The Myrtles plantation in St Francisville, Louisiana was built in 1796 by General David Bradford. It was originally named "Laurel Grove" and has been scaring the living daylights out of people ever since.
Perhaps our General was a little short-sighted (a nice way of saying "dim-witted!), or maybe he was just selfish. One couldn't really blame him for choosing the lush, green property dotted with weeping willows and magnolia trees. Who wouldn't want this particular spot to build their 2-story wood-frame home?
Well, if the General had been smart, or even a little compassionate, he might have listened to the local people who had been using the spot as a cemetary and burying their dead there for years and years. They tried their best to persuade him not to disturb the peace of the spot and to explain to him why the place was special to the locals. If he would have listened, he might have chosen a spot just as nice a few miles down the road, but the General had a lot of money, and not a lot of sense.
Instead of relizing anthing about the sanctity of death or what any of this meant to loved ones, that children, parents, sweethearts and friends were resting there, were visited weekly, prayed over and more, he just callously ordered the graves dug up and all the skeletal remains removed. Building went on as continued on what was now a place of sorrow and great unrest. This laid the foundation for what was to come over the next 225 some odd years. Knowing this, it all seems a little more clear.
Bradford died not long after in 1808. His widow sold the land and "Laurel Grove" to her son-in-law, Clark Woodruff, a lawyer and friend of Andrew Jackson........
to be continued....
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Greaat blog post
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