Mendenhall Plantation

On Saturday we met up with our friends Wendy and Cindy for lunch at Fresh Manna...a small cafe with great home-made food in Jamestown, NC. We all decided to have breakfast, even though it was 11:30 because they serve it all day and everything on the menu sounded great. Linda had a veggie omelet and I had sausage gravy and biscuits, along with home style potatoes. Everything was great and it was good to catch up with the girls.

After breakfast we went about a mile down the road to Mendenhall Plantation. This is a Quaker homestead that was pivotal in this part of North Carolina. The Mendenhall family had migrated to Jamestown, from Chester, PA in 1762. Jamestown was named after Richard's (the one who build the homestead) grandfather James.The Mendenhall homestead serves as an interpretive center of the "Other South" of non-slaveholding  and peace loving people. In fact, this homestead served as a training center for blacks to learn a trade so that they could be self sufficient when released from slavery. Although there is no clear documentation, it is believed that Richard and his family were part of the underground railroad. The homestead had around 100 blacks working on the farm, originally as slaves, but left as free men with money in their pockets and trained in various trades.

We had the privilege of having the curator of the plantation serve as our personal guide. Usually it is a self guided tour but he told us so many neat stories about the farm and showed us things we never would have seen by ourselves.

 

 

A false bottom wagon that was used by the Quakers to transport blacks up north to freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

It was very interesting to hear how the house was laid out to make best use of the fireplaces, to see the architectural details and some of the old furnishings. It was a fun day spent with our friends and a great place to meet (we each drove an hour to meet in Jamestown) and spend part of the day.

On Sunday, we drove to Zionville, NC (close to Tenn. border) to see the beginnings of a community that is being built in the mountains. They've had snow already as we saw remnants of it in the ditches and along the roads. It was a great drive and a fun adventure but an area that was a little too primitive for our tastes. We did get to enjoy a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Boone on our way back home. A fun weekend with lots to check out and learn about. What neat discoveries did you make this weekend ?

 

 

 

 

Temps have been very chilly...at night it gets into the 30's and today it was probably in the high 40's. Too chilly for our tastes....looking forward to moving south.