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A Community within a Community
Surrounding this slave plantation in the 1850s were other large properties that were also dependent on slave labor. Interwoven with these were smaller tracts of land where family . . . — — Map (db m124987) HM
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A Place Called Home
The Dent and Grant families spent many enjoyable years on this plantation while their children were growing up. While a few of the enslaved people lived in the house, most were housed in log . . . — — Map (db m124988) HM
In 1843, Ulysses S. Grant first visited White Haven as a young second lieutenant. In the decades after that first visit, Grant, White Haven, and the country underwent vast changes in response to the turbulent issues that divided the nation. . . . — — Map (db m124989) HM
Changes at White Haven (left panel)
The end of the war brought many changes to the White Haven estate. The previously enslaved African Americans were free and appear to have left the area. Labor was now provided by German and French . . . — — Map (db m122399) HM
The builder of the house, as well as its subsequent owners, were well-known and respected individuals, and the farm reflected their status in the St. Louis community. Modifications were made to the original two-story, four-room structure to . . . — — Map (db m124992) HM
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Grant’s Departure
After the Presidency and a world tour, Ulysses and Julia Grant settled in New York to be closer to their children and grandchildren. While the romance of one day returning to White Haven remained, . . . — — Map (db m124990) HM
Colonel Dent named the property White Haven after his family home in Maryland. Paint analysis indicated the home was painted various colors in the nineteenth century, including Paris Green with a dark green trim, as seen on this wall and . . . — — Map (db m124993) HM
Mr. Busch's love of animals and the desire to share that love with people of all ages inspired him to open his home, Grant's Farm to the public in 1954. He then established the Busch Gardens family Theme Parks in Tampa, Florida and Williamsburg, . . . — — Map (db m176760) HM
Grant's plans for developing the farm resulted in many improvements, including a barn and stable built between 1869 and 1872. The stable you see today housed Grant's horses. The barn that also appears in the 1875 illustration of the farm sheltered . . . — — Map (db m124996) HM
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Outbuildings
Operating an 850-acre slave plantation required numerous outbuildings. Col. Frederick Dent's enslaved African-Americans labored in these outbuildings and kept the farm self-sufficient prior to the Civil . . . — — Map (db m124991) HM
Contrast this simple bead-board door to the finer paneled ones throughout the rest of the house. Its crude appearance suggests only slaves used this door to enter and exit the home.One method employed to control slaves was to restrict their . . . — — Map (db m124997) HM
Settlement in St. Louis County first occurred along the three main thoroughfares out from the city: Gravois to the southwest, Manchester to the west, and Natural Bridge to the northwest. Railroad development paralleled the Mississippi River to the . . . — — Map (db m124998) HM
White Haven was the name given to both the house and the estate. Typical of many large plantations, other houses on the property were built and occupied by family members and slaves. White residents gave their houses special names. The slaves, . . . — — Map (db m124999) HM
White Haven was typical of large farms in the area during the mid-1800s. As times changed, so did its operation in terms of labor, equipment, and methods. Its two owners, Colonel Dent and Ulysses Grant, also had different interests and therefore . . . — — Map (db m125000) HM
Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, is just a short distance off to your left. Grant first met his wife Julia Dent here at "White Haven" in 1843. They married in 1848, raised a family, and farmed this . . . — — Map (db m205542) HM
White Haven has been designated a National
Historic Landmark
This site possesses national significance
in commemorating the history of the
United States of America. 1986 National Park Service United States Department of the . . . — — Map (db m125001) HM
Operating this 850-acre farm required numerous outbuildings. These included a spring house built over the spring to provide a cool place for crocks of butter and cheese; a barn behind the main house for livestock such as cows, pigs, and sheep; . . . — — Map (db m125002) HM
Working Plantation (left panel)
White Haven was typical of slave plantations in the area during the mid-1800s. As times changed, so did the operation of the farm in terms of labor, equipment and methods. Prior to the Civil War, . . . — — Map (db m122400) HM
