Click Here For Video.This little boy is 'singing' the books of the Bible, but, watch the whole thing (takes less than a minute) for the surprise ending he gives.
The construction of Nottoway
was commissioned by John Hampden Randolph, a very prestigious sugar
planter, to be the ultimate showplace of his wealth; he wanted no
expense spared and ordered that it include every extravagance and
innovative feature possible. Stately, opulent Nottoway would be home to
John, his wife, Emily Jane Randolph, and their 11 children, but also the
perfect setting in which to elegantly and dramatically entertain their
many visitors. 
Born in Nottoway County, Virginia on
March 24, 1813 to an affluent Virginia family John Hampden Randolph was
the son of Judge Peter Randolph, Jr. and his wife Sarah Ann. When John
was six years old, President James Monroe appointed his father was
appointed a federal court judgeship in Woodville, Mississippi. In 1819,
Judge Randolph moved the family from Virginia to Mississippi where he
purchased Elmwood Plantation, a successful cotton farm.
wooded
area in which it was located, cost him $30,000, and included a
four-room house, and a variety of livestock, farm supplies and 2 slave
cabins. The Randolphs’ 17 years there would see eight more children
added to their original two, resulting in John adding two wings to the
house to accommodate his growing family’s needs. Their eleventh child
would be born later at Nottoway, giving them a total of four sons and
seven daughters.
said
that he so jealously guarded the design of Nottoway, that as soon as
the house was completed, he destroyed the architectural plans to prevent
the mansion from ever being duplicated.
Construction of Nottoway began in 1857
and was completed in 1859 at an estimated cost of $80,000. When
finished, Nottoway had 64 rooms on 3 floors, 6 interior staircases, 3
modern bathrooms, 22 massive 3-story high columns, 165 doors and 200
windows. Befitting the Greek Revival and Italianate style designed by
Henry Howard, the mansion featured soaring 15½-foot ceilings and massive
11-foot tall doors.
Among the most beautiful aspects
of the Randolphs’ castle was the extraordinary plaster frieze work
throughout the house. The frieze plaster, of which enormous quantities
were used, was made using a combination of mud, clay, horsehair and
Spanish moss. 4,200 yards of it were used for plastering the walls, with
more than 1,500 feet required for the elaborate cornice designs, and
140 feet more for the scroll ornaments in the parlors. The ornamental
frieze work was done by Jeremiah Supple, a young, talented Irishman, who
lined the seams of the ceilings with meticulously hand-carved moldings,
creating a different design for each room. He also made all eight of
Nottoway’s ornate ceiling medallions.
Cornelia's Bedroom
Covered
in emerald green velvet, the steps of the grand mahogany staircase led
upstairs to the bedrooms and the Ancestral Hall. Located on the third
floor, the Hall was where the family would gather to relax together. It
was appointed throughout with Louis XIV furniture glowing in rich, red
damask, while on the walls, the Randolphs’ ancestors stood silent watch
from their elegantly framed portraits. At the east end of the Hall was
an immense floor-to-ceiling window that was often used as a door to
access the balcony. From here, the family was able to enjoy a
spectacular view of the Mississippi River and its bustling activity, as
well as the many acres of lush grounds in front of the mansion. Every
doorway in the Hall opened into a different luxurious bedroom, each one
unique with its own distinguishing color or exclusive wood texture.
entertainment
of the children. It was so popular that the younger Randolphs, having
to reluctantly retire from their family competitions earlier than their
older siblings, often fell asleep to the rumbling of balls far below
them. Today the bottom floor is the site of the restaurant, lounge and
museum.
In 1860, John Randolph owned 155 slaves
and 42 slave houses which made Nottoway one of the largest plantations
in the South, at a time when most owners possessed fewer than 20 slaves.
Made up of both field hands and house servants, the Nottoway slave
community played a very significant role in running the plantation and
house.
stood a few feet off the ground supported by pillars of bricks or logs.
