Submitted by FHMaster on Sat, 12/31/2016 - 14:10

North side of the town of Mayersville.

This plantation had a 400 acre tract right on the MS River with a swamp at the back which separated it from the larger main body of the plantation which was in the woods. 

 

  • David Hunt bought land in this area in around 1835.  This was about the time when settlers were moving in and forming plantations on the former  Indian lands in the area.
  • The plantation had a manager's house, slave cabins and a cotton gin on it.  David Hunt owned 82 slaves on this plantation in 1860.
  • Just prior to the Civil War when David Hunt's son Andrew reached 21 years of age, he received the plantation as a gift from his father.  Andrew died before he reached 22 years of age.  Shortly after the Civil War, the plantation next passed to Andrew's younger brother Dunbar.
  • During the Civil War this plantation was considered abandoned for a time.  This meant that the slaves fled to refugee camps.  The government was overwhelmed and could not feed and house all of the former slaves.  Thus, the government set up a local office to lease these "abandoned" plantations from their owners and have the slaves return to live and put in crops  to sustain themselves.
  • After the war, the share cropping system was set up on plantations such as this during a transitional period in history in which former slaves, now free, were evolving into various ways of earning a living. 

 

 

Location
Mayersville
State
Owners
David Hunt
Andrew Hunt
Dunbar Hunt
Founded
1835
Status
Unknown