Wessyngton, Gazebo, Cedar Hill vicinity, Robertson, TN

  • Creator: Jack E. Boucher
  • Title: Wessyngton, Gazebo, Cedar Hill vicinity, Robertson, TN
  • Date: 1971
  • Description: Circular wooden gazebo with lattice fencing sits near a Federal style brick house.
  • Historical Note: This photograph depicts a gazebo on the Wessyngton grounds. Wessyngton, home of the Washington family in Cedar Hill, was one of the highest producing tobacco plantations in America at the time of the Civil War. Family records show that tobacco production in 1860 was 250,000 pounds, totaling about 1/9th of America's total tobacco production. That year the estate also produced 50,000 bushels of wheat, 22,000 bushels of corn, butter, potatoes, wool and multiple other crops and goods. Named for a Norman estate in the Washington family ancestry, the large Federal style home was built by slaves from bricks made on the property. Clay from nearby Caleb's Creek was carried up the hill and baked in a kiln. Each wall of the home is four to five bricks thick. Even the lumber was grown on the estate. Many of the Washington slaves left with Union forces as they occupied Tennessee. Some enlisted when a regiment of United States Colored Troops was organized in Gallatin, Tennessee, about 45 miles away.
  • Institution: Library of Congress
  • Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the Library of Congress.
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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