Martha Turnbull’s Garden Diary: Unearthing the Domestic Sphere at Rosedown Plantation

Abstract

Discovered in the mid-1990s in a descendant’s attic, the garden diary of plantation mistress Martha Turnbull (1809–96) provides a window into life as it existed in the nineteenth century at Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Spanning almost sixty years between 1836 and 1895, the diary presents layers of first-hand insight into a domestic world that extended far beyond the descriptions of Martha’s gardening activities, her tireless experimentation with rare, exotic, and ornamental breeds, and her interest in period horticultural literature. As a personal and social product, the diary reflects the various nuances of antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction Louisiana society—its gardening, architectural, and esthetic cultures; gender, class, and race relations; and its politics and economics—all of which, when unearthed, reveal a more accurate picture of nineteenth-century domestic life at Rosewood plantation.

Keywords:

• Martha Turnbull
• gardening
• diary
• Rosedown
• plantation
• Louisiana
• United States

Notes

1. Her fruits and vegetables include, in no particular order: apples, nectarines, plums, chestnuts, pomegranates, pineapples, oranges, cabbages, potatoes, mustard, melon, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, strawberries, leeks, tomatoes, cayenne peppers, bell peppers, salsify, beets, corn, popcorn, cress, parsnips, carrots, spinach, arbor beans, snap beans, lima beans, wax beans, kidney beans, English peas, black-eyed peas, lady peas, turtle snap peas, cow peas (field peas), okra, lettuce, kale, radish, horseradish, shallots, cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, raspberries, dewberries, chinaberries, grapes, blue figs, quince, wild plums, green gage plums, endive, squash, kohlrabi, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, vegetable pears (chayote), pinders (peanuts), pecans, pumpkins, walnuts, onions, and artichokes.

2. Her flora include, in no particular order: birds of paradise, roses, dahlias, azaleas, camellias, osmanthus, Cryptomeria japonica (a type of evergreen), Pittosporum tobira, Japanese wisteria, Japanese sweetflag, carnations (which she calls “pinks”), chrysanthemums, fuchsia, verbena, violets, white violets, hollyhock, coreopsis, geraniums, phlox, wisteria, hortensia, mignonette, calla lily, lily of the Nile, tiger lily, begonia, bouvardia, anemone, daisies, pansies, ranunculus, heliotrope, hypericum, gladiolis, lantana, Cape Jessamine (gardenia), cedar, crape myrtles, snap dragons, English laurel, hyacinth, water hyacinth, heartsease, tuberose, honeysuckle, oleander, fuscata, cuphea, Euphorbia cactus, sedge, bluebells, fringe trees, varnish trees, cotoneaster, foxtail fern, plumbago, Salvia splendens, Ardisia crenata, sweet bay, sweet William, Pittosporum tobira, boxwood, magnolia, hydrangea, sweet olive, cherry laurel, Lombardy poplar, “black” (dark crimson) roses like Black Tuscany and La Negresse, and various types of grasses and grains such as Bermuda, Kentucky blue, cocoa, sorghum, and oats. Interestingly, a type of gardenia is named after Martha in commemoration to her contribution to gardenia cultivation in the South: http://almostedenplants.com/shopping/products/9867-Martha-Turnbull-Gardenia/

3. Herbs that were cultivated in her medicinal garden include, in no particular order: sage, sassafras, parsley, benne (sesame), thyme, balsam apple, hops, and parsley. Martha also grew dishrag (the towel gourd Luffa aegyptiaca), which is still used as a bath sponge (Turner 2012: 163).

4. While Martha mentions pickling cucumbers (gherkins) and beans in her diary, she does not include food recipes. However, a stash of recipes from Rosedown, some of which undoubtedly belonged to Martha, were recently discovered in the attic of nearby Catalpa Plantation, which was owned by Turnbull kin. Published in 2005 as a cookbook edited by Scott, Pitts, and Thompson, it includes recipes for vegetables, candied fruit, relishes, preserves, pickles, punches, soups, salads, and pies, all of which were probably made with produce from Martha’s garden. The ingredients for egg, fish, fowl, meat, bread, cake, pudding, doughnut, waffle, and ice cream dishes were also most likely sourced from the plantation and its immediate surroundings.

5. Rosedown has also become part of mainstream American popular culture. Examples include: Rosie the Rosedown Rabbit: A Storybook to Color, Bound by Blood: A Rosedown Seminary Novel (a teen gothic romance novel), Cooking at Rosedown (edited by Lynda Knapp Underwood, Catherine Underwood’s daughter-in-law), and Family Recipes from Rosedown & Catalpa Plantations (the cookbook edited by Scott, Pitts, and Thompson).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tanfer Emin Tunc

Tanfer Emin Tunc is an associate professor in the Department of American Culture and Literature at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. She holds a BA, MA, and PhD in U.S. History from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and specializes in American social history, cultural studies, women’s and gender studies, and transnational American studies. She has published extensively on southern writers, and on topics ranging from reproduction in the antebellum South to southern foodways. She has also examined the impact of war on American foodways, and her publications in this area include articles on food and the American Civil War (in the European Journal of American Culture and in War & Society), American WWI food propaganda (in War and History), food in 1950s atomic America (in Cold War History), as well as a co-edited special issue of Food and Foodways on WWII and the American Diet (25.2, 2017). She is currently the vice-president of the American Studies Association of Turkey and a board member of the European Association for American Studies.

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