Rick Patrick
One of the most iconic buildings in Madison County is clearly the "Smith Mansion," located near downtown. Built in 1860 by the prominent Madison County citizen, Benjamin F. Wardlaw, the building has seen its fair share of history over the last century and a half. However, there are some who feel history has never quite left the building.
In early 1864, the nation was torn apart during the bloody American Civil War (or as most southerners call it, the "War Between the States"). In February of 1864, Confederate forces met an advancing Union force near Lake City, Fla. The Union forces had begun a march from Jacksonville across the state toward Tallahassee with the intent of severing Confederate supply lines, recruiting black soldiers for the Union and capturing the Florida capital. During the bloody Battle of Olustee, Confederate forces put a halt to the Union army's plan, forcing them to retreat back to Jacksonville. As a result, Tallahassee was the only state capital that was not captured by Union forces during the war. The battle was one of the costliest Union defeats of the war when considering the number of participants. After that horrific battle, the Smith Mansion was used as a makeshift hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers. There are a number of Confederate soldiers from the battle buried in the nearby Oak Ridge cemetery. There have been some who say that soldiers can still be witnessed walking up and down the stairs of the mansion.
The current owners of the Smith Mansion have had their own stories to tell about strange happenings within the walls of the historic building. When asked, the current owner, celebrity chef Art Smith jokingly told the story of the English craftsmen he hired to do renovation work in the kitchen of the mansion. Smith said that the Englishmen only lasted one day and then suddenly packed up and left. "I guess the ghost just doesn't like Englishmen," said Smith.
Another supposed incident that occurred in the mansion revolves around a photographer who was attempting to develop some film in one of the downstairs rooms of the mansion. The photographer suddenly felt someone choking him. He fled the building, leaving his expensive photographic equipment behind.
Others have claimed to see ghostly apparitions in the windows of the mansion at night.
Could it be that a few of those historical spirits are not content to merely take their place in history? Could it be they want to have a place in the present as well?