Cypress Grove Plantation

[3][5] Previously, it was purchased from David Hunt and others by John Hagan of New Orleans, and then sold to Taylor for $95,000.

[1] The property came with eighty-one enslaved African or African-Americans - "servants," as Taylor called them, and with horses, mules, cattle and equipment.

[1] Cotton, tobacco, corn and wheat were grown, and hogs, sheep, cattle and poultry were raised on his plantation.

[7] According to biographer K. Jack Bauer, his slaves were treated well, well-fed and even received Christmas presents each year.

[3][5] On top of picking cotton and other crops, they built levees on the Mississippi River and on an adjacent creek.

[3] Mississippi River travelers could cut ten miles from their trip by going through Gillam's Shute which flowed between Buena Vista Island and Taylor's plantation.