TUSCUMBIA – One of Alabama’s most distinguished antebellum homes, Belle Mont Mansion in Tuscumbia, Ala., will celebrate the holiday season with “A Plantation Christmas” on Sunday, December 2. The afternoon event, reminiscent of Southern hospitality in the early 1800’s, has been held annually at the mansion on the first Sunday in December for more than 30 years and has twice been listed among the Southeastern Tourism Society’s top twenty list for the season.
Fresh greenery, fruit, and traditional decorations will fill the elegant antebellum mansion and vocalists and musicians will present period music. Vintage ballroom dance will be performed and costumed docents will be on hand to share the history of the house and to serve refreshments.
Hours for “A Plantation Christmas” are 1 to 5 p.m. and admission is $8 for adults, $4 for children 6 to 12 years-old, and free for children under six.
Belle Mont Mansion is located at 1569 Cook Lane (County Road 53), approximately ¼ mile west of Highway 43 South in Tuscumbia. Parking will be along the road and in a nearby field, with a shuttle running up the hill to the mansion.
Belle Mont Mansion is an excellent example of Jeffersonian style architecture of the early American Republic. Constructed in 1828 and featuring high quality brickwork and refined woodwork, it is now owned by the Alabama Historical Commission. It is among only five State-owned historic homes. As a house museum it is furnished with period antiques from the Tennessee Valley and a number of portraits and other items original to the Isaac Winston family, who once owned the plantation.
Plantation Christmas is sponsored by the Colbert County Historical Landmarks Foundation, Inc., which operates the museum. Proceeds will benefit Belle Mont and local historic preservation projects.
Ninon Parker
Ninon Parker, President of the Colbert County Historical Landmarks Foundation, who serves as site director of the museum, stated that when the event began in the early 1980’s it was rotated around to several private homes in Colbert County. When the State of Alabama acquired Belle Mont, it was in a state of disrepair, said Parker, who indicated that funds raised by the Colbert County Historical Landmarks Foundation through the years have assisted the Alabama Historical Commission with various restoration projects at Belle Mont. As the mansion became increasingly useable, it became the regular site for “Plantation Christmas.” Today, the mansion is synonymous with the event.
For more information about “A Plantation Christmas” call the museum at 256-381-5052 or Colbert County Tourism at 256-383-0783.
