Benefit at the Historic Buena Vista Plantation

COLD SPOT

Benefit at the Historic Buena Vista Plantation

Posted by Teri on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Under: paranormal

This event is going to be off the hook.

There are a few slots left from what I

understand.

I had the opportunity to meet the Alabama

based Southern Paranormal Researchers

'SPR' at Spooky Southern Soiree in Roswell Ga in December...

and let me tell you they are a group of dedicated

paranormal investigators that take their work very

seriously.

Shawn Sellers will be presenting a very interesting

presentation on music legends and their affiliations with the

paranormal and connections to the "CROSSROADS".

I hope to see you there.

Benefit at the Historic Buena Vista Plantation
641 County Road 4 E * Prattville, AL

Seminar and Paranormal Investigation - January 16 & 17, 2009

Price $50. 00 for a weekend pass
(All proceeds go to benefit the Historic Buena Vista Plantation)

Speakers
Shawn Sellers - Founder and Director of SPR
Jake Bell - Assistant Director of SPR and Researcher
Jay Christian - Pastor/Demonologist
Shea Whitehurst - Paranormal Researcher
Michelle Babiaraz - Special Guest

Kristin Allen - Tour Guide and Historian with Buena Vista

Also featuring Speakers from the SPR Investigative Team:
David Humphrey, Marty Hersh, Beth Anne Skipper, Shelly McCraney, James Kirkley, and Mike Burnett

Volunteers and Additional Members of SPR Investigative Team
Deborah Sellers, Scottie Henson and Christine Schweiger

Schedule of Events

Friday January 16, 2009

6:00 – 6:30 Meet and Greet

6:30 – 7:30 Historic Tour of Buena Vista with Kristin

7:45 – 8:45 Paranormal 101 - Speakers: SPR Team

9:00 – 10:00 Panel Discussion on Past Investigations at Buena Vista -
Speakers: SPR Team

10:30 – Until - Investigation

Saturday January 17, 2009

11:00 – 1:00 Team Members Available for Last Night Evidence Review and discussion

1:00 – 2:00 What is a Haunting? - Speaker: Shea Whitehurst

2:15 – 3:15 Theories on 2012 - Speakers: Shawn Sellers & Jake Bell
3:30 – 4:30 Paranormal & Religion - Speaker: Jay Christian

4:30- 6:30 Dinner Break

6:30 – 7:30 Legend of the Cross Roads - Speaker: Shawn Sellers

7:45 – 8:45 Panel Discussion: Q & A on Ghosts, Cryptozoology, UFOs, & Occult with the SPR Team

9:00 – 10:00 Cleansings - Speakers: Shawn Sellers, Jake Bell & Jay Christian

10:15 – 10:45 Cold Case Discussion and Ghost Box experiment

11:00 – Until Investigation

You can purchase tickets through our website www. southernparanormalresearchers. org or contact Kristin Allen With Buena Vista at 334-358-9383

Known history of the site: Buena Vista was begun in either 1821 or 1822 (a couple of reports differ on the exact year) by John W. Freeman, who stopped work before the home was finished. It was completed with a Federal Style façade in the 1840s by Captain William Montgomery, a contemporary of Prattville's founder, Daniel Pratt. Interesting features of this structure include the delicately crafted fanlights over the front entrance and in the gable ends. A circular mahogany staircase spiraling 24 feet to the third floor highlights the interior along with=2 0the elaborate plaster cornice moldings and spectacular ceiling medallions. Legend has it that Andrew Jackson visited Capt. Montgomery at one time, and when his house burned down he had a spiral staircase put in at the Hermitage that is very similar to the one in Buena Vista. An expanded design of the staircase was used when the Capitol was built in Montgomery.
An article about a 1901 reunion of the Prattville Dragoons (a Civil War regiment formed in Autauga County) held at the home states that at the time it was known as Montgomery Place or Montgomery House and that this was the original name. Family tradition says that in the 1800s the house had a heart of pine fence around it and a planked road, lined with pink and white Cherokee Roses, that led down the hill to the Alabama River. All of the finishing materials for the house were shipped from Birmingham and Bristol, England, through the port of Mobile, and up the Alabama River to Washington Landing, which was located directly in front of the house at the foot of the hill.
In 1910, the Stewart family, specifically Mary Emma Scott Stewart, bought the house and changed the house from Federal Style to the Greek Revival Style we see today by adding the Greek Ionic columns and a full length wooden portico. Very little is known about the Stewarts and for some reason their name is not included in the official name of the house (the Montgomery-Janes-Whittaker home). This is odd since the Stewarts owned the home much longer than the Janes’ (they were only there a couple of years). Rumors have been spread that the Stewart family held regular gambling sessions and had a “speakeasy” of sorts in the third floor ball room. Legend has it that they weren’t well liked and no one speaks of them, which explains why their name is not on the house, but that’s not verifiable. It has also been said that the third floor was used both as a small ballroom and an infirmary during different points of the house’s existence. In the late 1920's and early 1930s, the house fell into disrepair and at one point was even used for hay storage. The Fred Whitaker family bought the house in 1937 and restored it to what we see today. It was apparently at this time that the house received the name "Buena Vista" which means "good view" in Spanish. Since 1982 the home has been owned by the Union Camp Corporation (now called International Paper) and is maintained by the Autauga County Heritage Association. Buena Vista was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Music heard, shadows seen, voices heard, things moved, footsteps

In : paranormal