Haunted History at Rosswood Plantation

 

 

 

If you read the post below you know we took a trip to Rosswood Plantation.... 

Built in 1857 by Dr. Walter Wade.......... 

 

 

This is Ms. Jean Hylander our wonderful host and Mistress of Rosswood since 1974..

This...is the haunted bedroom we occupied. I awoke at 2:45 Am to visit the potty room. Notice the TV to the right of the bed, it has a Direct TV box below it that illuminates the room with blue light. As you come around the bed from the right, there is a dresser directly against the wall in front of this bed. The bathroom door is across from the sofa on the left. As I came upon the dresser I saw a full bodied apparition of a woman in the mirror. She was standing between the sofa and bed looking toward the mirror. I turned around toward the sofa to look and she vanished ! She was in Victorian dress with dark hair piled on top of her head. She appeared to be late 30s-early 40s in age. I'm not the first to see her but it is not clear who she may be. Ms. Jean thinks it may be Mabella Wade whom the house was built for. I think her clothes come from a later period than Mabella. Maybe more late 1800s- early 1900s. At that period a woman named Mary Elizabeth Davis Mitchell Hamer lived in the house. She was the niece of Jefferson Davis CSA and reported to be his favorite niece whom he addressed as Liz..............

 

 

We loved sitting on this upstairs balcony with its awesome views!

 

 

This is the downstairs parlor. I was sitting on this sofa talking to Ms. Jean when Eric came downstairs from his afternoon nap. When I asked him if he had a good nap he replied;

" yes, till those little girls in the room in back of ours got to giggling "....  Ms. Jean and I looked at each other because we both knew that the 3 of us.... were the only 3 people in the house! We learned Eric is one of many who have heard the giggling girls in that room.

 

Ms. Jean with what may be the best cook in Mississippi....Miss Peggy !!

 

 

 

 

What's a great trip without meeting new friends!! This is George & Vicky from Atlanta, GA. They were awesome company on our history trip, talking on the balcony and great companions in the dining room..........

 

Happy Haunted Halloween...............

The Word Is Resurrection ~~~~~

 

We are planning to step back in time this week to an area steeped in Mississippi history half way between Natchez and Vicksburg. I fell in love with the history of Natchez thirty years ago after reading Harnett T. Kane's book " Natchez ".
I have collected all of Mr. Kane's wonderful books on the South and also have a collection of Natchez history books that will rival any in Mississippi libraries.

 However, it is this wonderful book " Mississippi In Africa " by Alan Huffman that sends me on a journey this week. I first read this book eight years ago and have just finished re-reading it. What an amazing true story it tells! It has stayed with me all these years and refuses to leave me. Alan did some incredible research to gift us with the story of Captain Isaac Ross and his wife Jane.

 Capt. Ross migrated to Jefferson County, Mississippi in 1808 from South Carolina, bringing with him a large group of slaves as he was against selling them and separating families. After his arrival he built Prospect Hill located 27 miles north of Natchez and 30 miles south of Vicksburg. He spent years before his death in 1836 perfecting what he believed to be an unbreakable will that granted freedom to his slaves and passage to a colony in Liberia called  Mississippi in Africa. After his death, his grandson Isaac Ross Wade wasted no time in contesting the will bringing about a battle that would take years and the Mississippi Supreme Court to settle, would cause discord between family members and lead to a slave uprising in April 1845 that resulted in a fire that not only burned Prospect Hill to the ground but killed a six year old child named Martha Richardson who was the great granddaughter of Capt.Ross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the will of Capt. Ross was finally upheld by the courts, Isaac Ross Wade bought back the plantation at auction and built the present house at Prospect Hill which was owned by the family until the 1970's when Robert Wade one of the last family members to live at Prospect Hill sold the house which was falling into ruin, along with 3 acres to a man from Natchez who claimed to want to restore it but never did.
The Archaeological Conservancy has now purchased the house and 3 acres with hopes of selling it to someone who will indeed follow through with restoration and give them easement rights to have archaeology digs.....

 

 

   

 If I was younger I would be very tempted to take on this project and restore this wonderful piece of
 history to her former glory, instead  I'm visiting the area this week in hopes of resurrecting the spirits of this historical place to guide me in bringing their story to the pages of some fact based fiction .....
We will be staying at Rosswood Plantation ( pictured at top ) built in 1857 by Dr. Walter Wade the grandson of Capt. Ross and brother of will contester Isaac Ross Wade.
 Rosswood stands on land that was once part of Capt. Ross 's original acreage .

