Beautiful Old Homes of the US South

2615 Views 18 Replies 10 Participants Last post by dubart, Jun 16, 2009

Bruton

Discussion Starter · Jun 13, 2009

I love many kinds of architecture, but what I especially love are the (usually older) unique homes of the Southern US which date before 1930. The architecture is spectacular, and they simply do not make them like this anymore.

These are all from Georgia:

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1 - 19 of 19 Posts

Philly Bud

· #2 · Jun 13, 2009

Perhaps the most famous house in the South:

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dancethingy

· #3 · Jun 13, 2009

Gorgeous homes, I like the blue one especially.

Bruton

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 13, 2009

Please post more if you can!

Evan

· #5 · Jun 13, 2009

This is a beautiful house, but these people need to mow their fooking lawn! :nono:

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Philly Bud

· #6 · Jun 13, 2009

Any pictures of the glorious "Greek Revival" Plantation Houses of the ante-bellum South. You know, the ones with the columns and verandas?

Evan

· #7 · Jun 13, 2009 (Edited)

Philly Bud said:
Any pictures of the glorious "Greek Revival" Plantation Houses of the ante-bellum South. You know, the ones with the columns and verandas?

If you ever come south, you should try and make a point to visit Natchez, Mississippi. You will pee all over yourself. The town itself isn't much to crow about, but it has some of the most impressive stock of surviving Plantation Houses in the south. As I said, Natchez itself isn't as impressive as its housing stock, but it too has a certain charm worth seeing.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...MS antebellum homes&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Paddington

· #8 · Jun 13, 2009

Yes, it's nice what you can get with slave labor.

Marcelo Olisa

· #9 · Jun 13, 2009

Bruton: Nice thread! Congratulations!
Evan, I liked a lot the home that you took a picture of it!

Evan

· #10 · Jun 13, 2009

Paddington said:
Yes, it's nice what you can get with slave labor.

Unfortunately.

But, these houses are important parts of the history of the south, and good or bad, they should be preserved. You can't erase history just by tearing something down.

Bruton

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 13, 2009

Most of these homes were built well after slavery.

Oaronuviss

· #12 · Jun 14, 2009

Bruton said:
Most of these homes were built well after slavery.

But many were built using old money their ancestors had from slavery.
There are STILL family fortunes from the slave era. Many.

Tsoman

· #13 · Jun 14, 2009

Paddington said:
Yes, it's nice what you can get with slave labor.

is that the first thing you thought of when you saw a picture of the pyramids? or any other grand old-world architecture? Roman ruins? greek temples? Huge catherdrals?

Philly Bud

· #14 · Jun 14, 2009

Oaronuviss said:
But many were built using old money their ancestors had from slavery.
There are STILL family fortunes from the slave era. Many.

True. But permit me to extrapolate on your thesis. The fact is, many businesses and families throughout North America, South America, Europe and Africa were built on exploiting the labor of slaves. New York City banks and insurance companies. British and Dutch importation companies. Middle Eastern Sultanates. The fabulous wealth of Europe in the XVII - XIX centuries was partly in due to the "triangle trade" of slaves from Africa to the Americas and products shipped back to Europe.

To be fair, many Southern slave owning families were ruined during the Civil War and were reduced to poverty afterward. Read the biography of Mary Boykin Chestnut, the wealthy great Southern lady who was friends with Pres. and Mrs. Jefferson Davis, but was starving after the war and finally teamed up with her former slave selling eggs door to door to survive.

Here in the North we also had a type of slavery. Here in Pennsylvania, immigrants from Europe were pressed into being coalminers in the XIX century - worked long 12 hour days, housed in crummy shacks owned by the mine companies, had to buy their necessities in the company store that didn't pay them money but "script" and were mostly deep in debt to the company that employed them. But were they free to leave? No! Not all all! If you ran away, the company had security forces that would catch you and put you back to work! Read about the Mollie Maguires. Visit Eckley Miner's Village, a living history park near Hazelton, PA.

Sorry about my ranting and raving; but cruelty and injustice was not only happening in the South. :soapbox:

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Marcelo Olisa

· #15 · Jun 14, 2009

" many Southern slave owning families were ruined during the Civil War "

Philly Bud,
In São Paulo state -Brazil there is one city called " Americana" where the first setlers were families from South USA who came here after the end of slavery.
See it here: http://frankherles.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/american-immigration-to-brazil/

poshbakerloo

· #16 · Jun 14, 2009

WOW!!! I do love them homes!!!

Bruton

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 14, 2009

Oaronuviss said:
But many were built using old money their ancestors had from slavery.
There are STILL family fortunes from the slave era. Many.

Yes. Many of the most spectacular structures in the world were built and/or financed by slave labour. You think the grand structures in Europe came from the blue? Great Wall of China? Pyramids? Versailles? Much of that was financed via surplus from exploited lands and/or domestic exploitation.

Evan

· #18 · Jun 14, 2009 (Edited)

Also, don't forget it was primarily Chinese slaves that the railroad barons used to build the trans-continental railroad in the US, possibly in Canada also, but that one I just don't know about.

Of course, by that time in history we didn't call forced workers slaves, but there was little difference. They drove them to the breaking point while paying them basically nothing, and treating them worse than dogs.

Man, this thread jumped the track, eh? :lol:

dubart

· #19 · Jun 16, 2009

Bruton, thanks for the thread and the photos. I wish you post more of these beautiful houses.... :cheers:

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