could have been in both.
Hugs,
Betsy
How fun for you to do this... and for us to explore with you - miles away!
I always love to see the furnishing in these great old plantation homes.
I was out of town all weekend with almost nonresistance wifi so I missed my chance to guess. I would have said a nightgown and something for warming the bed.
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