" The Storycatcher " by Author Ann Hite

The agonizing  wait is over ! Tuesday September 10, 2013 Ann Hite's second novel
 " The Storycatcher" hits the shelf of your favorite book store.........

I fell head over heels for 16 year old Shelly Parker in the pages of Ann's first novel " Ghost On Black Mountain"
(which was not only a Townsend Prize Finalist but won  Ann Hite " Georgia Author of the Year 2012 for First Novel")

when Shelly said;

 " we was the only Negroes on the mountain and that made for a mighty lonely life. All I had was Faith Dobbins who made me her baby doll until I got old enough to be her maid"


" The Storycatcher " is Shelly Parkers story. 16 year old Shelly has the "gift of sight" and them dead haint's have been bothering her for as long as she can remember. Sometimes they want to warn her to protect her and sometimes they just aggravate the daylights out of her wanting her help. Shelly does her best to ignore them most of the time but when that Black Mountain haint Arleen Brown decides she wants revenge on her beloved Faith Dobbins sinister daddy by taking over Faith's body, Shelly knows she's in for a fight to save Faith!
So Ann Hite takes us from Black Mountain, NC to the swampy marshes of Coastal Georgia as Shelly and Arleen  join forces to untangle years of lies and murder spanning from the 1930s to the 1980s....

For those of us book lovers who be came Ann Hite "addicts" after reading her first novel
"The Ghost On Black Mountain"  it's like an early Christmas present ! NO ONE among today's authors can out write Ann Hite when it comes to Southern Gothic. A few pages into " The Ghost On Black Mountain" I was saying I think  Ann has channeled the spirits of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner to write this book. A few pages into "The Storycatcher " I was convinced she had !!!
Her writing is very literary, beautiful, lyrical, poetic and spellbinding and I am hooked on it !!

You do not have to have read " The Ghost On Black Mountain "to enjoy " The Storycatcher"
it is a stand alone novel but you will enjoy it so much better if you have the back story of Shelly Parker & Faith Dobbins.....

" WHILE WE WERE WATCHING DOWNTON ABBEY" by Wendy Wax

On Tuesday April 2nd 2013.....the wait was over! Author Wendy Wax's much anticipated WWWWDA was released! As a devout " Downton Abbey " fan, I knew I had to read this book, I was not disappointed, it is 354 pages of pure delightful reading!
The characters are diverse and so well written you long to introduce yourself and hang out with them !

In the beginning the only thing they seem to have in common is that they are all residents in the beautiful Alexander........a luxurious, old world charm apartment building in downtown Atlanta where only the ritzy can afford to live.

Samantha Davis....a forty something beauty whose outward beauty screams, " high fluting rich (well you know the type) who appears unapproachable". She married  high profile, handsome attorney,  Johnathon Davis 25 years ago for security when at 21 she found herself an orphan with two younger siblings to raise........... "Samantha is a true case of looks can be so deceiving.".

Claire Walker........ she knew before she said I do that she really didn't! After giving it her best for a few short years, she said;  "I do to a divorce " and set out to raise her young daughter Hailey and become a novelist. Now that Hailey is off to college and with two published Historical Romance Novels under her belt she moves to a studio at the Alexander to write full time where she discovers..........
"you can force a writers butt into a chair but you can't make her think"

Brooke Mackenzie.....mother of two small daughters has just been dumped in an apartment she didn't want to be in , by her ex-husband Zachary whom she didn't want to be her ex. Finding herself living the age old story.... "I worked 2 jobs to put him through medical school, residency and set him up in private practice and I get dumped for Barbie " .
As if that wasn't enough, " Ken & Barbie" decide to move into the Alexander also making Brooke even more miserable!!

Edward Parker..........Downton Abbey fans.......think Mr. Carson with a little Mr. Bates thrown in!
 Edward hails from Britain where his family has been "in service" for eons. He now holds the coveted position of Concierge of The Alexander where he sees too much and knows more about it's residents than they seem to know about themselves.

