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After Bradford’s death, the grove passed to his daughter and her husband, Clarke Woodruff. We also offer Evening Mystery tours seven nights a week and Private Mystery tours Sunday – Thursday. To view tour times, and book your tours in advance, please click on “Book Now” below. Several of the tales that have been told about the location—mainly to explain the hauntings—have been proven false by history. They acknowledge that she existed, although she was never given a name.
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While his wife was pregnant with their third child, he started an intimate relationship with one of his slaves. Injured during the Civil War, in which he served as a fifteen-year-old Confederate cavalry courier, Williams planted cotton and gained a reputation as a hard-working and industrious man. He and his family, which grew to include seven children, kept the Myrtles going during the hard times of the post-war South.
Myrtles Plantation
It is reportedly a haunted place, and has been featured in television. The Myrtles Plantation has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. "They were part of a whole Creole community, free people of color, who were slaveowners and ran plantations," says Carolyn Brackett, a Project Manager for the National Historic Trust. "It's one of the fascinating things about that place, there are so many layers of history at Melrose. It takes a long time to sort them out."
Legends and ghost stories
Secretly called "the Colonel" behind her back, Katie was a true Southern character. Eccentric and kind, but with a gruff exterior, she kept life interesting at the house for years. According to the January 1871 issue of the Point Coupee Democrat newspaper, Winter was teaching a Sunday school lesson in the gentlemen's parlor of the house when he heard someone approach the house on horseback. After the stranger called out to him, saying that he had some business with him, Winter went out onto the side gallery of the house and was shot. Those inside of the house, stunned by the sound of gunfire and retreating hoofbeats, hurried outside to find the fallen man. Winter died on January 26, 1871 and was buried the following day in the cemetery at Grace Church.
Historic Preservation
Yet, if other sightings are to be believed, she’s not the only paranormal resident of the Myrtles. According to legend, Chloe’s spirit lived on, haunting the Myrtles Plantation. However, this story would not become widespread until many decades later. The other slaves, afraid that Woodruff would find out what Chloe had done when he returned, took the matter into their own hands. He lived there alone for several years until he was officially pardoned by U.S.
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New Photos Appears to Show 'Chloe' Ghost at the Most Haunted Home in Louisiana - 94.3 Lite FM
New Photos Appears to Show 'Chloe' Ghost at the Most Haunted Home in Louisiana.
Posted: Sat, 12 Nov 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]
He was given the pardon for his assistance in establishing a boundary line, known historically as “Ellicott’s Line,” between Spain and the United States. It was a simple check of historical records that revealed the real story. The true story of the Myrtles may not be as glamorous as the story presented by the staff at the plantation, but it is certainly strange. The history of the plantation is filled with death, tragedy and despair, leading us to wonder why a fanciful history was created in its place. Louis's own stint as a plantation owner started when he was granted 911 acres from his mother in 1795, land that was initially acquired as part of a grant from the Spanish crown. The Africa House, which was likely built by a slave he purchased in 1809, came next, made of bricks hand-pressed on site.
Ruffin Stirling Room
The war itself wreaked havoc on the Myrtles and on the Stirling family. Many of the family's personal belongings were looted and destroyed by Union soldiers and the wealth that they had accumulated was ultimately in worthless Confederate currency. To make matters worse, Mary Cobb had invested heavily in sugar plantations that had been ravaged by the war. She never let the tragedies of the war, and the others that followed, overcome her, however, and she held onto the Myrtles until her death in August 1880.
Hotel Winters
Possibly the most well known of the Myrtles' supposed ghosts, Chloe (or Cloe)[5] was reportedly a slave owned by Clark and Sara Woodruff. After being caught, either by Clark or Sara Woodruff, one of her ears was cut off, and she wore a green turban to hide it. In 1823, she, unfortunately, passed away from yellow fever, according to historical accounts.
Several individuals have reported unusual things around the residence. Many property owners have recently capitalized on the Myrtles Plantation’s notorious reputation, and the location is now accessible to visitors for tours and as a haunted bed & breakfast. The ghost wearing a green turban allegedly appeared to Frances Myers in 1987. She was asleep in one of the downstairs bedrooms when a black woman in a long dress and a green turban abruptly roused her. The story expanded significantly and was substantially enhanced during this time to include the poison murders and the severed ear. But up until this moment, it mainly had remained a local legend that had garnered little attention from outside the region.
Regardless, someone repeated this story of the Williams' family ghost to Marjorie Munson and she soon penned a song about the ghost of the Myrtles, a woman in a green beret. The only verifiable murder to occur at the Myrtles was that of William Drew Winter and it differs wildly from the legends that have been told. As described previously, Winter was lured out of the house by a rider, who shot him to death on the porch. In the legend, Winter was shot and then, mortally wounded, staggered back into the house, passed through the gentlemen's parlor and the ladies’ parlor and onto the staircase that rises from the central hallway.
From then on, Chloe was forced to wear a turban to cover her disfigured ear. Springboard Hospitality is a premier hotel management company with a 30+ year history transforming hotels, from the islands of Hawaii to the tip of Florida. Our grounds are also open seven days a week and free for all to enjoy. We offer complimentary self-guided walking tours of the grounds as well as a web-based version you can follow along on your phone. To provide for the inspiration and education of our visitors through interpretive activities and to assist in the preservation of the historic Adamson House. To protect the park’s extraordinary biological diversity and its most valued natural and cultural resources.
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When he came in 1810, the Feliciana parish residents revolted against the Spanish troops in Baton Rouge. After overthrowing the Spanish, they established a new nation with St. Francisville as its capital. The area stretched eastward from the Mississippi River to the Perdido River, close to Mobile. In August 1791, Clark Woodrooff was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
The house appeared in a November 1980 issue of LIFE magazine but the first book that I have found that mentioned the house was by author Richard Winer. Both the magazine article and the Winer book mentioned the poison deaths of Sarah Mathilda and her daughters. The problem with this is that as far as we can tell, Chloe never existed at all. Not only did she not murder members of the Woodruff family, but it's unlikely that the family ever had a slave by this name. Countless hours have been spent looking through the property records of the Woodruff family, which are still available and on file as public record in St. Francisville, searching for any evidence that Chloe existed.
She was buried next to her husband in the family plot at Grace Church in St. Francisville. There were a number of deaths in the house from yellow fever alone, and it's certainly possible that any of the deceased might have stayed behind after death. If ghosts stay behind in this world because of unfinished business, there are a number of candidates to be the restless ghosts of the plantation's stories. The house may really be haunted by the ghost of a woman in a green turban or bonnet. The Williams family had an ongoing tale about her and while it may have been a story that was never meant to be told outside the family, the story spread nonetheless. They admit that while the ghost apparently did exist, no identity was ever given to her.
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