Windsor Ruins

About this property

Windsor Ruins are in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States, about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Port Gibson near Alcorn State University. The ruins consist of 23 standing Corinthian columns of the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion ever built in the state. The mansion stood from 1861 to 1890, when it was destroyed by fire. The 2.1-acre (0.85 ha) site with the columns was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1985. Windsor mansion was located on a plantation that covered 2,600 acres (1,100 ha). As was common in the American South at the time, the mansion was constructed using a combination of skilled New England carpenters, northern masons, and enslaved African Americans between 1859 and 1861 for Smith Coffee Daniell II. He was born in Mississippi and had acquired great wealth by age 30 as a cotton planter. In 1849, Smith Daniell married his cousin Catherine Freeland (1830–1903). The couple had six children, with three surviving to adulthood. Windsor mansion was built facing the Mississippi River, which formed the major transportation route. It was located about 4 mi (6.4 km) east of the river. The architect David Shroder supervised a crew of skilled artisans—carpenters, plasterers, masons, and painters—from Mississippi, northeastern states, and Europe to do finishing work on the mansion. The footprint for Windsor mansion was set by 29 columns which supported a projected roof line that protected 9 ft (2.7 m) wide verandas on the second and third floors. The 29 columns were constructed of bricks that were covered with stucco. Each column was more than 3.5 ft (1.1 m) in diameter at the base and stood 40 ft (12 m) tall. The columns were constructed atop 10 ft (3.0 m) tall, paneled brick plinths that were almost 5 ft (1.5 m) square. Bricks were made in an onsite kiln. The fluted columns were crowned with ornate, iron Corinthian capitals. The columns were joined at the height of the third floor by ornamental iron balustrades. Column capitals, balustrades, and four cast iron stairways were manufactured in St. Louis and shipped down the Mississippi River to the Port of Bruinsburg, about 2 mi (3.2 km) west of Windsor mansion. Windsor mansion was constructed as a three-story block, consisting of a ground floor basement, with living quarters on the second and third floors. The main block was 64 ft (20 m) on each side. A three-story ell projected from the east side of the main block. The ell measured 59 ft (18 m) by 26.5 ft (8.1 m). Archeological examination suggests that outer walls were constructed of wood covered in stucco. When completed, the 17,000 ft2 (1,600 m2) mansion contained three hallways and 23 to 25 rooms, each with its own fireplace. A featured innovation for that time period was the inclusion of two interior bathrooms supplied with rainwater from a tank in the attic.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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