Ellerslie Plantation

John Greenville McNeel came to Texas in 1822 with his parents and brothers, and each of the men received land grants from the Mexican government as members of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colony. Near this site stood Ellerslie Plantation, the home of McNeel and his family and one of the largest sugar plantations in the area. It included a large home, sugar mill, hospital, overseer's house, and slave quarters. Large entrance gates were topped by carved figures of playing card suits: heart, spade, club, and diamond. The two-story plantation house, built of slave-made bricks, contained 21 rooms and had front and rear galleries supported by brick columns. The immense sugar mill was also built of brick, and handmade brick was used for the hospital, overseer's house, and a number of two-room slave cabins. After McNeel's death in 1876, the plantation passed to his niece Elizabeth Huntington and her family. The large house burned in the 1890s, after which the family moved into the former hospital; when that building was destroyed in the 1900 storm, they relocated to the overseer's house, which was destroyed in a 1983 fire.

Jones Creek, Texas · United States