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The fascinating history of Bacon's Castle did not end with Bacon's Rebellion. There are many stories to tell, but one of my favorites is the love story that developed there during the War Between The States. In 1863 four Signal Corpsmen arrived at the front door of the Castle. They were invited here from nearby Fort Boykins to see General Hankins and to have an evening of leisure with the Hankins family. One of the Corpsmen was a talented young writer from Macon, Georgia, Sidney Lanier. He quickly formed a close friendship with the General's daughter Virginia Hankins (called Ginna), and in the coming months he spent as much time with her at the Castle as his duties permitted. Their romance blossomed. But soon the War intervened, and Lanier was able to visit Ginna little more as Butler's fleet was spied heading up the James River toward Richmond. Lanier and another soldier rode to Petersburg to carry the news of the enemy's approach, and later he was a scout for Beauregard at Petersburg and involved in battle in North Carolina, and then he returned to his native Georgia. He wrote to Ginna, and later was able to see her again, and proposed. But, by now Ginna's mother had died and Ginna was needed to take over in her mother's place and help raise her younger siblings. She refused the proposal of marriage. How reluctantly, we do not know. How severely wounded Sidney Lanier was by this news we also can only imagine. But they seemed star-crossed lovers, and the tale of the dashing young Confederate soldier and the lovely belle of Virginia is very sad.
Sidney Lanier wrote a novel later called Tiger Lilies, and much of it is drawn from his own life experiences. Ginna is alluded to in the work. He also wrote a poem called "To___" in 1863 which seems like it may also allude to his romance with her:
"The day was dying; his breath
Wavered away in a hectic gleam;
And I said, if Life's a dream, and Death
And Love and all are dreams--I'll dream.
A mist came over the bay
Like as a dream would over an eye.
The mist was white and the dream was grey
And both contained a human cry.
The burthen whereof was "Love,"
And it filled both mist and dream with pain,
And the hills below and the skies above
Were touched and uttered it back again.
The mist broke: down the rift
A kind ray shot from a holy star.
Then my dream did waver and break and lift--
Through it, O Love, shone thy face, afar.
So boyhood sets: comes Youth,
A painful night of mists and dreams;
That broods till Love's exquisite truth,
The star of morn-clear manhood, beams.
Boykin's Bluff, Virginia 1863
This is the fireplace hearth where the cooking was done in the cellar at Bacon's Castle.
The staircase at Bacon's Castle....can't you see the two lovers descending hand in hand?
A top story room, with spinning wheel.
A field of planted corn, done in the style of early America, as taught by the Native Americans. The garden as well as the home has been meticulously preserved. There is also a black walnut tree at Fort Boykin where Sidney Lanier was stationed when he first came to Bacon's Castle that is over 200 years old. The tree was there when the soldiers were there those many years ago. If the trees, and houses, and the very wind could whisper its secrets to us, we could know the history that is all around us.....
These photos were all taken at my recent visit. Some of the shots I am VERY proud of! Others, out of focus in the dim light, at least give you an idea of what the museum has to offer. I hope you will enjoy this photographic visit!
The collection of American artists is particularly wonderful.
(I was particularly sad not to be able to capture the amazing quality of this Renoir!)
Their glass art collection is outstanding!
This stunned me--a lifesize piece of glass art of a woman reposing.
