Corey Talks: The Wal Mart State of Mind Oftentimes I will read on bridal forums and blogs that “I can get that printed off the disc at Wal Mart for 57 cents. I am not paying my photographer $20 for the same thing! That is a rip off!” What many […]
A few weeks ago, I was invited to visit Whitney Plantation in Louisiana by its owner John J. Cummings III. As most of you know that have been following my blog, I really love plantations. This was a huge deal because as of right now, Whitney is not open to the public and it is very hard to see from the road. The main house is one of the only plantations left (if not THE only) with frescoes painted on the exterior walls. I had also heard about the amazing things that Mr. Cummings has in the works for Whitney and I really wanted to see the house and hear about his plans. So I booked my trip and went down to Louisiana which was HOT HOT HOT!
I also met up with two other gentleman for this mini-tour, Jacques and Mark. Jacques’ family used to own (and still lives on the land) of a plantation across the river and Mark is a historian that has wrote a few books on plantations so I was in very good company. I am still quite glad to have met them!
Mr. Cummings showed up and took us over to the church which he recently had moved and rebuilt on Whitney’s land and told us the backstory on how he came to own Whitney. He is another history buff and when he heard about Whitney’s possible demise at the hands of yet another chemical plant, he decided to buy her. After reading books upon books about plantation life, Whitney and all things he could possibly find he decided that what was missing on River Road was the gods-honest-truth about slavery. So he decided to change that – and changing that he is!
One of the first things we saw when coming into the church were these amazing statues of slave children scattered about the church. With their glass eyes, they are almost frighteningly real. They are being created and placed in random places about the plantation site to constantly remind people that it wasn’t just adults that lived, worked and died on plantations – children also died here as well. His viewpoint is that children are innocent and seeing slavery from the eyes of a child may help people get drawn into the horrors that slaves suffered easier than an adult’s story would.
Mr. Cummings has amazing plans for Whitney and how to bring slavery to life for people of today to understand and learn from the past. He is planning to have an area for college students to stay and live on the plantation and have access to all sorts of resources to be able to write papers about plantation life and slavery. He is currently in the process of trying to find the names for every single slave that was brought into the south and is having the names engraved onto granite and will have them displayed in an area behind the church. These granite slabs will also have quotes from the slaves about their lives on the plantations. Finally he is also planning a “Field of Angels” in memory of the slave children that didn’t live past the age of two. This is no small undertaking!
There is no firm date of when he hopes to open Whitney’s doors to the public but I hope it is soon because I think the tales that Whitney wants to tell are ones that need to be heard. When it is open, it will be one of the stops along the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail. Enjoy the pictures below of a plantation that is rarely photographed. Thank you Mr. Cummings for allowing me to hear the tales you are about to tell and letting me capture some images of Whitney on film. I hope to be permitted to come down again and capture more images of the grounds. I was far too interested in hearing the stories to take pictures as well!
At the beginning of July I met up with Rob and Nancy and their friends for a long weekend in Port Clinton, Ohio. Rob and my Dad were best friends growing up and remained close throughout their lives, I’ve known Rob since I was born. When my father passed away two years ago, Rob and his wife Nancy have really stepped in and included me in their family. My mother and brother died when I was young and the rest of my extended family is gone so I consider myself very lucky that I have someone like them in my life 
. The first day I spent the entire day by the poolside soaking up some rays which resulted in my pale self getting burned in spots (sunblock failed me – or I missed – who knows!) so Chris and I took the day and went up to Put-in-Bay. I hadn’t been there in about 10 years so it was nice to be back. I really enjoyed being able to finally taste some samples of wine! It was a nice time!
I took some pictures on Put-in-Bay so I though I would share them! I highly reccomend the day trip to Put-in-Bay even for the non-drinkers. It really reminds me of Key West in a way up there!
My father and Rob often bought exact copies of the same thing. The first SLR camera I used, an old Canon, Rob and my father bought at the same time. They also both had the same canoe so when I saw the canoe on the lake I had to take a picture of it because it brought back many memories of being on the lake with my father and Rob as a kid.
One of my favorite wedding blog sites, Elizabeth Anne Designs, has now expanded to include a library to make finding vendors even easier for brides! I am very honored to be listed as one of the vendors in their amazing library! I know as a past bride that it oftentimes […]
Corey Talks: Feeding the Monster It’s your wedding day! Yippie! You’ve got everything on a list, down to the minute, you spent hours planning this wedding and finally – after 3 (THREE!) days of agonizing work, you have your seating chart ready to go and perfect. There’s one little thing […]
Steve and Kerri were such a fun couple to work with. I met Kerri back at the beginning of the year and have been looking forward to this wedding ever since. Kerri has to be one of the most relaxed brides I have ever seen! She got dressed on her own and then was helping others finish up getting dressed and fixing them up to look perfect! The ceremony was an intimate gathering in front of Shady Hollow Country Club in Jackson Township and then the reception was attended by all at the same location. They ran into the reception to the OSU fight song and the laughs never stopped (even though there was some tears from the amazing toasts from Kerri’s brother and Steve’s good friend).
Thank you both for having me be a part of your amazing day!
