Sunday Bob and I traveled to Gainesville, Fl to tour this homestead at Kanapaha, Plantation. It is a unique Classic Revival style home with Cracker influence.
Built by Thomas Evans and Esther Serena Chestnut Haile from 1854 to 1856 this 6200 squarefoot home has been restored to it's original appearance .
The fine workmanship and simple elegance attest to the skills of the enslaved craftsmen who constructed the home out of native materials. At the peak of the cotton farming and up until the Civil War there were 85 slaves listed as living and working there.
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| All that remains of the slave cabins |
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Trunk rooms at top of stairs, A place where unused items are stored along with booze during parties |
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| This crib was used for all 15 of the children that Esther bore during her lifetime. |
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| Master bedroom just off the nursery |
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| Wardrobe which houses the chamber pot along with other necessary items |
Using boxes to make dressers drawers shows the resourcefulness of the family.
"Waste not, want not."
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Fainting couch,
a necessary item. |
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| One of 6 different fireplaces throughout the house |
The Classical Revival style having identical rooms on either side of the large hall that extends from front to back |
Cooking pots in the serving room just off the dining room. The kitchen was located out of doors away from the house for fire safety and to help keep the main house cooler.
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This large bedroom slept all of the 12 boys. There were 6 beds, 3 at each end with two boys to a bed.
The 3 girls shared this room..the posts on the bed were for draping a mosquito cloth over while sleeping.
These stairs and all the floors were built of pine and are termite resistant. All the wood in the stairs and floors are original and have only been polished.
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| Back porch identical to the front porch. |
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| This was in the school room along with this writing on the wall that says: |
"I will be so very glad when school is out...."
The house is unique in that it has this writing on every wall in every room. There are recipes, growth charts, inventories of silverware and even a menstrual cycle chart in the master bedroom closet. There are little sayings and poems along with guest writings. Paper was scarce so that may be the reason for this or it may just be this family did things. It certainly is a unique way to keep a journal of a family.
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Growth chart
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| Menstrual cycle chart |
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| Inventory of silverware |
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| Inventory of china |
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| Abraham Lincoln |
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| Adobe brick with finger marks still in it |
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Kachina used for foundation pillars. Raising the height of the floor keeps the indoor temperatures 10 degrees cooler then the outside air
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Signs placed where outbuildings used to stand
This cistern collected all the rain water from the roof via a wooden gutter
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| Barns |
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| Smokehouse |
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| Kitchen |
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| Path leading to and from the Haile Homestead |
