Todays Tour of Home feature on the Green Tour to be showcased is Glenfield. A picturesque cottage-villa, Glenfield sets on 150 acre Spanish Land Grant. The home consist of two distinct sections each dating to a different era. The rear wing is the original structure dating from 1797 - 1812 by Charles B. Green for his wife, Helen Andres Girrault. This portion bears all the earmarks of age and the construction techniques that would have been used during this early period. The walls are thick and built entirely to the ground. The ceilings are low and the windows are small in this section and heavily shuttered to ward off prowling forest animals - so prevalent in the early days of the Natchez settlement when much of the land continued to be undeveloped. The back gallery is floored with handmade bricks and enclosed with thick handmade blinds which was used as a sleeping porch in summer. Furthermore, this part of the home is built to face the sun - as the Spaniards worshiped the sun. An old floor cistern and hickory pins used in construction are other evidences of age. Like other homes of its period, Glenfield is deceivingly large (approximately close to 8,000 sq. ft. and one level). A tour through the house reveals it contains more rooms than some of the showier mansions in Natchez built during Greek Revival era. The front house is distinctly Gothic architecture, and noted as one of only three homes in Natchez offering this architecture type, with Glenfield being the only full Gothic architecture home in Natchez and one of only ten in the State of Mississippi. This section contains high-ceiling rooms centered by impressive marble mantels. All the cornices above the grand windows are hand carved teak-wood. The home sits on the grounds of the only known civil war skirmish that took place in Natchez, and a bullet hole made by contending forces can still be seen in the front oak door of the house and lodge inside the hallway. Glenfield was featured on the early Spring Pilgrimage in 1932, and still remains in the same family today of seven generations. Glenfield Plantation operates also as a Bed and Breakfast and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To read more history regarding Glenfield, visit glenfieldplantation.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 16:09:31 +0000
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