Charm of the Carolines

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year!!

It's the Year of the Pig, representing carefree fun, good fortune and wealth. Don your red clothing and exclaim, "Gong Xi Fa Cai!"

Plantation vs. Farm vs. Estate

Nearly a decade ago I had the pleasure to meet Robert Grede, a charming and creative gentleman from Milwaukee who traveled to Columbia, TN, to spend hours in our local county archives conducting research for his book The Spur and the Sash, a historical fiction book based on the US Civil War experiences of one of his ancestors Sergeant George Van Norman and the time he spent convalescing in Maury county.  We met at the Maury County Archives where Grede was scheduled to speak about his research and his soon to be released book. 

One thing in particular really stuck with me from that presentation. Robert Grede said that as a far northern resident, he and his friends were curious about the seemingly romantic notion of the "old south plantation." He went on to say he was a bit disappointed to learn that a plantation is simply a farm. 

A farm? I never really thought about it. Born and raised in a southern border state, I've always taken for granted the word "plantation."  What is a plantation?  Is is simply a farm? Is it defined by historical era? Architectural style? Size? Crop? Activity? Way of life?

Growing up in Franklin, Tennessee, we passed antebellum plantation home after plantation home on the school bus each morning going to school. It was just somebody's big, old house. Most were still residents, even if a bit dilapidated. Carnton Plantation, though fully restored and open to the public, was a rental house adjacent to the Carnton Golf and Swim Club (now a part of the Battle of Franklin Trust.)  Some homes, I'm sorry to say, housed hay bales and smoked country hams. It's expensive to maintain a big, 150+ year old structure. 

But what make large, old houses plantation homes verses just farm houses?  I needed to know, so I went on a quest. 

What I discovered is typically a Plantation home is a large house in a tropical or subtropical climate on a farm that concentrates on one crop, i.e. a cotton plantation, a sugarcane plantation, a pineapple plantation, a thoroughbred plantation.  If a plantation had more than one main crop, like cotton, corn, and tobacco, then it was a farm, albeit a large one and could boast a large house. 

Rippavilla Plantation, where I serve on the board of Directors, is really a misnomer. Rippavilla was not a plantation or a farm, but an estate.  An Estate is different from a plantation and a farm in that it also hosts a business or activity either outside or adjacent to agriculture such as milling, ginning, or blacksmithing. What Rippavilla's additional businesses were, I'm not certain. I've heard it had it's on mill, but was that for use on the estate only or was it a business open to the public? I've heard it had it's own kiln, and the slaves were skilled brick masons and carpenters. But was it located at Rippavilla or at Susan McKissack Cheairs' father's home? It's quite possible Rippavilla was simply a large farm. 

Are all large, old, southern homes called Plantations?  The simple answer is No. But no one will point out the mistake if you make it. It does seem that the word "plantation" has become a generic word for large, old, southern home, many simply go by their name or are called farm, hall, estate, home or place. Just look at some of the beauties in Maury County. 

The William McKissack Home (privately owned)

Antrim Farm (now a special events venue)

Elm Springs  (Open to the Public for Tours and home to the SCV Headquarters)

Ferguson Hall  (Open to the Public)

Haynes Haven on the site previously known as Woodlawn (Owned by GM and available to rent for special events)

Mayes-Frierson-Fuston Home  (Privately owned)

Rattle and Snap Plantation  (Privately owned, but Open to the public by appointment only)

Rippavilla Plantation (Open to the Public)

Athenaeum Rectory (Open on weekends and by appointment)

So whether they are Plantations, Farm Houses, or Estates, Maury county is home to more than 1500 structures that pre-date the American Civil War. I have no idea how many exist within middle Tennessee. Each is beautiful and rich with history and stories of the residents and those who worked the land. 

Creative Spirits Field Trip - American Artisans, Parthenon, and Belle Meade Mansion

Periodically the Creative Spirits class takes art-related field trips. This past Saturday was such a day where a few members of the class ventured in the 105* heat index morning to see all the wonderful arts and crafts at The American Artisans Festival in Centennial Park near Vanderbilt in Nashville. 

 

The festival was full of talented artists - Wood Carvers, Wood Turners, Glass Blowers, Sculptors, Fiber Artists, Potters, Painters, Photographers, Jewelry makers - the beauty and inspiration was endless. But the heat was BRUTAL. 

We were zapped from the heat and decided to move our party to the Parthenon Gallery. 

Here we viewed photos and artifacts from the 1897 Centennial Exhibition celebrating Tennessee's 100th Anniversary. 

I was especially thrilled to view the Cowen Collection of American Art. Included were paintings by Emile A. Gruppe and William Merritt Chase.

The pièce de résistance was the statue of Athena, a replica of the classical original that stood in the Greek Parthenon.

We ventured up West End (becoming Harding Road) and lunched at Harding House at the Belle Meade Plantation.

And treated ourselves to ice cream for dessert! (Did I mention it was nearly 100*?)

