Chasley Farms Poster

A photograph of Chasley Farms in Monroe County, Alabama taken by Carol M. Highsmith in 2010. Built with slave labour and finished by Arthur Foster, Jr., and George Washington Foster, sons of the original owner. The late Dr. Rutherford (the great-great-grandson of the original owner) painstakingly restored his family home. The original lands, several thousand acres, extended 2 miles to the Alabama River. Cotton, the main crop, was produced by around 100 slaves. Chasley Farms is now the property of Dr. and Mrs. Charles L. Rutherford, Jr., of Mobile, whose grandchildren are the ninth generation in the house's history. During her early career, Highsmith photographed interior and exterior architecture. But as she and her writer-husband, Ted Landphair, travelled the country to every state and major city to work on the Random House "Photographic Tour" and smaller "Pictorial Souvenir" book series, Highsmith’s scope broadened to be a photographic documentarian. She photographed ordinary people and everyday sites as well as soaring architecture, natural landscapes, national parks and monuments, Civil War battlefields, and engineering marvels. Her book subjects included the cities San Francisco, New Orleans, Washington, and Chicago; New York's five boroughs; the states of Florida, Colorado, and Virginia; the Pacific Northwest and New England Coast; as well as lighthouses, barns, Amish culture, and the Appalachian Trail.