Once the center of agricultural prosperity in Alabama, the rich soil of the Black Belt still features beautiful homes that stand as a testimony to the regions proud heritage. Join author Jennifer Hale as she explores the history of seventeen of the finest plantation homes in Alabamas Black Belt. This book chronicles the original owners and slaves of the homes, and traces their descendants who continued to call these plantations home throughout the past two centuries. Discover why the families of an Indian chief and a chief justice feuded for over a century about the land on which Belvoir stands. Follow Gaineswoods progress as it grew from a humble log cabin into an opulent mansion. Learn how the original builder and subsequent owners of the Kirkwood Mansion are linked together by a legacy of exceptional and dedicated reservation. Historic Plantations of Alabamas Black Belt recounts the elegant past and hopeful future of a well-loved region of the South.

Few parts of the world can boast of land as fertile as the rich, dark soils found in Alabamas blackland prairie region, known as the Black Belt, but unfortunately, the region is often negatively associated with cotton plantations and slavery. This program examines the regions natural history and how it has helped shape its human and cultural history. Various leaders and local residents are featured as they consider past and present conditions and ponder prospects for the Black Belts future. CC.

Includes brief background information about Hugh Davis and the following texts from his farm book and his papers: General rules & directions every year [January 1, 1848]; Special rules to the overseer [January 1, 1848]; Rules & regulations to my overseer by which to give satisfaction & earn wages, daily [June 17, 1854]; Contract with overseer [October 20, 1848]; Regulations [January 3, 1861]; Special advice to the overseer [March 4, 1861]; System of farming at Bever Bend, its principles, its rules and its regulations [June 1, 1862].

Sydney Nathans offers a counterpoint to the narrative of the Great Migration, a central theme of black liberation in the twentieth century. He tells the story of enslaved families who became the emancipated owners of land they had worked in bondage.

Few things evoke thoughts and memories of the past more than a house from a bygone era, and few places are identified and symbolized more by historic dwellings than the American South. Plantation houses built with columned porticos and wide porches, stout chimneys, large rooms, and sweeping staircases survive as legacies of both a storied and troubled past. These homes are at the heart of a complex web of human relationships that have shaped the social and cultural heritage of the region for generations. Despite their commanding appearance, the region's plantation houses have proven to be fragile relics of history, vulnerable to decay, neglect, and loss. Today, only a small percentage of the South's antebellum treasures survive. In Southern Splendor: Saving Architectural Treasures of the Old South, historians Marc R. Matrana, Robin S. Lattimore, and Michael W. Kitchens explore almost fifty houses built before the Civil War that have been authentically restored or preserved. Methodically examined are restoration efforts that preserve not only homes and other structures, but also the stories of those living in or occupying those homes. The authors discuss the challenges facing specific plantation homes and their preservation. Featuring over 275 stunning photographs, as well as dozens of firsthand accounts and interviews with those involved in the preservation of these historic properties, Southern Splendor describes the leading role the South has played, since the nineteenth century, in the historic preservation movement in this country.

An illustrated guidebook documenting the history and sites of the state's origins