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Plantation On The Lake

Renee, Tennessee, USA
October 2003

This experience took place in 1999 and 2000. I wish I could give you the name of the house, it is a house built in 1865 and is currently being considered for recognition by a national historic society. The owners may not appreciate me telling this.

This story is not unique, except that it is rich in history. Tennessee is one of many states known for it's Civil War History. In fact this story may be viewed as more of a "connection" with the past than a ghost story.

The property adjoined a well-known lake in the area. This house was built in 1865 by a family who aquired it from a well-known land owner and polition of that time in Nashville. The family owned several slaves and were very conscious of their well-being. They were taken care of quite well and their children stayed on the land where they were born. When slavery was abolished, each family was given a small piece of land. However those homesteads were flooded when the lake was created. There were around 50 slaves in all on this plantation when slavery came to an end.

The house as of the year 2000 had only three owners. That in itself is very unusual. The current owners still have photographs on the walls of the slaves and their families. I found this very interesting and quite unique. They also have a picture of the original owners of the house. There are several items that are original to the house that survied the rennovation. The front door of the home. I find this very important. I feel it is like the "welcome center" of the house. You get a very warm, peaceful and calm feeling as you walk about the rooms. It is in no way creepy or scary. It's like it is filled with love and compassion throughout.

The orginal owners and several of their, I believe nine children, mostly the boys/men are buried on the property and the cemetary is somewhat kept up.

I rented a house that was built on the property by the second owners of the "big house" for their daughter. I had absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happen in that house, but on the to real story.

My boyfriend and I were asked to watch the house for a few days at Christmas when the owners were going to be away. I thought that was great because I'd get to see the house again and I couldn't wait. It started when we would go into the house before dusk and turn lights on and make sure everything was sound. We actually had to walk through a patch of woods or up the long drive to get from our house to theirs and by the time we'd get back to our house, all the lights would be off again! The lights were all you could see of the house at night through the bare trees between the two houses. Needless to say, I wasn't about to walk back up there in the dark and help turn them back on, he had to do that. That's not all. Our landlords had given us specific instructions NOT to turn on the "Star of David" on the roof while they were gone for fear of it causing a fire because no one would be there to keep an eye on it and turn it off before bedtime. Nearly everytime we got back to our house it would be shining brightly on the roof pretty as you please! On about the third night we relayed the concerns about the star on the roof, but told the "occupants" that they could do as they pleased with the lights inside. We felt stupid and my boyfriend said he wasn't going to talk to any ghost, but it worked. I guess they just liked the star.

When we told my landlord, she just smiled and never said a word.

To this day I look back on that experience the same as I would if I had gotten to meet the occupants of that plantation in person. It is a very fond memory.

Renee, Tennessee, USA
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