Near Trinity in Lawrence County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
Boxwood Plantation
Photographed by Sandra Hughes, March 3, 2018
1. Boxwood Plantation Marker
Inscription.
Boxwood Plantation. . , (side 1) , This small dwelling is the last reminder of "Boxwood" plantation, the home of the Elliot family, and later of the Nevilles. Built-in 1854 of slave-made brick and occupied by the household servants it is one of the few brick plantation "quarters" surviving anywhere in Alabama. The main residence, razed in the 1950s for the widening of Alabama Highway 20, stood just to the northeast. Such brick quarters were unusual and suggest the higher status generally accorded to the household staff. its door to the outside is a typical slave-dwelling design found throughout the southern states and as far north as Maryland and Missouri. At Boxwood, log and frame cabins located further away to the south housed the enslaved workers who tilled the vast surrounding fields of cotton. Here, in the years before the Civil War, Samuel Elliott, Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth, developed a notable country estate including the boxwood gardens which gave the plantation its name. Their son, Dr. Jeremiah Pearsall Elliott, inherited Boxwood in 1870.
(Continued on other side). (side 2)
(Continued from other side). This building then became a lodge for the young men of the family. In 1907, prominent Morgan County planter William Vinkley Neville purchased Boxwood. Neville descendants continued to own the property until the 1980s. Concealed by later additions the old slave quarters came to light in 2010 during the development of the Mallard Fox West Industrial Complex by the Industrial Board of Lawrence County. To foster interest in its significance, local volunteers Lisa and Jimmy Lentz stripped away the additions to expose the original two-room house underneath. It was then stabilized in consultation with the Alabama Historical Commission and with a small grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, In 2013, this rare vestige of early agricultural life in the Tennessee Valley was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The generosity of the Brown-Forman Corporation of Louisville, Ky., and Jack Daniels Cooperages made possible its exterior restoration in 2014-15.
(side 1)
This small dwelling is the last reminder of "Boxwood" plantation, the home of the Elliot family, and later of the Nevilles. Built-in 1854 of slave-made brick and occupied by the household servants it is one of the few brick plantation "quarters" surviving anywhere in Alabama. The main residence, razed in the 1950s for the widening of Alabama Highway 20, stood just to the northeast. Such brick quarters were unusual and suggest the higher status generally accorded to the household staff. its door to the outside is a typical slave-dwelling design found throughout the southern states and as far north as Maryland and Missouri. At Boxwood, log and frame cabins located further away to the south housed the enslaved workers who tilled the vast surrounding fields of cotton. Here, in the years before the Civil War, Samuel Elliott, Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth, developed a notable country estate including the boxwood gardens which gave the plantation its name. Their son, Dr. Jeremiah Pearsall Elliott, inherited Boxwood in 1870.
(Continued on other side)
(side 2)
(Continued from other side)
This building then became
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a lodge for the young men of the family. In 1907, prominent Morgan County planter William Vinkley Neville purchased Boxwood. Neville descendants continued to own the property until the 1980s. Concealed by later additions the old slave quarters came to light in 2010 during the development of the Mallard Fox West Industrial Complex by the Industrial Board of Lawrence County. To foster interest in its significance, local volunteers Lisa and Jimmy Lentz stripped away the additions to expose the original two-room house underneath. It was then stabilized in consultation with the Alabama Historical Commission and with a small grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, In 2013, this rare vestige of early agricultural life in the Tennessee Valley was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The generosity of the Brown-Forman Corporation of Louisville, Ky., and Jack Daniels Cooperages made possible its exterior restoration in 2014-15.
Erected 2015 by the Courtland Historical Foundation and Courtland Historical Association.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans •
Location. 34° 38.038′ N, 87° 6.815′ W. Marker is near Trinity, Alabama, in Lawrence County. It is at the intersection of Cooperage Way (County Route 700) and Alabama Route 20, on the right when traveling south on Cooperage Way. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Trinity AL 35673, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Alabama. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Also see . . . Samuel Elliot Jr. Samuel Elliott Jr. was a Director of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, but his first love was farming and in the 1850s he built Boxwood Plantation located just a few miles East of this cemetery. (Submitted on March 8, 2018, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA.)
Credits. This page was last revised on March 8, 2018. It was originally submitted on March 8, 2018, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 2,059 times since then and 128 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on March 8, 2018, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
