Green Family Springfield Plantation

Green Family Springfield Plantation is an antebellum house located near Fayette in Jefferson County, Mississippi. It has been associated with many famous people throughout its history.

History

One of the oldest Mansions in Mississippi, The Springfield Mansion was built between 1786 and completed in 1791. The original plantation had over [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=xksTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA797&dq=Colonel+Thomas+Marston+Greene#PPA797,M1] ] 3,000 acres and was purchased by Thomas M. Green Jr. , a wealthy Virginia planter, in 1784. Thomas had this house built to show the grandeur of his wealth. The mansion was one of the first houses in America to have a full colonnade across the entire facade and is the first such mansion to be built in the Mississippi Valley. The whole house was built by his slaves out of clay from the land. The hinges, knobs, and all metal tools were built at the plantation's blacksmith building. Possibly what makes the Springfield Plantation most famous is the wedding that took place at it in 1791. Thomas M. Green Sr. ,the owners father, was one of the Magistrates of the Mississippi Territory and the one who the connections that would make his family great. Thomas Sr. as magistrate married Andrew Jackson to Donelson at the house in August of 1791. This marriage would lead to one of the first romantic tragedies in America. For two years Thomas M. Green Jr. had to leave his loved plantation to go to Washington, D.C. when he became a Congressman from the Mississippi Territory. The plantation survived the Civil War and the Union occupation of Mississippi during the later half of the 1800s. After numerous owners over the years the house went into decay for decades. Arthur Edward Cavalier de LaSalle , Arthur LaSalle as he liked to be called, was givin a lifetime lease of the home by the owners to repair, live, and give tours of the Mansion in the early 1970s. When asked about the Mansion when he first arrived he said, "It was occupied by the rats and pigeons nothing else." Springfield is still a working plantation. Sadly on August 11, 2008 Arthur LaSalle died at the Green Family Plantation. The tours for now have stopped, but the owners say they will be reopened.

Cemetery

It is not known how many people are buried at the Green Family Cemetery at the Plantation. These are the names of those known.

*Thomas M. Green Jr. (1758-1813)---Martha Kirland (1760-1805)
*Martha Wills Green (1783-1808)

References

ources

* [http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Springfield-Plantation/blog-116799.html Springfield Plantation Tour]
* [http://www.rvtravelog.com/springfield.dir/springfield1.htm Springfield Plantation Bio]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=xksTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA797&dq=Colonel+Thomas+Marston+Greene#PPA797,M1 Location Details and Plantation Size]