Tuesday, February 23, 2010

" Windsor" by Artist Donna K. Woods

Right after I first started blogging, I wrote a post about Hubby and I seeing a Yankee soldier ghost at Windsor Ruins... "Did You See That" ?





If you recall I saw this print at my Indie Book Store when I went to Rick Bragg's book signing.
Hubby bought it for me for Christmas........

I finally got it to the framers a couple of weeks ago to be matted in my great frame find from
Dirt Cheap. ( $20.00)



Yesterday the artist Donna K. Woods and her husband Gary came to visit us!



I made a pot of coffee and fixed a Blackberry Cobbler and the four of us had a wonderful afternoon talking about haunted plantations, southern history and art.






Donna brought me copies of historical documents she's collected over the years about Windsor.
One of the things she brought me was a copy of a letter written by Elizabeth Ross who was the sister of Catherine Daniell, the mistress of Windsor Plantation. apparently she lived at Windsor with her sister during the Civil War. This is an interesting exert from the letter dated January 25, 1867..........
"sad changes have taken place in the last six years. Smith Daniell and four of his little children have died, only six of us left, my sister Catherine, Pris, Tom, myself and little Smith who was born six months after his father's death. ( the 6th is not named)
We had no one to protect us and fight for us during the war, the anxiety and trouble we passed through is past description, all of our property taken from us, one hundred and sixty five horses and mules taken from us, three steam gins,three thousand bales of cotton burnt at one time,our house searched about twenty times. Grant made this his headquarters for two days and then made our house into a hospital, had between four and five hundred wounded in the house at one time and they would not suffer us to leave the house. They allowed us four rooms in the third story. Our cook, cooked our meals out at her house and brought them to us until they left here. The smell from the wounds was very offensive, we could hardly bear it. They made our yard their burying ground, if we made any complaint, they would threaten to burn our house, so we had to bear it patiently. We are so thankful that our house and lands have been saved, we can rent out or lease our plantation land so that we will be able to live comfortably."
So I'm now thinking that the Yankee soldier we saw, is buried in that yard !!!!!!







23 comments:

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

OOOooo gave me the chilly willies just reading this. How very cool it is you have the picture and a pic of the artist with it.

We had some friends visit a southern museum set in an old plantation house where they had taken pictures. In one on the pics was the image of a young woman dressed in black and white.

The picture just gave you chills to hold it. The photo was checked to see if it had some kind of double exposure which it did not.

The following year the couple went back with the photo and the museum coordinator assured them that there was no one there who ever dressed in costume but down in the basement was a portrait of the young woman in the picture. The image in the photo had very sad eyes almost pleading for help.

Sorry this is so lengthy but I wanted to share this with you.

God bless and have a glorious day!!!

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Kat said...

What a letter! We all forget those things really happened until we read things like that. Very interesting. What a treat to have Mrs. Woods there with YOU!! I love that print and it looks stunning in that frame. That IS cheap. I would have had to pay well over a hundred dollars with no frame of my own.

Anonymous said...

The picture is haunting by itself, but the letter. . . oh my gosh! That many wounded and dying soldiers--the conditions for them as well as the family must have been unbearable.

I didn't realize they buried the bodies on someone's property like that--another haunting thought for that family and for the families of the dead.

You have carved such an interesting life there! I'm glad you share it with us.

Rosaria Williams said...

History comes alive here.

Vicki Lane said...

The picture of just the columns is so poignant!

Kay Dennison said...

I* love the photos!!!!


Wow!!!!! Amazing!!!!! I believe you -- there are lots of those sightings. AND a friend of mine, who is a Civil War buff and has visited many of the famous battle fields, has described the intensity of those sites.

xinex said...

This is so interesting, Caroil. I sent a link to my hubby since I am not home right now. We visit the Windsor ruins. If you remember, I live in Natchez so we are not that far from it. I would really love to own a print of the mansion before it burned down. Do you know where I can buy one of those prints? Was it a carpenter who was responsible for burning it down? I have read somewhere that it was one of the guests during one of the parties held there...Christine

xinex said...

Me again, sorry I mispelled your name on my first comment, Carol...Christine

Tess Kincaid said...

Ghosts, history and art?! I wish I would have been there!!!

NitWit1 said...

I loved this story and how wonderful the artist visited you. Southern Civil War era history is so fascinating, as even us later-born southerners have difficulty imagining it.

NitWit1 said...

I loved this story and how wonderful the artist visited you. Southern Civil War era history is so fascinating, as even us later-born southerners have difficulty imagining it.

NCmountainwoman said...

I love the picture and the poignant story. Families suffered so much during the war, at the hands of the "invader" and at the hands of the southern scalawags left behind. Especially in the NC mountains loyalties were quite divided and neighbors destroyed the farms of neighbors while the men were away at war.

Glynis Peters said...

Fascinating post, thanks for sharing!

Kathryn Magendie said...

You are so cool, carol...

Janet, said...

Ohhhh, that's interesting. I love old letters and that's a very nice painting you have. Neat that the painter was at your house.

Arkansas Patti said...

The letter was amazing. We have no conception of what having an opposing army in our homes is like and being subject to their whims. Other countries go through this daily, I hope we never do.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

What a thrill to meet Donna and actually see these documents. A lot of us, including me, do not realize the hardships these people endured with having their property and way of life savagely taken from them and their homes so brutally damaged or totally destroyed.

You are probably right about the ghost...talk about Yankee go home - lol...sorry that was bad huh?

JoyceAnn said...

Hi Carol - The print looks beautiful in that frame , enjoyed reading about the history behind it.

~ Blessings ~

I_am_Tulsa said...

Wow, now you have the ghost story, and a fine piece of art to go along with it!

Oh, and thank you so much for your kind words about "numbers" ;-) it is sooooo true, isn't it!

Eggs In My Pocket said...

Oh, how spooky and so interesting! Love the picture. blessings,Kathleen

Jen said...

It's so glad to be back on the porch :) I LOVE ghost stories (the true kind especially). Good old creepy ones, not the horror kind! I'll have to read the original post.

Those ruins are gorgeous! What a sad story about those people and their house.

Cheers,
Jen

Fredeemack said...

I really like the Painting or Print. If it's a print, where can I purchase one? How much?