Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Whiskey Dave was running from arrest, having left behind his wife and children in Pennsylvania. Where did Whiskey Dave run to; but to the Spanish owned territory of  Louisiana to avoid arrest and a death sentence for his part in the Whiskey Rebellion, which challenged the new federal government of the United States under George Washington. He was as we say "just ahead of the law" the entire time as he rode for his life. But Whiskey Dave was no ordinary farmer, he was General David Bradford. Having attained the rank of general in the state militia, he was also an attorney and a trustee of what was to become Washington & Jefferson University. He was a man whom other men would listen to, follow and support. 
Whiskey Dave made it to the Ohio River, traded his trusty grey horse for a small skiff and managed to slip through the cavalry unit sent to arrest him by staying close to the opposite shore under cover of darkness. He then sought refuge on a keel boat and as the boat was about to depart for New Orleans, the soldiers boarded the vessel. The crew managed to disarm the soldiers and proceeded to throw them into the river. As the ship set off, the soggy soldiers sloshed ashore having lost in their attempt to capture the man they had been chasing. A man with a $500 bounty on his head.
Bradford then began his life over again, with the building of the Myrtles Plantation (then known as Laurel Grove) in 1796. He lived alone on the plantation putting all of his energies into the land for several years until he was pardoned for his part in the rebellion. After his pardon he went back to Pennsylvania for his wife and children. Reuniting his family again, he lived out the remainder of his life at the plantation. The property stayed in the family till 1834, when Ruffin Stirling purchased it and changed the name to the Myrtles. Mr. Stirling had nine children, five of whom died young.
The Stirling family continued to own the plantation till 1886, as Sarah, a daughter of Mr. Stirling and her husband took over control of the property after the death of her father. She had three children, one of whom died at the age of three of typhoid. Sarah's husband was shot to death on the veranda of the home in 1871. After the Stirling family, the house changed hands several times in the late 1800s and during the next several decades until it was bought and restored by the Ward family in the 1950s.

The Myrtles Plantation

Our first full day in Plantation country brought us to the Myrtles Plantation. We heard from our host who was a wealth of information that this Plantation does an evening mystery tour. The tour tickets had to be purchased in advance and sold out quickly, but was interesting if you liked the supernatural. Being game as tourists we decided that would work for us. 
Evening tours began at 6 p.m. and continued every hour, with the last tour at 9 p.m.
We saw the same rooms as in the regular tour, heard the history of the plantation as well but were also informed of the ghosts who inhabit the plantation also.

The Hanging tree

Some of the ghosts who supposedly inhabit the plantation are one slave Sara, who became the master's mistress and was brought in as a house slave to make it more convenient for her master, Mr. Stirling and two of the Stirling children. Stirling tired of Sara after a time, and sent her back to the kitchen. Being anxious to get back to the house and his good graces, she devised a plan to get back there. The twins were having a birthday party and it fell to Sara to bake their cake. The cake she baked was laced with Oleander oil. Sara thought that if she put just a little in the cake, the children would get sick, call for her, and she would come back to nurse them to health. Her plan backfired when the children died. Devastated, Sara tried to hide from the master only to be found and killed by him. 
Another of the ghosts we heard about was the ghost of a Voodoo queen. Normally planters in this area feared anything to do with Voodoo. The sound of Voodoo drums striking a cold, terrifying fear in them. However, in a last ditch effort to save a favored child Mr. Winter called upon a Voodoo queen who had developed a reputation for being able to save people that doctors could not. The Voodoo queen was up all night with Mr. Winter's three year old child, chanting and praying. Dancing and speaking incantations. As dawn approached she came down the stairs and stated to the planter that his child would live. She had been successful. Grateful beyond reason, Mr. Winter offered the woman rest in his wife's daybed. About an hour after she lay down, the child died. Winter distraught and overcome with grief, broke into the room. He grabbed the woman out of the bed and dragged her outside, threw a rope over a tree (now dead in the front garden of the home) and hung her with his own hands. As she gasped for breath, she cursed him to die a horrible death. Three years later almost to the day, a rider approached the house calling for the assistance of a lawyer. Mr. Winter being an attorney stepped out on the veranda and was mortally wounded by the rider. He managed to stagger back into the house and climb the stairs. But he never made it all the way up. He collapsed about 2 steps from the top, calling for his wife. Mrs. Winter came out of the children's bedroom only to find her husband dead. She never remarried and lived out the remainder of her years dressed in mourning clothes for the deaths of her beloved husband and child. The Winter's son upon the death of his mother sold the mansion, never to return to it again in his lifetime.
Mysteries, history, and ghost tales abound at the Myrtles Plantation. It is also a beautiful home that we enjoyed seeing. This is one tour I would defintely recommend. That is if you are interested in ghosts. The plantation also offers guests the choice to stay inside the mansion in one of the many bedrooms as part of their Bed & Breakfast rooms choices. If you are brave enough to stay in the home you will able to spend some time with the ghosts of the Myrtles Plantation.

One of the original garden statuary
placed by the Stirlings.

This was such an amazing sight.
Spanish moss, hanging down so low
you could touch it from huge trees.
Stunning.

Hand painted, hand etched glass on the doors of the home.
One pane either broken or removed, and so replaced with
plain glass.

The original light fixtures
for the veranda which
have been electrified.

One of the beautiful ironwork columns
which support the roof of the veranda.

For a time, the home was put in charge of a caretaker and no
family lived there. It was then sold and changed hands several
times.

Entrance to the B & B cabins and rooms on the
property.

The walking bride over the pond. However, the pond wasn't
as nice as at Butler Greenwood.

The summer house, better known today
as a Gazebo.

This was a B & B cabin. One of the original structures of the home.

Part of the gardens of the home.

From this you can see the true size of the
Live Oaks that populated the gardens.

The Carriage House Restaurant main room chandilier.

A view of the Carriage House Restaurant, it was the original
kitchen to the home.

The brick patio fountain with the Carriage
House Restaurant in the background.

Some of the flowers of the gardens.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the home.
Their reason was insurance. So during the tour they gave
everyone 5 minutes in one room. This was my shot.
Pierced double crown moulding. Fabulous to me.