COLBERT COUNTY, ALABAMA Contributed in 1999 by Fred Smoot About
1840 Mr. Armstead Barton built his mansion down in the "Nation"
on the Natchez Trace, near the town of Buzzard Roost. The old
mansion still standing is two stories high with roof garden
which was used as an observatory for watching the negros on the
plantation. Underneath is a solid stone foundation. The porch is
of solid stone with large columns extending to the second floor.
The floors of the double parlors and hall are of solid black
walnut, and at the time they were laid were two inches thick;
but when the home passed out of the hands of the original owners
these planks were removed, sawed in two, the one inch planks
replaced and the other half sold. The floors in these rooms were
laid "log cabin style" and were very attractive. The windows for
these rooms cost $100 each. The timber for the mansion was
selected in Mississippi and was drawn by oxen for a distance of
two hundred miles and sawed by hand. Around the walls of the
double parlors wa