Waveland Art Festival- Lexington

We made it to the Waveland State Historic Site in Lexington last month.  They were having their annual art festival on that day.  It was  a rainy and dreary Saturday, which obviously affected attendance.

It was still nice checking out the vendors, and visiting the home.

The house is spectacular and well maintained.  Our tour guide told us about the Bryan family who owned the home.  Daniel Boone, slaves, the Civil War and gambling all play major roles in the plantation's history. 

The land was acquired by the family in the 1780s.  The mansion was built on the property in 1840, and sold in the 1890s.

Our guide told us a lot about the lives of the people on the plantation back in the 1800s.  He discussed how even the wealthy did not have the modern conveniences that our poorest members of society have now.


I personally appreciate this line of thinking, and it is something that I think a lot about now.  I do like the fact that parks and museums bring to the attention of the kids how easy they have it now, compared to just a couple of generations ago.

On the site are the very well preserved slave quarters.  This was probably the most impressive part of the tour. 

Our tour guide also talked about the slaves back then.

He brought up the fact that a slave cost several hundred dollars back then (equating the price to about $20,000 in today's currency).  He stated that most farmers he knew today would likely not abuse a $20,000 piece of equipment.  He doubted that the farmers of the slave era would either.  He also noted that all of the slaves at Waveland decided to stay as paid help, after being freed.

I understood where our guide was coming from, but I did not appreciate the slave/farm equipment comparison as much as the previous discussion. 

Still, it was an interesting tour at a very well preserved location.