European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse In 28 neatly manicured eras. Fourteen bedrooms have been opened to bed-and-break1ast guests. Lallen into disrepair or have drained their pocketbooks. Bui not until recently have they found Many Buyes interested in paying molts irian a pittance Tor the old Homes he says. Hallom says there always have been a handful of Oul of slate antebellum homeowners in Natchez. Bui he number has increased As prices have taken a quantum leap he says with some Homes now Selling Lor More than three limes what buyers paid or them just a couple of years before one of our Best markets in this area has been Texas and California Hariom says. It s no secret that Cam orians and texans sometimes amass huge fortunes and when a Man gets Rich and wonders Aboul the next thing to do one of those things might be to buy an antebellum House in Louisiana or Haltom has sold Aboul 25 antebellum Homes since he began at prices ranging from $25.000 mostly run Down cottages whose Only claim to Fame is age to Aboul 31 million. He had one mansion on tha Market for $3.5 million by go no takers one of his customers was Ron riches a 45-years-old real estate Developer trom Encino California my wife has always had a Scarlett o Hara Complex and she plays the Rote Well says riches who bought a while columned. I to Story greek revival style mansion in february 1978. Riches won t say How much he paid for it. He lakes a Southern respite for a week or two a a Lime every few months. A photograph of this Soulney gentleman and his hoop skirted Wile and iwo daughters graces the mantel of the Vintage 1818 Monmouth Plantation situated on 26 manicured acres. The Home s most colourful owner was Gen John Anthony Quilman a mexican War Horo and a Mississippi governor and congressman who bought in in1b26. Riches says he had some misgivings Aboul i i High Cost of restoring lha Ozlale "1 kept hoping the Deal would tall through he says 11 but i was obsessed with it. It s like Iho old general himself was guiding us and we did t have our sanity a 76, t987 anymore in 1980, riches opened 14 of Monmouth s bedrooms to bed and Bre Mast guests who pay $75 to $100 for double occupancy per nigh. Haltom says Moslow nere of antebellum Homes Avail some kind of commercial venture not Only to bring in Money to cover Upkeep but also to gain a major sax break under a 1976 historic preservation Law. The tax deduction is Only Avail Ahmeto historic Homes open to the Public. Riches says his investment is finally beginning to pay Tor itself. Though he bought Monmouth primarily or sentimental reasons. In California As a Developer t tear things Down Afler they re 20 years old. We Don l allow Ihm to become history. People in California Don l have a lol of historical things an Adobe mansion or iwo scattered Here and her Visall because we have a historical vacuum oui Shore. People arc flocking to the Hichens says he began spreading the word Aboul the relatively untapped Market Tor histone Homes in Mississippi some California friends Ted and estello Mackey afe among the converts the purchased the Cedar Grove Home in Vicksburg in 1933, us claim to Tamo Isi Thasa Union Cannonball lodged in the parlor says Mackay. A 15 Yogi old attorney Wilh offices in Palm Springs and Beverly Hills Calif. Ii was Shol Roma Union gunboat during the siege of Vicksburg Mackey says Cedar Grove has been open Lor Public hours Tor Al least 25 years and he has begun renting bed and breakfast rooms since tic purchased the Horre. But Cedar Grove in t a Mere showplace he and his Wile live in the Home about six months out of the year i Don t know thai there s any profit but their s 9 lot Ollun in in in Cedar Grove and literally meet the world vie have people come through irom Europe. Australia everywhere " Haltom had listed Iho Dunleith House of Natchez Lor $3 b million bul the House never sold and the owner recently took in of the Market the current owner of Oun Leith House. Bill hums of Wicker furniture end a Selling Tan enhance the airy porch of the antebellum Vin Routh Plantation. Austin Texas paid Hallom less than �1 million for the House in 1976 and has extensively renovated it the 17-room, three Story Home Sils on 40 acres and is the last remaining Creek revival Syle antebellum mansion in Mississippi with iwo Story columns lining All Lour sides of the building Hariom says in addition to the main Home the s3 5 million Price included several outbuildings an in room Bachelor s quarters a two Story Carriage House with so abcs Ilia caretaker s House two greenhouses a polling shod a Ira Clor shed and lha two Story pig Connier which Haltom said was the Barrytown tavern in the orig Jintil Hollywood production of Huckleberry finn " the Carpenter family had owned Oun Loith for free generations before Heins bought it. Holtom says they sold the Home when their Nal Chei Bank was taken Over by a larger Jackson Bank unlike the trend in Mississippi a Soi Heby in Al Anlu says Only a Handlei of Anlo Bullum Homes have been sold m he past 0 years in Georgia Kathy Koernig a sales associate in rotheby s Atlanta office says Many of the old Homes in Georgia have been Lorn Down to make room for development while Mississippi is a Ohavo More antebellum Homos left because of its relatively stagnant Economy the very few Hal air Letl. People hang on to them she says. The oae ulivo director of the South Carolina a social Jon of realtors Richard Davis says Mere Are some antebellum mansions left in that stale especially in the Charleston area bul the antebellum Market task t changed any in South Carolina in the 10 years he says Wilh Only an occasional Sale a real Ozlale agent in Mobile Anna Belle Newman says she has one antebellum Home on the Market till that s Raisin her oly i be been in the Market our years and Ive never Noh ced people calling trom Oul of the Sale in crested in antebellum Homes. If they Are sold they re sold to local people inner Seieci in fixing inc a up " the stars and stripes Page 15
