Jan Edwards
F.O.R. Board Member
PR Representative Red Brick
from Ellersly Plantation
Image courtesy of the Brazoria
County Historical Museum
Tales from River’s End – Passport to Adventure
by Janice R. Edwards
Greetings from River’s End,
Well, all that lovely sunshine has finally turned gray and damp and
cold ! . It’s beginning to took a lot like Christmas down here “at
the end of the world”. Makes me glad I got out and decorated the
outside of our house for Christmas last week. HEB’s new "More Snow"
book has come out and made me think of decorating in a snow pattern
– again. Last time I did this, we got snow on Christmas Eve. Well,
one can only hope. But, the outside of our house is blue and white
and the snow colors are blue and white, so the decorations look
pretty good from the riverside, even if they are understated.
Maybe I was inspired to do the blue and white decorations because of
the snow geese who have been serenading us in the mornings and
evenings these days. Basically, they are colored blue and white when
you get the chance to see them. I saw them on the wildlife refuge
for the first time on my way to town this week. They blanketed the
ground just like snow – in just a small patch. I guess you could say
they are our regular, seasonal local snowfall. All in all, a much
better snow than the flaky kind– just as beautiful and peaceful on
the ground, more predictable, and a lot less slush on the roads to
worry about – and the sound of their wings making their “snow fall”
will take your breath away.
As everyone is getting ready for the upcoming 20th Annual San
Bernard Boat Parade and Home Decorating Contest, it made me
think about an old plantation near here which was the finest house
in Texas before the Civil War. This house - the main house on the
Ellersly Plantation - was grander than anything even Galveston had
to offer, in its day, and it was here, adjacent to the wildlife
refuge. Well, actually, the land grant John Greenville McNeel (and
I’ve seen McNeel spelled at least 3 different ways) with his
brother, George W. McNeel (who died) garnered from Stephen F.
Austin’s original contract, touched FM 2918.The actual plantation
house was located (in its day) in a grove of live oak trees between
two roads, somewhere between present day Clemons Prison Farm and
Jones Creek.
The whole McNeel family (father, John McNeel, owner of China Grove;
and his sons, John Greenville McNeel, owner of Ellersly – the
plantation house we are discussing here -, Leander McNeel, Sterling
McNeel and Pleasant McNeel) hailed from Kentucky and were all
members of Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300”. All the clan had large
farming interests centering around a community that came to be known
as McNeel, Texas on the Gulf Prairie. From my research, McNeel,
Texas was in existence in the 1820’s, and was still shown on highway
maps into the 1960’s with several rural farms and other buildings on
the San Bernard River. Right here, under our noses, another ghost of
an era vanishing in the sea fog.
Picture this in your mind’s eye, the Ellersly main house was a two
story structure with 21 rooms constructed of slave made bricks.
Galleries and pillars extended the full length of the house on the
west and south sides. The ceilings of the house were plastered and
decorated with detailed medallions, the floors were carpeted. The
fireplaces and mantles were made of marble and the furnishings were
well made from heavy walnut or mahogany. On the very top of the
house was a laboratory fitted with a telescope through which John
Greenville could check on his ships’ coming and going in the Gulf.
Ellersly made its fortune in sugar. For instance, in 1852 it
produced 408 hogsheads (about 149,000 pounds) of sugar. The huge
sugar mill, I understand, looked like a turreted castle and enclosed
a double set of kettles. And Greenville had outbuildings – a cotton
gin, a hospital, a blacksmith’s shop and a brick overseer’s house.
The brick slaves’ quarters lined a street which lead off of the main
road. Each unit consisted of two rooms with a double fireplace that
accommodated two families. In 1860, the census appraised J. G.
McNeel’s real property at $100,000, and his personal property at
$216,000. He owned 176 slaves. But, by the 1870 census,
Reconstruction had stripped him of all of this.
When times were good, old Greenville lived it up. He and his family
often entertained – hunting, dancing, fishing and riding. Greenville
was known to have owned a stallion worth $6,000 in the 1800’s. And I
find it quite interesting that the entrance gates of the plantation
were flanked by hand hewn oak posts topped with carved replicas of:
a spade, a diamond, a club and a heart. Kind of a dead give away
what he was doing with that expensive stallion, don’t you think?
Tara had nothing on Ellersly.
Now, I don’t know what you were taught in Texas history, but I am a
native Texan, and until I moved to River’s End, fell in love with
the area and started doing some research on it, I never read or
heard anything about plantations in Texas. As it turns out, most of
these plantations were located right here in Brazoria County, and
most of them were located in Austin’s contract. I am not a proponent
of slavery by any means, but now it seems clearer why Texas (who
just joined the Union) would secede during the Civil War. I guess we
were closer to the “old South” in Brazoria County, than the rest of
Texas was, but it is hard for me to envision all the trappings of
plantation life in Texas weaving its way through pirates, the Texas
Revolution, and the Civil War – all the elements good romance novels
are made from.
The McNeel family, from Kentucky, forged a living community across
the prairie from River’s End. If you listen carefully to the north
winds that blow across that prairie, you can still hear the sounds
of that by gone era and you can feel the spirit of the crumbled
places. I like to envision them getting ready for the holidays –
doing some grand decorating for some hearty partying. If you think
of it, the Kentucky spirit is still here in River’s End. Harold
Caudill, our weekend neighbor, comes from Kentucky and shares some
of the same entrepreneurial spirit of old J. Greenville – in that he
came to Texas from Kentucky, made his living by hard work, and
played hard while he was doing it. When I mentioned to him that the
McNeel’s were from Kentucky, he wanted to know from where – just to
see if there were a further connection. There just might be another
connection to this mystical place that we will have to research –
and, with any luck, find another story.
So, now what’s happening at the end of the river? Get your boat
cleaned up and ready to decorate and float on back next week. Maybe
I can show you how the people of the San Bernard decorate for
Christmas. Here’s wishing you Christmas spirit, a warm, dry place to
rest, a Snow Geese snow fall, a full belly, a stretched fishing
line, a good story and your own River’s End.
***After his death in 1876 his heirs sold the
plantation to James Marion Huntington, who was married to
Greenville's niece. After her death Huntington remarried. The main
house burned in the 1890s, and the family moved into the old brick
hospital. It blew down in the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and they
moved into the overseer's house, The descendants sold the house and
property to the Phillips Petroleum Company in 1974. The overseer's
house burned in 1983.
Friends Of the River" and Dido's
Restaurant present:
"Breakfast on the San Bernard”
Breakfast
Buffett Saturday
December 2nd
8:00 a.m. -10:00 a.m.
*Please make note of new serving time
Dido's - County Road 510 - Brazoria
$6.00
Pete and Sue Smirch have agreed to open and serve a
special breakfast buffet on this day.
Please join us for this special occasion !!!
RSVP's appreciated,(but not a must)
www.sanbernardriver.com - discussion forum
(If this works out, perhaps we can arrange to have
breakfast together once a month.)
SEE YOU
THERE!!!
Shirts will be available at the Breakfast on Saturday
12/ 2
Deadline to order
Sweatshirts
has been extended to Sunday Dec 3
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