Southern Plantations

Book excerpt: Once the lifeblood of large estates and farms throughout the American South and East, antebellum plantations today serve as windows into one of the most controversial eras of U.S. history. Though many of these grand homes have been lost, scores more still exist, some as National Memorial sites, National Historic Landmarks, or National Historic Places. Award-winning historian Robin Lattimore explores the history of antebellum plantations in this concise guide to the working estates that dotted the U.S. landscape before the Civil War, many of which still remain. Whether Greek Revival, Federal, or Tidewater in style, antebellum plantations were grand and stately, reflecting the wealth and power of their often slave-owning landowners. From an examination of the architecture of antebellum plantations to a look at the plantation system and its effects on the South, Southern Plantations is a beautiful account of these windows to the past.