Historic Postcard of the Gamble Mansion

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Ellenton, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Florida, Florida State Park, Gamble house, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, Gamble Plantation State Park, Museum, Palmetto, photography, Postcard

The Gamble Mansion and Plantation in Ellenton (near Palmetto), Florida was once a 3500 acre sugarcane plantation in the 1850’s with 200 slaves and now is a smaller Florida State Park. It was famous for the sugarcane and molasses production and then as a house for the Confederacy during the Civil War and as a hideout for Judah Benjamin after the war after he may have helped with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Here is a postcard of the Gamble mansion after the turn of the century showing it in a more rundown state and listed as in Palmetto.

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The Patten House at the Gamble Plantation

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Classic House, Ellenton, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Florida, Florida State Park, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, HDR, HDR Photography, High Dynamic Range, Palmetto, Patten House, State Park

After Robert Gamble left the failing plantation in Ellenton, Florida near Palmetto, before the Civil War, it was taken over by the Patten Family. First by George Patten and then by his son Judah. Judah wanted a newer Victorian wood type house so one was built on the plantation grounds. By 2014, water and termite damage took its toll on the house and it was set to be demolished. It was saved in the Florida “11 to Save Project” and is now being restored. Here is a photo of the house under restoration with plastic on the ground. Below is a photo as the house looked originally with its porch.

Civil War Veterans Reunion at the Gamble Plantation

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Civil War, Confederate Reuning, Florida, Florida Park, Florida State Park, Gamble house, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, Museum, Reunion

The Gamble Plantation and Mansion is now a State Park in Ellenton (near Palmetto), Florida.  It is the last of the original Plantations in peninsular Florida. It had 3500 acres at its peak and probably about 200 slaves to run it. It finished operations with Robert Gamble before the Civil War but was used by the Confederates during the war and then as a hiding place for Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State, who took refuge here in 1865 while making his escape from United States Federal troops after the defeat of the Confederacy. He had been accused of arranging the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. In 1927 a reunion of the Confederate Veterans met at the Gamble Mansion with their extended families.

Inside the Gamble Mansion

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Ellenton, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Florida, Florida State Park, Gamble house, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, Interior, Interior views, Museum, Palmetto

We are at Gamble Plantation State Park in Ellenton (near Palmetto), Florida.  Here you can visit the only remaining plantation with mansion in peninsular Florida. It was built back in the 1850’s for milling sugar cane to sugar and molasses that was shipped there from the Manatee River to New Orleans. Here are a few views inside the two story tabby (homemade concrete blocks) house. 

In this last view, you can clearly see the tabby concrete floor in the kitchen area. This was made of local burned ground up shells, sand, lime, and the shells themselves for a strong concrete.

View From the Gamble Mansion

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Ellenton, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Florida, Gamble, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, HDR, HDR Photography, Oil Painting, Palmetto, Robert Gamble, State Park

Robert Gamble came to Manatee County Florida in 1844 and built his large plantation in Ellenton/ Palmetto with slave labor over 4-5 years. The sugar plantation grew to 3500 acres including a dock right on the Manatee River for shipping out sugar and molasses to New Orleans. At its peak they think there were 200 slaves working the land. Below is a painting of Mr Gable and a view from the second floor porches looking through the tabby (homemade concrete) columns. The plantation is now a state park and houses are maintained by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and they hold gatherings at the house in full period dress.

Inside the Cistern at the Gamble Mansion

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Cistern, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Gamble, Gamble house, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, HDR, High Dynamic Range, Museum, photography, Sugar Mill

We are visiting the Gable Mansion/ Plantation in Palmetto (Ellenton), Florida.  Here there was a large 40,000 gallon Tabby cistern for collecting and supplying drinking water. The cistern was covered with a wood shingled roof and had fish in it to “purify” the water and eat the bugs and algae. Doesn’t the inside look inviting? Also there was a sugar mill to crush the sugar cane there on the 3,500 acre plantation.  The plantation had been occupied by the Confederates during the civil war and during or after this Union troops found the plantation and blew up the sugar processing mill.

Gamble Mansion Water Cistern

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Cistern, Ellenton, Florida, Gamble Mansion, Gamble Plantation, Live Oak, Palm Tree, Palmetto, plantation, State Park, Water Cistern

We are at the Gamble Plantation Mansion in the Gamble State Park in Ellenton (Palmetto), Florida.  Here is the last of the peninsular Florida plantations. It was lived in and used as a 3500 acre sugarcane plantation before the Civil War. They shipped out sugar and molasses on the Manatee River to New Orleans via schooners and steam boats. The slave made mansion had a very large cistern on its side that looked like a swimming pool containing 40,000 gallons. Drain pipes came down from the roof into the holding tank and it was all covered by a wood shingled low roof. To keep the water “clean” they had fish swimming in the tank to eat insects and algae.  The grounds of the plantation now have large Live Oak trees shading the mansion and tall palm trees have sprung up. Mr Gamble kept the sugarcane plantation going until the late 1850’s. Judah P. Benjamin, a famous lawyer, state legislator and Secretary of State for the Confederate states hid here following the Civil War in 1865. He was accused of aiding in the assassination plot of Abraham Lincoln so he fled to the Bahamas and then to England where he had a flourishing career.

Gamble Mansion Plantation in Florida

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Florida, Gamble, Gamble house, Gamble Plantation, HDR, High Dynamic Range, Mansion, plantation

We are visiting the only original plantation mansion left in Florida near Palmetto and Ellenton. This mansion was made from 1840-1850 near the Manatee River. It was constructed using slave labor to both clear the land for growing sugarcane and for building the houses out of “Tabby”.  Tabby was a construction material made like concrete from the local oyster shells left by centuries of Native Americans and reduced to lime and added to other shells and sand. There was no clay in the area to make bricks from. The columns and walls are two feet thick and the building was made in the vernacular Greek Revival style. Mr Gamble started with a small plot of land and soon bought 3,500 acres to grow sugarcane. The sugar and molasses was taken down to the dock on the Manatee River and shipped out by schooner across the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of New Orleans and international port. 

Log Inn at the Knob Creek Site

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Abraham Lincoln, Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Farm, HDR, HDR Photography, High Dynamic Range, Inn, Kentucky, Knob Creek, Knob Creek Farm, Lincoln, Log Cabin, Museum, National Historic Park, National Historic Site, photo, photography

The Lincoln family faced yet another land dispute at Knob Creek and had to leave the site and moved away from Kentucky to Indiana in 1816. The area became a tourist attraction in the turn of the century (1900) and an Inn opened there at the site of the Knob Creek farm. Here it still stands today and is also made of logs with a stone fireplace. 

Inside Lincoln’s Log Cabin at Knob Creek

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Abraham Lincoln, Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Farm, Interior, Kentucky, Knob Creek, Knob Creek Farm, Lincoln, Museum, National Historic Park, National Park, Thomas Lincoln

We saw the outside of Abraham’s Lincoln’s Log Cabin at Knob Creek and now we have to peek inside the window at the National Historical Park in Kentucky. Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and his family left Sinking Spring Farm in nearby Hodgenville, Kentucky in 1811 after he lost the farm in a common land dispute over surveying and ownership. He arrived here at Knob Creek and leased the 30 acre farm to sustain his family. The National Historic Park here has recreated his log cabin from the remains of the Golliher cabin next door as these were Abraham Lincoln’s friends. We take a peek inside the window of the cabin and see the newly redone floors, masonry fireplace/ hearth and how it may have looked in the early 1800’s. They lived and worked this land until 1816 when Abraham Lincoln was 7 years old. Below is a photo of Thomas Lincoln also.