John's Journal...

Mississippi’s Lenoir Plantation – Ghosts, Deer, Hogs, War-Between-the-States History, Thoroughbreds and Quarter-Horse Training and Much More

Lenoir Plantation Today – Contrast in History

Click to enlargeEditor’s Note: I was fortunate enough to attend the first outdoor writer hunt ever held on
Lenoir Plantation in Prairie, Mississippi, during December, 2009. This privately-held land never has been opened to the public, but it will be open in the fall of 2010 to a limited number of guests and offer hunting for deer, hogs, coons and ducks as well as fishing. But the story of Lenoir Plantation is as interesting as the game that abounds there. At this lovely antebellum home, two-different families lived and worked – the white side and the African-American side of the Lenoir family. Even today, descendants from both sides still live in the area. The Patterson family recently has purchased Lenoir Plantation, and this week, Beau Patterson will tell us about Lenoir Plantation’s history and what it will offer guests when it opens to the public in the fall of 2010.Click to enlarge

The beautiful old Lenoir Plantation is a monument to early American culture and history. But as you sit on a rocking chair on the front porch and look past the stately white columns that were the trademark of pre-Civil War wealth, you’ll see a magnificent barn. This barn is not the kind that you’d see in the Northeast, filled with hay and possibly livestock. This barn is one like you’ll expect to see in Kentucky, where many of the Pattersons’ thoroughbred horses will be sold. The barn is very stately, with immaculate floors, two training arenas all enclosed with heating and air conditioning and beautifully-manicured stables for the care and feeding of the quarter horses and thoroughbreds raised and trained there.

Next to the barn is an old commissary-type store. “This store was originally located about 10-miles away from the plantation, and there were plans to tear it down,” Patterson says. “However, the building was purchased and rebuilt across the road from the Lenoir plantation house, right next to the barn and the arena. Behind the barn and the arena is one of the many lakes on the property that provides fishing and recreation for the guests who come and stay with us. Click to enlarge

“If you want a real taste of the Old South, I highly recommend an after-hours raccoon hunt. Because of the crops (coons love corn) and the lakes and waterways weaving through the property, the Lenoir Plantation has a healthy coon population, as well as a better-than-average coyote population. Although coyotes aren’t native to the Southeast, there are many legends about why Click to enlargethey’ve become so dominant in most southern states. Many believe that the coyotes migrated from the West to the East, and since Texas is only one state away from Mississippi, it’s very likely that the Lenoir Plantation coyotes crossed Louisiana from Texas and moved into Mississippi. However, a much-more likely story and one that’s widely believed all over the South is that coon hunters had live coyotes shipped from Texas into many areas of the South so that they could run their dogs for longer races across more ground to try to catch the coyotes than the dogs would have to run to catch coons. In many areas of the South, coyote hunters would build a fire to sit around, turn their dogs loose and listen to them run all night long while trying to catch a coyote. Now how much truth is in this story, I don’t know. But I know that it’s a widely-held belief not only in Mississippi but in many sections of the South.”

The wildlife is so abundant around Lenoir Plantation that while we were having lunch in the old mansion, a big hawk lit on a four wheeler right outside the Lenoir plantation, and several photographers who were present were able to get pictures like the one you see here. Lenoir Plantation is a productive place to hunt and fish, a great opportunity to relive and see the Old South as it once was and a unique destination for anyone interested in history and hunting.

Lenoir Plantation will be open to guests in the fall of 2010. For more information about the hunting, the fishing, the house and the old plantation, contact Beau Patterson at Bpatterson4888@gmail.com or (662) 202-4888.

Visit www.mississippi.org to learn more about Mississippi's outdoor places.


Check back each day this week for more about "Mississippi’s Lenoir Plantation – Ghosts, Deer, Hogs, War-Between-the-States History, Thoroughbreds and Quarter-Horse Training and Much More"

Day 1: The Haunting
Day 2: After the Civil War
Day 3: Why the Pattersons Bought the Plantation and the Land
Day 4: The Wildlife at the Lenoir Plantation
Day 5: Lenoir Plantation Today – Contrast in History





 

Entry 540, Day 5