Here is the actual main residence of the plantation known as Oatlands. After seeing the pictures of the last two days, I figured you might be getting curious about the house itself.
Now Alison remember I am from Australia as I ask what might be a dumb question. Is this what we would know as a Southern mansion, that would have been a plantation that had slaves originally. Interestingly enough and I don't know why I have always pictured these mansions painted white
@lynne3804 Yes this is the main house of a "southern plantation," which, as you observed are usually white. The tour guide gave us the history of the family. Here is one paragraph from the website:
"Carter’s growing wealth was based on the labor of enslaved African Americans. When he took over the property, George Carter owned 17 slaves; in the 1840s the number had grown to 85. Just prior to the Civil War Oatlands housed the largest slave population in Loudoun County, numbering 128 people. Unfortunately, little documentary evidence remains about the personal lives of these workers or the slave culture at Oatlands."
The plantation economy was not based on cotton as in the Deep South, but rather on wheat production, Carter eventually branched out to grow other small grains; raise sheep for their wool; develop a vineyard; and build a mill complex on nearby Goose Creek for the grinding of grain, milling of timber, and pressing of flax seed to produce oil cake. I
June 19th, 2012
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"Carter’s growing wealth was based on the labor of enslaved African Americans. When he took over the property, George Carter owned 17 slaves; in the 1840s the number had grown to 85. Just prior to the Civil War Oatlands housed the largest slave population in Loudoun County, numbering 128 people. Unfortunately, little documentary evidence remains about the personal lives of these workers or the slave culture at Oatlands."
The plantation economy was not based on cotton as in the Deep South, but rather on wheat production, Carter eventually branched out to grow other small grains; raise sheep for their wool; develop a vineyard; and build a mill complex on nearby Goose Creek for the grinding of grain, milling of timber, and pressing of flax seed to produce oil cake. I