Goodwood Plantation facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Goodwood Museum & Gardens
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 Location in Florida
Location in the United States
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| Location | Leon County, Florida |
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| Nearest city | Tallahassee |
| Architectural style | Antebellum |
| NRHP reference No. | 72000334 |
| Added to NRHP | June 30, 1972 |
Goodwood Plantation, also known as Old Croom Mansion, was once a large farm in central Leon County, Florida. It covered about 1,675 acres (7 square kilometers) and grew cotton. The people who worked on the farm were enslaved. Today, Goodwood is located at 1600 Miccosukee Road. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on June 30, 1972, which means it's an important historical site.
In 1824, a French hero named the Marquis de Lafayette received a large piece of land in Florida Territory from the United States Congress. This was a reward for his help during the Revolutionary War. The land, called the Lafayette Land Grant, was over 23,000 acres. Lafayette never visited his land. Instead, he had someone sell parts of it for him. Hardy Croom bought 2,400 acres from this grant and started Goodwood Plantation in 1834.
Contents
Goodwood Museum & Gardens Today
The main house at Goodwood is now a historic house museum. This means you can visit it to learn about the past. Inside, you'll find original furniture, beautiful dishes (porcelain), fabrics, glass items, art, and personal belongings. These items show what life was like during the time of the First World War.
Life at the Plantation
In 1850, records show that Bryan Croom, an owner of Goodwood, had 129 enslaved people. He also managed about 40 more enslaved people who belonged to his mother-in-law, Ann Hawks, who lived with him. Later, in 1858, Arvah Hopkins bought the plantation and 41 enslaved people.
Records from 1860 for Goodwood Plantation in Leon County, Florida, show:
- Land that was farmed: 1050 acres (4 square kilometers)
- Land that was not farmed: 625 acres (2½ square kilometers)
- Value of the plantation: $33,640
- Value of farm tools and machines: $600
- Value of farm animals: $3000
- Corn grown: 2500 bushels
- Cotton grown: 150 bales
It's not clear why the number of enslaved people was not listed in 1860. At its largest, in the 1850s, Goodwood covered about 8,000 acres, though not all connected in one piece.
The Families Who Lived Here
The Croom family, who were wealthy tobacco farmers from North Carolina, started buying land in North Florida in the 1820s. They owned farms in places like Marianna, Quincy, and Tallahassee. Hardy Bryan Croom, who was a farmer and loved studying nature, bought about 640 acres of the Lafayette Land Grant in 1833. This land became part of Goodwood. His younger brother, Bryan Hardy Croom, also bought land.
The Croom brothers brought about 60 enslaved people from their North Carolina farms to Florida. Over the years, they bought many more enslaved people to work on their cotton and corn farms.
A Family Tragedy
Hardy Croom's time in Florida was short. On October 7, 1837, Hardy, his wife, two daughters, his son, and an aunt boarded a ship called the S.S. Home in New York City. They were going to Charleston before moving to Tallahassee. Sadly, the ship sank off the coast of North Carolina during a hurricane. About 90 people drowned, including Hardy and his family.
Because Hardy did not have a will, his brother Bryan thought he would inherit all of Hardy's Florida property. Bryan's enslaved workers finished building a small home that Hardy had started at Goodwood. Years later, Bryan ordered the construction of a much larger 10,000 square-foot mansion. This grand house, with its Italian-style design, was also built by enslaved labor and finished around 1850. The name "Goodwood" was used in family letters by the 1840s and in newspapers by the 1850s.
A Court Case and New Owners
After Hardy's family died, his wife's relatives, especially her mother Henrietta Smith, went to court. They wanted to know who should inherit the property when an entire family died in the same accident without a will. Bryan Croom won in the first court cases. However, the Florida Supreme Court later decided in 1857 that much of the estate should go to the Smith family.
The court had to decide two main things:
- Was Hardy a resident of North Carolina or Florida when he died? The laws were different in each state.
- Who died last in the shipwreck? Hardy himself or someone from his wife's family line?
The court decided that Hardy was a North Carolina resident. They also believed, based on his letters, that he planned to move his family to Charleston, South Carolina, not Florida. Witnesses from the shipwreck said they saw Hardy's son clinging to a piece of wood in the ocean after everyone else in the Croom family had died. This meant the son, from the maternal line, was the last to survive.
Bryan Croom then moved to Alabama. Mrs. Smith did not live at Goodwood. In 1858, she sold the estate to Arvah Hopkins. He bought 1,576 acres of land and 41 enslaved people. Hopkins ran a large store and continued farming at Goodwood until 1865. After the Civil War, he continued farming using formerly enslaved people as paid workers.
In 1885, an Englishman named Dr. William Lamb Arrowsmith bought Goodwood and 160 acres around it. He died about eight months later. His wife and her friend, Martha Dykes, lived on the estate for over twenty-five years.
Modernizing Goodwood
In 1911, Mrs. Arrowsmith sold Goodwood to a very wealthy widow, Mrs. Alexander (Frances) Tiers. She was related to the owners of the Waverly Plantation, which was next to Goodwood. Mrs. Tiers only spent the winter months at Goodwood. She loved to entertain many wealthy friends from the north who enjoyed Florida's warm winters.
She updated the house to look like Mount Vernon, a famous historic home. She replaced the old iron railings with grand Georgian columns. She also fixed up three other old buildings: the original kitchen, a small house, and another building that might have been a storehouse. These buildings are still there today. Mrs. Tiers added a water tower, which replaced the old wells and pumps. She also built a fun hall, guest houses, servant quarters, a heated swimming pool, tennis courts, and a carriage house.
In 1925, Florida State Senator William C. Hodges bought Goodwood. He and his wife Margaret hosted many parties, inviting politicians, artists, writers, and other important people. Senator Hodges passed away in 1940. In 1948, Margaret married Thomas Milton Hood, an Army Air Corps major. When Margaret died in 1978, Major Hood began planning to restore Goodwood as a museum and public park. He created the Margaret E. Wilson Foundation in her memory. Major Hood passed away in 1990. He had always refused to sell Goodwood for new buildings. After his death, the Margaret E. Wilson Foundation, which he started, and the Goodwood Museum and Gardens, Inc. took over caring for Goodwood.
See also
- Plantations of Leon County
Images for kids
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Hardy Croom (1837)
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Arvah Hopkins (1866)
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View from the Carriage House.
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Tower under renovation, as it appeared in 2010.
