Friday, September 6, 2019

Night Time Carriage Ride


TGIF my friends!
While we were in Marshall, MI for
our 10th wedding anniversary,
we decided to go on a horse drawn carriage ride.
Our driver picked us up from the restaurant
and once the tour was done brought us back
to the inn we stayed at.
The evening was a nice one!
I forgot to take a picture of said horse and driver.
What was I thinking????


It was a 2 1/2 hour ride.
He took us around the old section of town.
This house reminded me of the Addams Family house.


This magnificent home once housed
 the town jail in the basement.
Was told the current owner just replaced the pillars.
Each costing $25,000.00.
YIKES! 
The jail cells are still in the basement too.


I do not remember the history of this one.
So sorry.


This one the original owners practiced
black magic and killed their groundskeeper.
They say his ghost still is seen on the grounds
on certain evenings.  


Our first capital building was in Detroit 
when Michigan was admitted to the US.
After one of the wars with the French,
they decided to move the capital more inland.
Marshall, Michigan and Lansing, Michigan
were the two contenders for the spot.
A local congressman who lived in Marshall
had this home built for the future governor,
as he was sure the capital would be moved
to his town.
As luck would have it, the voters chose Lansing,
because the land was more cheaper than Marshall.
So here sits a governor's mansion which was never used.
It is currently just used for tours now.



Our tour took us into the local cemetery
just before dark.
We were told these monuments were those
men who belonged to the Mason's.
{the tall one in the middle}
We saw them everywhere in this cemetery.
Even at home now 
I see these monuments in our local cemetery.



Now this is a sad story.
Sometime in the 1800's a witch was hung in this
cemetery plot.
Before they hung her though,
they built the entire exterior 
of this burial plot out of stone 
to look like wood logs.
They even built a tree trunk
 out of stone in the middle.
A stone chair was also built in the back.
A real tree was in the middle of this plot,
and once they hung the woman,
the townsfolk cut the tree down,
 buried her and placed the stone tree trunk
on top of her grave.
At the time they felt if she was amongst wood,
 she would be able to escape.
So sad.


I thought the carving on this headstone
was amazing, so I took this pic.


Finally we came to this site.
The fireflies were just starting to come out
and it was a bit magical.
Bob asked if this area was for more graves
in the future.
Our tour guide said it was Potter's Field,
and it was full of graves.
Marshall was both a stagecoach stop as
well as a railroad stop.
Sometimes folks passed away on a trip.
If they did not know who they were,
they were buried here in their Potter's Field.

Lots of history in this town
and we loved our visit!

Again so sorry for not taking pics
of our horse, carriage and tour guide.
It was an open carriage.

This was a ghost tour carriage ride.
It was interesting hearing the ghost stories....
and we saw no ghosts.

They do carriage Christmas rides
that visit all of the mansions 
all decked out for Christmas too!

Carriage Ride Blessings To All!

12 comments:

  1. Stop it! We also go on all the "haunted tours" in whatever city we are visiting....we are too much alike! Thanks for sharing the pictures and stories. Poor lady (witch), people were (are) ignorant....

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    1. We do that too! Hannibal, MO and Savannah Ga. to name a few! Yes folks are ignorant. Janice

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  2. Happy Anniversary! what a wonderful way to celebrate. But sad things happened in that area.
    Cathy

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    1. It was a nice town to visit...right in our state. Janice

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  3. What an adventure! Love learning history about all areas of these United States. Have a great weekend.
    Robyn

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    1. Yes we love history too...guess that's why we became antique dealers. Thanks for stopping by. Hope Dorian did not give you a problem like others. So sad. Janice

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  4. Marshall is a really interesting town with some beautiful homes. But I wasn't familiar with some of the other things you shared here. Love blogging - I learn something new every day!

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    Replies
    1. I love blogging too..just lots of my blog friends have stopped blogging for one reason or another. Janice

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  5. What a cool tour and town! I love historic old homes and buildings.
    Happy 10th anniversary!!

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    Replies
    1. So do we! They sure don't make homes like they use to. Janice

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  6. Ohhh, a carriage ride that ends at the local cemetery!! All of your photos and stories of this visit has me wanting to go there too. Too far away for a weekend trip but I have enjoyed your visit here through shared posts and stories. I think a Christmas sleigh ride sounds wonderful. It is 97 outside right now and the thought of being cold and all bundled up sound very appealing!! LOL!!

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  7. It is 65 here right now. A bit cool, but am loving the windows being open with cabbage soup in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I love this time of year making different soups and chili for dinner. Warns a body up. A carriage ride at Christmas does sound wonderful! Janice

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