We haven’t had a day in port for a while. I have some calls that I really need cell phone connectivity for so we are staying put for a few days. After my first call this morning, we took a 4 mile bike ride around Demopolis. It is actually a larger place than you would guess by the down town area.
The downtown is filled with little gift stores, tall two story houses with
wrap around porches, grape arbors, churches new and old, a train crossing, a memorial for
Confederate soldiers, and a city park where American flags were flying for Veterans’ Day.
We also went by to see an antebellum house, Buff Hall, which is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places and was built in 1832. The mansion was built by the slaves of Allen Glover as a wedding gift for his daughter, Sarah Serena, and her husband, Francis Strother Lyon. This grand house was their city place since Lyon owned a 2400 acre cotton plantation outside of town. Lyon came from North Carolina when he was 17 to join his uncle, George Gaines, who was the Indian
agent in Marengo County. Lyon first worked in banking in the area and then became a lawyer. Later he served in the Alabama State House and in the US Congress. He was instrumental in the 1840’s Alabama bank crisis by restoring the confidence in the banks and actually loaned $6M of his own money to restore the state’s credit.
The house with warm pine floors was laid out with a typical country house configuration and reminded me of the floor plan and large room size of my Grandmother’s house. Much of the interior was the original furnishings, plus they had beautiful period clothing. There was a dress there that was made by a Mrs. Smith who had picked the cotton, combed it and spun the thread, dyed the thread into multiple colors, and then wove the material before she made the dress. Fashion was much more complicated in those days.
The children’s bedroom came complete with a tin washtub by the fire place. 
There was also a kitchen inside the house which was a rarity in the 1800’s.
The garden club was in the back yard
planting purple cabbages in the brick planters and said they were preparing for Christmas on the River. Apparently on the first Saturday of
December, there is a festival on the river shore including a parade of decorated boats. They took our picture as interesting visitors of the mansion.
Tom spent the afternoon refinishing our chairs 
which turned out shiny and beautiful. Then as it was getting dark, we walked to the New 
Orleans restaurant which was complete with the ambiance of a
model alligator on the porch overlooking the marina. We had delicious jambalaya over rice in keeping with the locale.
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