This evening, I'm joining the rangers at the Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site for a lantern tour of the retired property. It's a nearly two hour-drive from my house and so, I leave around 6:30PM to ensure I arrive by the 9:00PM start time. There was an earlier tour, but I wasn't sure I could get out of work early enough to make it down for that one. When I arrive to this very rural area south of Atlanta, it's not well lit and there aren't really any instructions telling me and the other attendees where to do or what to do. Soon though, a ranger comes out to the fenced off parking area and informs us that the earlier tour is still finishing up and that as soon as they depart, he will open the gate and let us into the parking area. In the meantime, he asks us to pull over along the side of the gravel entrance road, which we do.
After waiting a few minutes, the gate opens and we proceed into the parking area. We are instructed to head inside the visitor's center while everyone gathers. Inside, there is a wide area of artifacts from the Jarrell family's century of habitation at this formerly working plantation and homestead. Once everyone has arrived and checked in, we head back outside into what is a very dark evening and begin our tour, lead by the ranger carrying a rather bright lantern.
Our first stop takes us past a small field of sugar cane to the barn, where a few pigs are bedding down for the evening. The ranger tells us stories of the children who lived on this cotton plantation in the mid-nineteenth century. It seems he has also taken great care to collect audio recordings of many of the family members and plays one here for us. These are the grandchildren of those children relaying the stories told to them by their grandparents. It's an interesting way to add a voice to the family.
From here, we move onto Dick Jarrell's home, built in 1895. Dick was the eldest son of John Fitz Jarrell, who build the first permanent structure on the site. Seeing all of this by lantern-light really adds character to the tour and I'm enjoying the stories. Inside the home, we stand by the fireplace while we are told tales of Dick's children, two of which contracted typhoid fever during their time here. One perished to the disease.
Continuing on toward the original home of John Fitz (constructed in 1847), we pass a syrup mill where sugar can was boiled down into syrup. The plantation cat joins us at this junction and several of the children on our tour loose interest in the history in lieu of the feline's antics. When we enter John Fitz's home, I'm surprised by how large the entry room is. It's almost modern in it's accommodation. From the dining area, an elderly gentlemen dressed in period clothing steps into the main room and seats himself in a rocking chair beside the fireplace.
Keeping himself in the character of a civil-war era old-timer, he begins to tell us more tales of the goings-on of this historically rich place. I have to give him credit; he does a fantastic job and lives up to the expectation of what anyone would have an old man living hard on the land back in those times. With his "he-he's" and jokes about his friend 'Arthur Rightus', he really makes it an enjoyable experience.
Our last two stops bring us to he Gin House, where the cotton gin used to turn out cotton in mass and the blacksmith shop. The evening ends with a walk back to the parking lot and our cars. It was a short hike, only about a mile, but I must give credit to the organizers and guides on an extremely interesting and well put-together experience.
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