The residents are brought together when Edward decides to make Sunday nights in the club room
" Downton Abbey Night " complete with English food and drinks. They will watch one episode a week of Season 1 & 2 in preparation of  the upcoming Season 3 premiere.

Thus the story of true friendship, mother/daughter relationships and finding ones self starts to emerge in these 3 totally opposite women as they form a common bond. Wendy Wax has placed in our hands a work of fiction that not only entertains but delights us and leaves us wanting more,more,more of both these characters and Downton Abbey !!! Get yours today, you won't be sorry!!!

5 Star Reading.........

In preparation for our trip to Alaska I researched and ordered some books to read that would get me in the mood.

One of the small towns I would have loved to visit was Haines, population about 1,800. However our ship only passed it by between Juneau and Skagway. This is a wonderful read about a newly married couple who went to Alaska for their honeymoon and stayed. It is the true story of Heather and Chip Lende's life in small town Alaska. I promise you will want to move to Haines after reading this one! Heather is a fantastic story teller!



Another great one was this historical true account of a Kindergarten teacher, 29 year old Laura Berton, who goes to Alaska in 1907 to teach school and stays 25 years.




Before we go any further I want to talk about "book popularity" these days. It seems readers, especially women, have gone crazy over the 50 Shades of Gray Series. I have not nor do I intend to read these books. Since these books "promote" both erotic sex and domestic violence, I think it is scary that they are so popular. Also it seems authors now days think that in order to sell books, they must use foul language and sex to do so. I don't agree! Think " To Kill A Mockingbird" or "Gone With The Wind" or Google Best Selling Books of All Time! I can look past some language and some sex but I keep a donation box to put the ones that turn me off in. Here lately I find that Christian Fiction and Historical Fiction bring me the most reading pleasure! This "Diamond of The Rockies" series by Kristien Heitzmann was wonderful! Set in the Colorado Gold Rush Days it tells the story of Carina DiGratia's move from Sonoma,California to Crystal Colorado a tent city of miners where a woman by herself is anything but safe. It is Christian Fiction.


Another CF Author whom I've discovered and love is Colleen Coble.
I ordered "Alaska Twilight"
and loved it so much...........



I got "Wyoming". It is 4 short novels in one set in the "wild west" territory days of Indians and Army forts that I hated to see end.



I also ordered her "Rock Harbor" series of 4 books and look forward to reading them. I just finished "Without A Trace" and it's wonderful! One to the next!
So....that's my list of recommendations of some great 5 star reads I hope you will give a try and I know you will enjoy!!

Alaska Cruise - Day 6 & 7- Ketchikan & Victoria BC

It's now Day 6th of our Alaskan Cruise. At 6:00AM July 19th we dock in gorgeous Ketchikan, the 1st Alaskan City and Salmon Capital of the World..........


And.....it's raining! Since we were the first ship this season to experience dry weather in Juneau, Skagway and Tracy Arm, we weren't about to complain......


This was our favorite city of the cruise, the atmosphere is wonderful!



And....since Ketchikan is Alaska's rainiest city, it was perfect!


At 7:20 we met to board the bus for our excursion to the historic..........


Our driver dropped us off and we commenced to walk down 79 stair steps to the lodge....
Not so bad, it's the coming back up that gets you!



Where we boarded this boat for our Dungeness Crab catch..........



Here is a collage of "the brave" holding the crabs from our pot. Grandson Chris helps the guide pull the pot up... Now this was a hoot and we had fun!


We then cruised back to the lodge.....


To enjoy our
" all- you- can- eat" Crab Feast!
Dungeness Crab is the best thing I've ever tasted, I put it ahead of the best Lobster out there!
They had to run us off!


The bad part was we had to be back on ship by 12:00 PM, which left us 10 minutes to shop in town. We were so disappointed as Ketchikan is where you shop for Alaskan Made Items. :(

DAY 7............Victoria, BC
We were at sea most of the day but headed downstairs at 4:45 to watch son Todd who was in the top 3 of the talent contest that had gone on every night, belt out an awesome version of the song "Free Falling". He actually lost the contest by one vote to a girl from NJ who sang a Celine Dion song. ( Debi Greene you should have stayed and voted! HA! )
We actually were hoping a 92 year old woman named Georgie from Washington State would win it.



