05/15/2026
We are excited to announce the launch of our new page Ames Plantation History and Heritage. This is a companion to our main page and will focus on the history of the Ames Plantation from the original settlement through the Hobart Ames era. We invite you to like and follow our new page.
The Ames Plantation, located in Fayette and Hardeman Counties, is home to a wealth of 19th-century history that reflects the heritage and material culture of southwestern Tennessee. Recognizing the tremendous cultural resource represented by the Ames land base, we have, for over 40 years, worked to understand, preserve, and share the land’s history.
The Ames Cultural Resource Program is all about “the story”! Written across the expansive landscape of the Ames property is a great story, penned over the course of history by generations of both white settlers and the enslaved. This story unfolds through the hardships settlers faced as they tamed the wilderness and developed the plantations, and through the oppression endured by the enslaved, without whom the region’s history would be a different story altogether.
The story comes to life through our extensive collection of historic archives and a deep understanding of the cultural landscape, complete with abandoned homesteads, slave quarters, cemeteries, churches, and other relics from a time long past.
Who were these settlers and the enslaved? Where did they come from and when did they arrive? Where on the landscape were their homes, schools, churches, and cemeteries? What are the details of their lives? These are the questions we have labored for decades to answer about the 19th-century Ames landscape and its occupants. As we learn about and preserve OUR history, we are, in effect, doing the same for YOURS. For you see, the 19th-century history of the Ames Plantation represents the cultural heritage of all who share ancestral ties to this land and those who share our interest in preserving the region’s past.
We invite you to follow our new page, where we will regularly share content about current research activities at Ames as well as discoveries we have made over the years.
If you are interested in local history or perhaps have family ties to the early occupants of Ames, we think you will learn something new and exciting about our shared heritage. Join us on a trip into our past at the “Ames Plantation History and Heritage.” page.
The map below was generated by the Union Army during their occupation of the area during the Civil War. It is entitled "Map of the Country North of Grand Junction, Tenn.". It is our good fortune that this map encompasses the entire Ames land base. It has proved invaluable to our research, revealing the mid-19th century road system and the locations of numerous plantation manor homes and slave quarters.
