About The Whetstone Plantation

Founded in the latter part of the 17th century, Whetstone Plantation is located in Autauga County, Alabama, USA. When Rev. Henry Whetstone first came to this land in Central Alabama, he immediately appreciated the name given to the area by early local Indian tribes — Atagi, meaning, “Land of Plenty. “ Settling on a hilltop overlooking a small town called Autaugaville, he built his family home. It later became the home site of Mr. & Mrs. Milton (Buss) Wendland. The Wendlands still reside there to this day. The original brick from the fireplaces of Rev. Henry Whetstones home were used to build the boat house out from the garage of the Wendland home and one of the mantales was also used in the Wendland formal living room. Being a farmer by trade, he immediately set out to cultivate the rich dark soil to produce bountiful cotton crops. The crops produced were rich and plentiful and of such superior grade that some of it approached legendary status.

In the early part of the 19th century, Henry Mordecia Whetstone passed the cotton plantation on to his wife and son after his death in 1937. Dela Dobbins Whetstone and David Dobbins Whetstone carried on the family tradition without missing a step as David was eager to follow in his father’s footsteps with the help of his mother. David cultivated hundreds of acres using only mules and 2-row plow equipment. In the early 1940’s, with the advent of mechanical farming, David purchased the first of many tractors and other farm equipment.

David Dobbins Whetstone, Sr. continued operating a productive, cotton, cattle and trucking business up until the crops were completely lost in 1977. When David passed away on May 16, 1979, his wife Sally Whetstone continued with their last child, Ruth Ann Whetstone and her husband, Walter Clifton Weedon managing the plantation for almost 2 decades struggling against poor cotton prices, high interest rates and bad weather to keep the plantation in operation.

In 1997, as cotton farming continued to become more and more difficult, the family decided to turn to some of the other rich and abundant resources blessing the land — it’s abundance of natural game. With the same enthusiasm and determination displayed by the first Whetstones more than a century earlier, the family worked to once again make the Plantation a rich and hearty producer of the fruits of the land. Using carefully applied wildlife management practices, the deer population has been cultivated to superior standards. The Whetstone Plantation is once again…and still “The Land of Plenty” or as we like to call it, “The Land of Legends”

This website is dedicated to the 9 Generations of the Whetstone Family:

David Dobbins Whetstone, Sr. (1917-1979) – Father
Sally Frances Lowery Whetstone (1920-2012) – Mother
Henry Mordecia Whetstone (1939-2001) – Son
Judy Alice Whetstone Gill (1941) – Daughter
David Dobbins Whetstone, Jr. (1943-1999) – Son
Connie Elizabeth Whetstone (1951-1978) – Daughter
Ruth Ann Whetstone (1956), – Daughter, Walter Clifton Weedon , Husband
Wendy Marie (Weedon) & Trenton Blane McFarland, Husband
Whitney Elizabeth Weedon
Cody Blane McFarland – Son of Wendy & Trent McFarland
Ryder Allen McFarland – 2nd Son of Wendy & Trent McFarland

We would also like to remember all of the Whetstones who worked to forge the paths that we now walk:

Rev. William Henry Whetstone (1784-1834)
Lewis Myers Whetstone (1808-1881)
Henry Payton Whetstone (1831-1872)
Lewis Jermire Whetstone (1853 -1906)
Henry Mordecia Whetstone (1882-1937)
David Dobbins Whetstone (1917-1979)