The Oaks House Museum
Encyclopedia
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, is the former home of Jackson Mayor James H. Boyd
James H. Boyd
James Hervey Boyd was mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, for four terms. He served at least six terms as alderman, including the years when the American Civil War raged through the city....
(1809–77) and his wife Eliza Ellis Boyd and their family. Having survived the burning of Jackson during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, The Oaks is one of the oldest structures in the city. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and is a Mississippi Landmark.
The structure was built in the Greek Revival style in approximately 1853. The original property was larger than the current one, at one time encompassing 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) and extending north to Boyd Street and west to North Street, an urban farmstead with main house, barn, detached kitchen, smokehouse
Smokehouse
A smokehouse is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.-History:...
, greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
, and other outbuildings. Three generations of the Boyd family lived at The Oaks, from 1853 until 1960. Mrs. Eliza Ellis Boyd survived her husband by many years and lived in the house until her death in 1902. Daughter Mary and her husband, Richard F. McGill, lived in the house with their two children. In 1960, the grandchildren sold the property to The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America
The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America
The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1750, and whose services were rendered during the Colonial Period." The national headquarters of the society is at...
in the State of Mississippi (NSCDA-MS)]].
The home is now a historic house museum administered by the Oaks House Museum Corporation..
External links
- The Oaks House website
- http://www.nscda.org/museums/mississippi.htm#OAKS NSCDA-MS Museum Property, "The Oaks"