Considering his slaves
to be valuable tools in the operation of his business, Randolph
provided the necessary care to keep them in good health. He understood
the importance of hygiene in controlling the spread of illnesses and
disease, so he provided a bathhouse where slaves could bathe daily if
they wished. He also had a slave hospital; he paid a local physician to
make weekly visits and trained one of the slaves as a nurse to care for
his slaves.
Like some of the other Louisiana planters
at the time, John decided to move both himself and his workforce to
Texas, where the shipping would be much easier, for the duration of the
war; however the change in location would also necessitate him switching
his crop to cotton. For the duration of the war, Randolph raised
cotton in Texas to obtain the revenue that would allow him to hold on to
his property in Louisiana.
During the war, the grounds of Nottoway were occupied
at various times by both Union and Confederate troops, and were also
shelled periodically as Northern gunboats fired at Southern soldiers who
were passing by. However, by the end of the war, although the grounds
were badly damaged and the plantation had been stripped of most of its
animals, the only damage to the castle itself was to a front column hit
in 1863 with lead grapeshot. The grapeshot actually fell out on its own
in 1971 and is on display today in the Nottoway museum.
After the war,
President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation against Confederacy
supporters with taxable property of more than $20,000, requiring them to
travel to Washington to personally apologize to the President and
request a pardon. The penalty for those refusing to do so was the
revocation of their U.S. citizenship and the confiscation of all their
assets by the government. So Randolph sought the pardon, and it was
granted to him on February 14, 1867. A copy of his pardon hangs in
Nottoway’s museum today.
After John's death,
Emily continued to live at Nottoway, frequently traveling to see her
children and grandchildren. But in 1889, at 71 years old, she very
reluctantly came to the conclusion that it was time for her to give up
her beloved home. Nottoway was sold for the sum of $50,000, which she
divided equally among her nine surviving children and herself.
Ella Eugenia Randolph,
1838-1917, was the Randolph’s oldest child and was born at Elmwood
Plantation in Mississippi. She married Lovik Feltus in 1861, and the
couple moved to Natchez, Mississippi. Lovik tried his hand at sugar
planting, but the venture was a failure and eventually, he turned to
alcohol. According to Ella’s descendants, her life was a very difficult
one. Finances
became so tight that Ella, still diligent about fulfilling her social
obligations, resorted to giving away her valuable first edition John
James Audubon prints as wedding presents.
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Algernon Sidney Randolph,
1840-1863, also born at Elmwood and the family’s first son, was the
only Randolph child to die in the Civil War. He studied to become a
doctor, but when the war broke out, he left school to join the
Confederate army. Sadly, he was killed in the Battle of Vicksburg in
May of 1863.
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Moses Liddell Randolph,
1842-1907, was born at Forest Home Plantation, the first of the
Randolph children to be born in Louisiana. Moses served briefly in the
Civil War, but contracted malaria and was sent home without ever seeing
combat. However, the disease caused him to suffer debilitating medical
problems for the rest of his life. He married the Jane Connor, the
daughter of a prominent Natchez, Mississippi family, and they had 10
children, living at Blythewood Plantation near Nottoway. It was a very
lively, happy home.
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John Hampden Randolph,
Jr., 1844-1915, whose older brothers were already serving in the
Confederate army, enlisted in 1862 as soon as he turned 18. John served
in the war with great distinction, but was imprisoned briefly when his
unit surrendered to Union forces in June of 1865. After the war, John
earned his degree in Civil Engineering, and then returned to Louisiana
to becoming a professor at Louisiana State University and eventually,
the founder of LSU’s mechanical engineering department. He was married
to Sarah Walker with whom he lived in Baton Rouge and had two children.
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Mary Augusta Randolph,
1846-1937, was 14 years old when the Civil War began, and was thus
unable to travel North to study as her older brothers and sister had
done before her. She was married in 1875, at age 29, to Iberville Parish
lawyer Horace Upton and moved with him to New Orleans. Said to have
been an extremely kind woman, Mary Augusta raised six children and
maintained close ties with two of her sisters, Emma Jane and Cornelia,
who also lived in New Orleans.
