Allen-Morgan House Traditional Cache
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(regular)
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This cache is on county road right of way along a fence line. Parking is close by. You may encounter some mud following heavy rains. The property above the fence is not posted but is private and it is best not to enter.You are looking for a small container made from PVC pipe. It is secured and easily reached within a few steps of the road. The container limits content to the log and a pencil.
To the East of you once stood the stately Allen-Morgan house. This house, appropriately referred to as a “mansion’ was erected between 1835 and 1839. The mansion was built by Major Charles W. Allen, one of Noxubee County’s first settlers, who surveyed the streets of Macon and was paid for his labors by getting his choice of the lots. Major Allen chose this spot for the mansion even though it was outside the small village of Macon. The lumber from which the house was built was shipped up the Tombigbee by steamboat and on up the Noxubee to the head of navigation-Macon. The furniture for the house also took that long trip. There is an interesting angle to the Allen-Morgan family story. There were two girls in the family and their father built a special bedroom for them with a stairway leading into and out of it. This was the only opening into the girl’s bedroom and the entrance to the stairway was in their parents’ bedroom. Major and Mrs Allen simply wanted to keep up with the coming and goings of their daughters and they chose this “architectural “ method to be able to do so. Demolished in 1974, this house had a dramatic story to tell of the past-a story of laughter of young girls… the circumspect countenance of high state officials… of the tramp of Yankee troops. Most notable from a historical perspective was the Allen-Morgan house serving as the temporary capital of the state of Mississippi when the government was on the run in 1865. After the burning of Jackson in the summer of 1863, Mississippi had four other capitals before the war ended. Meridian, Enterprise, Columbus and finally Macon were temporary sites of state government. Details are sketchy but Columbus and Macon seem to have the longest tenure. Following Governor Pettus’s administration, Governor Charles Clark was inaugurated on the portico of the old courthouse in Columbus on November 16, 1863. In March of 1864, the governor moved to Macon. Two sessions of the legislature met here and one issue of state money was authorized. Governor Clark was a close friend of Major Charles Allen who offered his home as a temporary capital site. Governor Clark reportedly brought all the state records and around $300,000 in cash in state funds with him. It was a beautiful spring day in April of 1865 when 250 Yankee troops surrounded the imposing structure and demanded the surrender of Governor Clark along with the state papers and the official state seal. There was nothing the governor could do but surrender. There remains a “little mystery” in connection with the mansion. All the state furniture disappeared and the belief is Yankee soldiers and officers spirited the priceless pieces away and that much of it can be found today in older homes above the Mason and Dixon Line. The Allen family moved back into the family home in the fall of 1865 and Major Allen’s widow sold the house to Theodore Cole of Macon in 1878. The home was inherited by Mrs John Morgan thereafter and remained in the Morgan family until 1952 when a local druggist purchased it. Some years later the house was dismantled and reportedly some of the lumber was used in construction in the West Point area. A short distance from this site, on Highway 45N there is a historical marker regarding the Allen-Morgan House. I am a relative of the Morgan family and can remember playing in the old house. One of the ladies shown on the front porch in the posted picture is a relative of mine. My mother worked for years to have the house listed with the National Register of Historical Places, however the building was torn down and now all that remains is the sign on Highway 45N. Lastly, it is rumored the state treasurer committed suicide in the front yard of the house and states funds were buried on the property.
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