Posts Tagged ‘Wessyngton mansion’

National Black Arts Festival Study Group Walks in Footsteps of Baker’s Ancestors on Wessyngton Plantation

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

wessyngton-cabin-june-2010

 

In addition to touring the grounds surrounding the Wessyngton mansion, National Black Arts Festival members and guests walked in the footsteps of Baker’s ancestor in the slave cabin area of the plantation.  The group went inside a restored slave cabin built ca. 1830.  In 1860, there were 274 enslaved African Americans on the plantation, housed in forty log cabins.  At the onset of the Civil War, Wessyngton held the largest African American population in the state of Tennessee and was the largest tobacco producer in America.

Gardner Family Tours Wessyngton Plantation for 75th Family Reunion

Friday, May 29th, 2009
Gardner Family Tour at Wessyngton Plantation

Gardner Family Tour at Wessyngton Plantation

In 2008 the Gardners celebrated their 75th annual family reunion.  As part of the reunion festivities I led them on a tour of Wessyngton Plantation.   The tour included the Wessyngton mansion, Washington family cemetery, slave cemetery and a restored slave cabin.  The Gardner earliest ancestors, Aaron Gardner, his wife Betty and their three sons, Daniel, George and Jackson came to Wessyngton in the late 1830s.  There are more African Americans in Robertson County, Tennessee with the Gardner surname than any other family.

Portraits by [Maria] Howard Weeden

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

wessyngton-portraits

In the 1890s the Washington family contracted the famous artist [Maria] Howard Weeden to paint portraits of several African Americans.  These portraits hung in the plantation mansion.  In this photograph Preston Frazer, a Washington descendant, is seen with the portraits.  The portraits remain in the Washington family.

Would you share a photo of  a portrait of your ancestors with others?  Please send a photo to me with a short e-mail telling me about it.  Also please let me know if I could post the photo and the information on my blog.  I would not post your name or e-mail address. Thank you. john@johnbakerbooks.com