At 7:00 PM we docked in Victoria, BC......
We did not plan an excursion here since we were departing @ midnight and had to be back on ship @ 11:30 PM. There was so much packing to do after dinner since we had to have all our luggage out in the hall by midnight.



I took this pic of our fabulous dining room waiter Noel on our last night. He was just amazing every night and we actually were sad to leave him! He posed in front of the "Baked Alaska".


I want to say a special " THANK YOU " to son Todd, wife Lori & family for giving us the gift of visiting the most beautiful place we've ever seen...........


We are totally in LOVE with her.........and we're already planning to take a trip back by air and stay at least 2 weeks!!!!


If you've never been............GO! RUN! WALK! FLY! CRUISE! JUST GO!

Tracy Arm Fjord -- DAY 5

Day 5 Wednesday July 18th at 7:00AM we cruised into Tracy Arm Fjord. The cruise through lasted for 4 & 1/2 hours. Watching from our balcony required a hat & gloves for me as it was in the 30s due to Sawyer Glacier. My favorite site was these Eagles cruising on ice! The 2 without white heads are babies.



This is a collage made from pics I took..........


Here is a great video(not mine) that will educate you on Tracy Arm history and give you your on tour........ENJOY!

Scenic Train Ride in Alaska

This is a video (Not Made By Us) of our train ride on the White Pass/Yukon Railroad from Skagway to Fraiser BC. I will be doing a blog later on our day in Skagway. Enjoy Johnny Horton singing North To Alaska while you watch!

Alaska Cruise Day 4... HISTORIC SKAGWAY

If you read the last post, you know that our trip started out with a few problems but after a good nights sleep aboard ship...we were ready to experience something wonderful! At 7:30 Am we left the ship to take in beautiful Skagway! ( original spelling is Skaguay)


Our excursion started with a bus taking us to the White Pass Depot to board a train to FraiserBC.



We rode this train but they also have a steam engine train, pictured below, that runs on certain days.....




This was our conductor whom I thought looked straight out of the 1800s...........


DIL Lori gets serious with GD Taylor when she hears we are about to cross a VERY high bridge!



Gold was never found in Skagway but it was the point at which the prospectors got ready to leave civilization and make the long hard trek across the Yukon Pass in search of wealth. The old foot path can still be seen. When the railroad was put in, it made carrying all the gear and food they would need a much easier task.
An interesting fact we learned about Skagway is that no one has been born there since the 1970s. They do not have a doctor there, only a clinic with 2 nurse practitioners. Women are removed at the start of their last trimester to Anchorage or Seattle to await the birth. If they are high risk, they are moved before the last trimester.




If you visit Skagway......ride the train as it will let you see a part of Alaska that will mesmerize you! The train made a couple of stops to let Hiker/Campers off. I'm assuming they were to be picked up a day or two later and taken back to Skagway.






In the distance you can see Bridal Falls which can only be seen from the train.......




For 15 years starting in 1923, George Buchanan, a Detroit Coal Merchant, began bringing groups of 50 boys and girls to Alaska to teach them about earning and saving money. This wall commemorates his effort.




When we got to the Canadian Border at Fraiser BC our bus was there to pick us up for the ride back to Skagway via the Klondike Highway..........



We enjoyed the bus ride back as you see some different scenery and our driver stopped at this sign so we could get pictures.........

A short distance past the sign is where we saw this Black Bear having lunch.....



He also stopped at this overlook where you can look down on Skagway and see the town along with the cruise ships in dock. On the far right are 2 Princess ships. The Golden is in front with the Diamond right behind her.



We were then dropped off in downtown Skagway at the historic Skagway Inn for lunch and then picked up for some Gold Panning! This "old time prospector" was a delight!




The Gold Panning was located on the banks of the Skagway River...........



Turns out I can add "panning" to my list of talents! I ended up doing both Hubby & son Todd's as they just couldn't "get it right"..... :)
After combining mine and Eric's, we had $37.51 in gold which I had put in a necklace. Todd's family of 5 panned $ 51.00 worth which was put in a necklace for DIL Lori!




Here's my necklace!



We were then dropped off in town for sightseeing and some shopping........



This is the 1899 Alaskan Brotherhood building whose front is made from driftwood..........
It now a museum........



As time to be back on ship approaches, the town empties...........


Day 5 will be be the Awesome Tracy Arms Fjord.................



Have a great weekend!!!