We attempted to drive through the Cheekwood Estate with one student's annual pass, but our plans were foiled. Our August 2017 field trip was to Cheekwood, so no one was disappointed, but we'll have to plan to go again when we have time  and energy to enjoy it. Hopefully, it will be on a day that is cooler, too. 

If you are in the middle Tennessee area, join us! Creative Spirits painting classes meet on Thursday mornings 10am to 11:30am in Spring Hill, Tennessee,, and many days we go to lunch together after class. You have fun and creative friends you haven't even met yet!!
 

Illustrated Nature Journaling

Winter and spring have both been unseasonably cold. We even had a frost yesterday with 33* morning temps. So I had to create my own spring and dream of warmer weather. Specifically I've been working on a new class for all ages.... Illustrated Nature Journaling for Beginners. We'll meet in the garden at Rippavilla Plantation.

The side garden, that is. 

  But there are so many wonderful places to observe flora and fauna on the estate.

   Like in the courtyard...

  And on the lawn....

  And that doesn't even count the back of the property. 

At Rippavilla, there is even a "Witness" tree, an old tree that was standing during the Battle of Spring Hill.... 

  

Illustrated Nature Journaling is fun!

What other activity is uses Science, Language Arts, History, Architecture, Poetry, and Art?

And shows Gratitude and Appreciation for our planet and conservation, and historic preservation?

What other activity can be done in a party or alone and still be fun?

What other activity can be done on location on a pretty day or at home at the dining room table when the weather doesn't cooperate?

What activity can be done on vacation or in your own back yard?

And is fun for ALL ages?

And is as much fun looking back on it as it is while doing it?

Illustrated Nature Journaling, of course. And I combine my journal with Illustrated Travel Journaling and a Gratitude Journal. 

Beatrix Potter, yes that Beatrix Potter, took her nature journaling very seriously. She loved to identify and sketch different types of mushrooms and other botanicals. 

 

 Plus insects and animals....

And she used her imagination to give personalities to these animals and write stories about their lives....

You may think that she was grown before she started her journals, but you would be wrong. 

Although Beatrix Potter was born and raised in London, she and her baby brother spent summers at their grandparents house in the country in Scotland. She loved her heritage and she loved the country, so much more than the city. And this is where her love of nature journaling began. 

If you will be in the Spring Hill, Tennessee, area and would like to participate in an Illustrated Nature Journaling class at Rippavilla, then join us!  Contact Rippavilla Plantation for more information. 

 

Cameos and Tassies

I only own one antique cameo, one that belonged to my grandmother. It's beautiful, yet unremarkable. As so many cameos, it is a woman's profile carved out of white shell against a coral background. Wish I knew it's history or even where or when my grandmother acquired it. But no, this little lady's history is a mystery.

From Collectors Weekly I learned, Victorian women on the Grand Tour—a traveling rite of passage for upper-class Europeans—sought out cameos on their travels. 

In the salons of 18th-century Europe, carved gemstones were all the rage with high-society ladies. Cameo makers of the time would take Plaster of Paris molds of these carved gemstones as records of notable cameo collections. At the time, cameos were a sign of wealth and privilege, but glass paste brought cameos to the mainstream. Scottish artisan James Tassie began making molds of esteemed cameo collections to recreate the images as glass-plate cameos that could pass as carved jewels.

The copy of the cameo from it's plaster of Paris mold is called a "Tassie."  I had never heard of Tassies, but while shopping the Nashville Antiques and Garden Show this past weekend, I discovered them in one of the vendor stalls. 

Now I want to take a Grand Tour and collect my own. But there is more!

I never really thought about it, but gathered the Grand Tour was simply a vacation after college for the elite. However, I've come to learn it was more than that... it was a continuation of education. The Grand Tour was meant to enrich education in art, architecture, history, languages, and culture. With virtually unlimited funds, young aristocrats traveled throughout Europe commissioning paintings, purchasing antiques, and taking lessons in riding, fencing, music, history, culture, the classics and languages.

In my dreams the perfect grand tour would include painting workshops in Provence and Tuscany, castle snooping in England, Scotland and Ireland, market and farmhouse cooking lessons throughout France and Italy, and maybe a lesson or two on winemaking and sommeliering. I would love to be able to say "notes of Oak" with confidence and possibly in French. Without giggling. 

I want to learn the finer points of goat cheese production. And to tour the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. I want to wave at HRH Price Harry and the lovely Ms. Markle from the top of a double-decker bus and smell the flowers at Monet's garden at Giverny. And since I will be close by, I must pay homage to my American heroes at Normandy. 

I want to shop in flea markets and flower markets and dine at an outdoor bistro. I want to paint lavender fields. And design a new perfume. I want to go on a millinery tour of London. 

And why not? I would love to travel Europe taking lessons in riding, fencing, music, history, culture and languages, too.

I want to learn. I want to be inspired. 

I've been looking for a new goal. I may have just found it.