Gaineswood

Yesterday, I drove west about 2 1/2 hours to Demopolis to visit an antebellum house (house built before the civil war), Gaineswood. Apparently, a lot of Greek revival style houses were built before the civil war, and Gaineswood is one of them.

It was a beautifully furnished and maintained house. I'm not much of an architecture buff, but I enjoyed learning about 3 different Greek columns (Corinthian, Doric, and Ionic) that were present in the house. The descendants to the man who originally built and lived in the house donated a lot of the original furnishings. I kept remarking how small people were back then, because the bed and the chairs were not that big!

The bedposts have pineapples carved, which symbolize that guests are welcome. The guide explained that back in those days, you didn't really have hotels or motels so strangers were welcome to stay in houses that had a pineapple statue or a pineapple hanging outside their homes. I thought that was such a strange symbol because I didn't think people would have seen a pineapple back then. Apparently, a sea captain had visited a Carribbean island and brought back a lot of pineapples. Unfortunately, most of the pineapples had spoiled except for a few. So the captain held a huge party in celebration that he could enjoy some of the pineapples, and hung pineapples outside his home. From that point on, pineapples symbolized hospitality.

The tour guide explained about Nathan Whitfield, who designed and built the house, and the family history of those that lived in Gaineswood for a while. As you might have guessed, Whitfield was a cotton plantation owner and was quite successful.

The tour guide was also kind enough to email me some photos of the interior of the house. I noted the ones he emailed me versus ones which I took.

Next week, I go canoeing! =)