Joe Wheeler's



Front of Main House

 


 

Back of the main house



Family Parlor



Daniella's Bedroom ( Mrs. Wheeler) Notice the baby cradle and the toddler bed in the corner.



The flag they took up San Juan Hill, Cuba.



The Silver Venison Platter



The Dining room...with Joe's childhood school desk in the corner. Their china pattern was Blue Willow.  Back then, the blue dye for china was more expensive than gold. 



Annie's room and dress. ( the daughter who lived in the house after her parent's death)



General Joe Wheeler's uniforms from both armies.



Gen. Wheeler's gun and swords from the wars.



Joe and Chuck



The back house that Joe and the sons lived in.

I couldn't wait to go to General Joe Wheeler's Birthday Party!!  I had read so much about him since we moved here and a lot of things around here are named after him.  He was a General in the Confederate Army during the Civil War  and when that war was over, he was a General in the U.S. Army and fought in the Spanish American War.  He married Daniella Sherrod and moved to her plantation outside of Courtland.  There are two houses on the land.  The first house that Daniella's family lived in before they build the new house.  Joe and Daniella had six kids.  Mrs. Wheeler and the daughters lived in the new house and General Joe and the sons lived in the older house.  Strange if ya ask me.  As the curator said, they must have gotten together a lot to have six kids. 
   I love, love, love going to houses from the 1800's or earlier.  The furniture is always so pretty and the stories about the people back then, fascinate me.  Their daughter Annie lived in the house after her parent's death.  The story is, Annie was a tight wad but had beautiful things.  One day a friend came over and went crazy over the silver venison platter in the dining room.  The next day, Annie had one sent to her friend...COD.  ha!  When the grand children of Annie divided up the things in the house, one of them took the venison platter.  The grand daughter of the friend who had to pay for the platter COD, donated the platter back to the house when it opened for a museum.  There were so many stories to hear about the house and who lived in it.  It was the most fun day for me.  There is a family cemetery on the land but General Wheeler is buried in Arlington, Va.  The flag that the U.S Army took up San Juan Hill, was found all wadded up in a ball in a dresser drawer. It now hangs in the hallway of the house.  All the furniture and items in the house are the original things that were in the house when the Wheeler's lived there.  I'm sure I'll get to go visit the Wheeler's again some day with all the company we have.  Maybe someone will want to go see "Pond Spring". ( the name of the plantation)