The Barnsley Resort: Manifested Freedom
Recently, I had the opportunity to reserve a night’s stay at the Barnsley Resort-located in Adairsville, Bartow County, formerly Cass County, Georgia. The property is sprawling with more than 3,000 acres of flat lands, mountainous trails, wildlife, and intricate bodies of water. If you desire tranquility removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, then the Barnsley Resort is a great recommendation.
There were numerous amenities and excursions on site to take advantage of. The horseback riding was probably the most peaceful 60 minutes I’ve ever encountered-over bridges, alongside waterways, and through mountainous trails.
I walked from the main hotel building to the ruins of the the Barnsley family house was built in 1843, a prized possession and gift from the late Godfrey Barnsley to his wife Julia. The upper level of the house overlooked a magnificent labyrinth of trimmed hedges and flowers. I couldn’t help but wonder about the other people. Yes, the 17 slaves mentioned on the 1860 slave schedule of Godfrey Barnsley. What was life like for those slaves that helped build this estate?
I combed through my estate map pamphlet again. Unfortunately, there was no mention or memorial for the slaves. Wikipedia (The Barnsley Resort) also keeps a short and concise history of the property without mentioning slavery. North Georgia, 1843, ahhh….yeah enslaved Africans lived here.
The restaurant where I purchased my grilled salmon dinner is called the Woodlands Grill. Ironically, the name of the Barnsley plantation was also called the Woodland plantation.
One hired slave in particular, was a persistent thorn in the side of the Barnsley family. Woodson was owned by Wm Duncan of Savannah, but was hired out by Godfrey Barnsley to complete carpentry work around the Woodland plantation. Woodson was suspected of drinking too much liquor and being a negative influence to the other slaves. Woodson was suspected of harboring fugitive slaves and he himself almost escaped into freedom. His original owner wrote George Barnsley (son of Godfrey Barnsley) saying,
“You will oblige me if you will order him well whipped, should you detect him in so mean a fault. A good whipping may cure him, if he be disposed in that way….I am a great believer in the rod, having been trained in the old fogie notion of old Solomon that ‘He that hateth the child spareth the rod’, and what are our negroes, but as children.”
The Georgia Historical Quarterly
The Hiring of Woodson, Slave Carpenter of Savannah
Vol. 77, №2 (Summer 1993), pp. 245–263
After Woodson’s two year stint at the Woodland plantation, he was living back in Savannah. In 1863, William Duncan prepared his will, but did not mention Woodson with the other slaves. The nearby Union soldiers were located on the South Carolina Sea Islands, where many slaves flocked in hopes to gain their freedom. Woodson disappeared from public records, but I’d like to believe he finally made it to freedom….. The Barnsley mansion was ransacked by Union soldiers during the Civil War, forcing Barnsley to flee to Louisiana.
I listened to Iyanla Vanzant expound upon the subject of FREEDOM. She released several profound words of encouragement.
“If we realized that we breathe God, and he breathes us, then how free would we really be?”
Iyanla Vanzant
The majority of my antebellum ancestors were enslaved in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana — as far as I know. I know my liberty would put a smile on their faces, knowing that one of their descendants ate a delicious meal at the Woodland grill (plantation), leisurely rode a horse , slept in a bed, and not on the ground. I am their manifested freedom.
Despite the atrocities of slavery, and even the plight of Woodson, freedom has to be embodied in our hearts and minds before it is manifested. Woodson was relentless, ambitious, and resilient. He breathed freedom before he ever experienced it. He dreamed about his liberty before it became his reality. God is constantly breathing into our lives, one breath at a time, one chance after the next.
What will you do with your freedom?
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