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Emma Jane Randolph,
1848-1932, the middle child of the Randolph’s eleven, was married at
Nottoway in 1870 to Rev. Marmaduke Richard St. James Dillon, an
Episcopalian priest and they had 2 children. Sadly, Marmaduke Dillon
died in 1879 when he was only 33, and Emma Jane remained a widow for 20
years, then marrying her cousin Frank Liddell Richardson after the death
of his wife. Emma Jane was remembered by descendants as a very proper,
distinguished woman who insisted on conducting a meticulous tea service
whenever she visited.
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Cornelia Randolph,
1851-1931, was an enthusiastic eight-year-old when her family moved to
Nottoway Plantation, and she was enthralled with everything about the
plantation. She later wrote a thinly veiled account of her experiences
growing up at Nottoway and called her book “The White Castle of
Louisiana” under the pseudonym M.R. Ailenroc, which was actually her
first name and married initials spelled backwards. At age 32, Cornelia
married Dr. David Murrell; they lived in New Orleans, and although they
had no children, they maintained close social ties with her sisters and
their families who also lived in the city.
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Sarah (Sallie) Virginia Randolph,
1853-1893, was a frail child who was afflicted with an unknown disease
for most of her life. She was also the only Randolph daughter who never
married. In 1889, after Emily Randolph sold Nottoway, she and Sallie
lived together at Forest Home, but sadly, Sallie died in 1883 at the age
of 40. The epitaph on her headstone reads, “Earth has no sorrow that
heaven cannot heal”.
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Annie Caroline Randolph,
1855-1942, married Valle Rozier, a Missouri-born attorney, and moved to
New Orleans with him. Tragically, their only child, Geraldine, died the
same day she was born, and her husband Valle then died in 1886 at the
age of 39. The engraving on his headstone says, “With thee many hopes
perish”. But, Annie did find love again, marrying Steven Williams, a
civil engineer. Annie often accompanied Steven on his frequent work
travels, and they had one daughter.
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Peter Everett Randolph,
1857-1931, was only eight years old at the end of the Civil War and
grew up in a plantation system that had been forever changed. In his
mid-20s, while still living at Nottoway, Peter fell in love with Alice
Thompson, the beautiful mulatto daughter of a former slave, Eliza
Thompson. While never married, Peter and Alice ran off to New Orleans
where they lived together and raised two daughters, Bertha and Tessie.
At that time, a multi-racial relationship was considered to be extremely
scandalous, and Peter was written out of the family will for quite some
time. However, Bertha and Tessie produced many descendants, some of
whom have come to Nottoway over the years to learn more about their
heritage.
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Julia Marceline Randolph,
1863-1949, the youngest of the eleven children, was the only Randolph
to have been born at Nottoway Plantation. In 1883, she married Francis
Valle Reyburn and moved with him to his home city of St. Louis, where
they became a prominent couple. Valle was a Judge of the St. Louis Court
of Appeals, and Marceline, in addition to raising seven children, was
active in the St. Louis Symphony Society and other cultural activities.
Sadly, Valle died in 1907. However, in 1915, Marceline married Charles
Fletcher Sparks who was in the flour milling business.
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 Woodland Plantation |
 Belle Meade Tennessee Plantation |
 Hampton Plantation |
Alleyways
of live oaks, magnificent estate houses and old-world gardens are part
of any story about the gracious living, hospitality and elegance of
plantation life in the Colonial and antebellum South. But plantations
also reveal the story of the social, economic and political changes that
shaped the present-day South.
Drayton Hall
Middleton Place
Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens
One
of the most distinctive features of Boone Hall is its spectacular
entrance. In 1743, the son of Major John Boone planted live oak trees,
arranging them in two evenly spaced rows along the long road leading to
the main house.
