1850 United States Federal Census

Name: Daniel Turnbull
Age: 54
Estimated birth year: abt 1796
Birth Place: Louisiana
Gender: Male
Home in 1850
(City,County,State): West Feliciana, Louisiana

---

1860 United States Federal Census

Name: D Turnbull
Age in 1860: 64
Birth Year: abt 1796
Birthplace: Louisiana
Home in 1860: West Feliciana, Louisiana
Gender: Male
Post Office: St Francisville
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members: Name Age
D Turnbull 64
M H Turnbull 51
C B Turnbull 28
D Turnbull 4
J P Bowman 27
S J Bowman 27
M F Bowman 2
E Bowman 8.12

---

Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville now is being
considered for National Historic Landmark status.


ST. FRANCISVILLE - When planter Daniel Turnbull and wife Martha
introduced their new home, they asked 30 friends to sit down for
dinner at the Regency mahogany dining table.

They sat in Phyfe chairs and were cooled by a hand-pulled cotton
punkah adorned with flowers and cotton blossoms on one side and an
eagle clutching a rabbit - an Audubon-print design - on the other.

It was the summer of 1835 and, as Martha Barrow Turnbull notes in
her diary, "... we had 6 chickens for chicken salad; 2 turkeys, two
ducks, one ham, one tongue, roast mutton, two roast chickens, one
pig. Henrietta took 12 dozen eggs and made a great deal of cake ..."

The house was Rosedown.

It now is on the National Register of Historic Places, being
considered for National Historic Landmark status.

Two years ago, the State of Louisiana bought the house and 471 acres
of land, including 28 acres of gardens.

"The state paid $5.7 million ... that includes a house, the main
house, plus 16 additional structures on the acreage. It is a full
working property," said Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco in a telephone
interview.

When the Turnbulls married Nov. 13, 1828, Martha was 18 - 10 years
younger than Daniel. The ceremony united two pioneer families of
social prominence in the area

Their plantation at one time comprised approximately 3,455 acres,
mostly planted in cotton.

Turnbull died in 1861. Martha Turnbull lived until 1896. Her
daughter, Sarah, and her husband, James Bowman, stayed at Rosedown
throughout the Civil War and reared 10 children there after the war.
The Bowmans' four daughters who didn't marry lived there until the
last one died in 1955.

The sisters made extraordinary sacrifices to hold on to Rosedown,
according to a Louisiana State Parks brochure.

When the last surviving sister, Miss Nina, died there were no bills
or mortgages outstanding on the property.

"(Rosedown) is a gumbo of a house," said tour guide Richard Scott.

It is built of post-beam construction cypress. Constructed in
Federal taste with Greek revival touches, it has Tuscan columns and
Creole features, said Scott.

The house is two stories with end-gable roofs and a two-story
gallery running across the front of the house.

In 1956, Catherine Fondren Underwood of Houston bought the property
and undertook an eight-year restoration of the house and formal
gardens. Underwood and her husband returned Rosedown to function as
a working cattle farm and the house to its former grandeur.

"Rosedown Plantation is one of the most extensive restorations ever
undertaken in this area or even the United States," said New Orleans
architect George Leake. The Underwoods retained him to restore the

house and he is quoted in Reflections of Rosedown.

Today almost 85 percent of Rosedown's furnishings are original, said
Rosedown manager W. Park Moore III.

Many of the furnishings, the finest available, were imported from
the North and from Europe, said the tour guides.

Other notes:

- Mahogany bedrooms suites, with four-poster bed and triple armoire,
purchased by the Turnbulls in New Orleans and shipped up the
Mississippi.

- Child's hobby horse found in the house when restoration started.

- On the wall, a row of balls used to signal the servants.

- Slipper chair with original upholstery.

- In the pantry, ketchup bottles original to Rosedown.

Rosedown is one of 16 State Historic Sites and, with 31,000 visitors
annually, has the highest visitation rate, said manager Moore.

He hopes eventually to draw in 60,000 visitors.

He thinks it important Rosedown is filled with 85 percent of its
original furnishings, items the Turnbull family used on a daily
basis. Also, every room in the house is open.

Rosedown is very special with regard to plantation homes," said
Moore.

"This was a living working plantation of an affluent family with
children living in the home," he said.

The house was in relatively good shape when the state bought it.

But there are some needs.

A request has been made for $1.5 million worth of improvements to
the site, including a pavilion next to the gift shop for family
gatherings and for plantings for the garden.

"We will be painting the house within the next couple of years ...
We are working on improving white fencing, replacing rotten areas.
We also need to rewire and replace the electrical system. It is 40
years old," said Moore.

An important part of the Rosedown project is investigation of slave
life at the plantation, said Blanco.

At peak times of cotton production, as many as 450 slaves worked the
plantation.

"We want to depict it accurately. and we are researching that
particular property," said Blanco.

The work on slave life at the plantation is scientific, said Moore.

Right now, a Ph.D student is researching the site where slave
quarters might have been.

More importantly, research on slaves here will not be just about
slaves collectively, but on individuals.

"How they got here and their life here. What happened to him and his
progeny after the Civil War. Where they stayed. Were they tenant
farmers? We are conducting oral histories and an African-American
Heritage Task Force is just starting," said Moore.

There is an upswell in interest and activity on slaves, and it is
being put to work at Rosedown, said Moore.



IF YOU GO

ADMISSION: $10, ages 18 through 61; $8, age 62 and over; $4, ages 6
through 17; free, children 5 and under. Special rates for tour and
school groups.

A special discount on state historic site admissions allows adult
visitors to pay the standard admission at any historic site and
visit any other Office of State Parks-operated state historic site
at no charge the same day, with receipt.

HOURS: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday through Saturday. Tours start at the
top of every hour beginning at 10 a.m., with the final tour
beginning at 4 p.m. Closed: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

INFORMATION: (225) 635-3332. Web site: www.lastateparks.com

ROSEDOWN GIFTS

HOURS: Same hours.

TOP SOUVENIR: Sunflowers & Junebugs, home-canned jelly made with
fresh Louisiana fruits in St. Francisville and whimsically wrapped
with gingham and twine. Best sellers: blackberry, dewberry,
muscadine, mayhaw and old-fashioned apple butter.

1. Daniel (fils) Turnbull
2. Martha Turnbull
3. William Barrow Turnbull b: ABT 1829
4. Sarah Turnbull b: 6 AUG 1831
5. James Daniel Turnbull b: 1836

1. 1850 United States Federal Census
   
   Name: Daniel Turnbull
   Age: 54
   Estimated birth year: abt 1796
   Birth Place: Louisiana
   Gender: Male
   Home in 1850
   (City,County,State): West Feliciana, Louisiana.
2. 1860 United States Federal Census
   
   Name: D Turnbull
   Age in 1860: 64
   Birth Year: abt 1796
   Birthplace: Louisiana
   Home in 1860: West Feliciana, Louisiana
   Gender: Male
   Post Office: St Francisville
   Value of real estate: View image
   Household Members: Name Age
   D Turnbull 64
   M H Turnbull 51
   C B Turnbull 28
   D Turnbull 4
   J P Bowman 27
   S J Bowman 27
   M F Bowman 2
   E Bowman 8.12.