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Charleston Day 3: Boone Hall Plantation

My excursion for day three in Charleston was a trip to the historic Boone Hall Plantation. Instead of focusing of the majesty of the property like the Magnolia Plantation, Boone was significantly more dedicated to the preservation of history and culture. Additionally, after paying the entrance fee, visitors were able to go on any and all tours they wanted instead of having additional fees for the tours. I attended the Historic Dwelling History talk which lead into the Black History in America tour, then the Exploring the Gullah Culture presentation, and finally the House tour. While I enjoyed all of them, they all presented unique views on history, some wonderful, some problematic.

First I attended the Historical Dwelling History Talk where the gentleman above explained many significant features of the eight slave cabins still standing today. Because in addition to producing cotton on the plantation, the Boone family also dealt in brick production, some of the housing for slaves was made out of discarded bricks. The enslaved people who worked in the brick house would bring back the brinks that weren’t good enough to be sold, and slowly but surely built their own houses. While the plantation owners allowed the building, they did not aid in the building. Regardless, they still instructed the enslaved people on how and where to build, so that it best showed off their wealth to the outside world. Other cabins once stood on the property, but because the were made out of wood like the dwellings for enslaved people on the surrounding plantations, they unfortunately did not stand the test of time. The speaker was very frank about the reality of live for enslaved people on the plantation, saying that they were worked from sun up to sun down until the importation of new enslaved people was outlawed. He explained that it was only then, when owners could not purchase more people, that a more bearable task based system was implemented. This was only in the interest of keeping enslaved people alive for longer to work and reproduce. Finally he explained that at its height in 1850, Boone Hall plantation reported 290 enslaved people.

Once the talk let out, our speaker directed us to walk throughout the eight remaining buildings, all set up to educate viewers on different aspects of life and culture for enslaved people. The cabins were arranged by topics: religion, crafts, Life + family, Archeological Discoveries, Work + Life, Emancipation + Freedom, Struggle for civil rights, and Leaders + Heroes. Above are pictures from the Crafts building and the life + family building. Each building was unique by topic, but shares some similarities. They all had buttons to push that would start an audio or video recording that would play as patron explored the house. Additionally, there were educational plaques with long, detailed description of each individual topic.

In the craft building, a woman, descendant of some of the original basket weavers in South Carolina, was set up making and selling her baskets. While this did somewhat commercialize the visit, if was very interesting to see her practicing this technique which had survived in Africa, through the middle passage, through the hundreds of years of slavery, all the way to today.

In the archeology building it was interesting to see artifacts that researchers had pulled up from the very site. It said there was evidence that enslaved people had to garden and hunt to supplement the incredibly poor diet that the plantations owners provided. Even when they weren’t allowed to hunt, they did what they had to do to maintain caloric intake to support the intense labor they were subject to.

Each cabin was very informative and accurately depicted various aspects of history which pieced together to form the history of the enslaved people at Boone Hall. While most attempted to highlight the good that can from a terrible situation, they all acknowledged the mistreatment of black people in American history.

Next, I attended the Gullah Theater for a cultural show, which was a 35 minute presentation on the underground culture formed by enslaved people. The presenter was as descendant of enslaved people from Georgia and South Carolina. She educated the audience of the thing in our everyday culture that enslaved people and africans must be given credit for, hand washing, maxi pads, c-sections, and a wide array of great southern foods. This show included singing, story telling, as well as artifacts from the past a present. In my opinion the purpose of this show was equal parts entertainment and education. It was full of jokes and satirical stories while occasionally weaving in history. Our presenter used culture to entertain and freely used African American Vernacular English to make us laugh. This commercialized adaptation of culture for the entertainment of white people felt off. Even the sign utilizes the shortened version of the word show, sho’ which which blatantly shows the current owners using the culture for an attraction and monetary gain.

Finally, I attended the House Tour which was wonderful. the house had been restored to its antebellum style, down to the paint color. Our tour guide, Bill, was incredibly thorough in explaining every piece of the house and its significance, never once leaving out the forced contributions from enslaved people. While I could not take pictures in the house, I was able to take this picture of the patio outside. We toured the four main rooms on the ground floor of the house where the culture and influence of all the previous owners was explained. In my opinion, the most striking piece of the tour was the windowed in section of the patio which had been created using the brick that enslaved people on the plantation had made. This patio had been added on after abolition, but to pay homage to those who worked on the plantation, the bricks used were all from the surrounding fields, where enslaved people had been forced to work manufacturing them. They were collected from the fields and used. In some of the bricks, the finger prints of its maker can still be seen. This ensured that as long as the brick is in use, that person and their suffering must be remembered. I also found it striking that original tax documents were hanging in the parlor that detailed the trade of and taxes on enslaved people in the area. Our guide Bill said that the current owner of the property is dedicated to the accurate portrayal of history in the present day.

#history #slavery #boone hall #south carolina #charleston #education

Today's Flickr photo is actually a very short video, made in 2010 at the Boone Hall Plantation outside of Charleston, S Carolina. The African American performer up front is a local man, with a proud heritage. He was teaching us about 'gullah' - grim history, anecdote, heritage and language. It was a brilliantly instructive half hour. Here, he coaches us in a work song / spiritual. The building at rear is one of the preserved slave cottages.

#gullah #culture #heritage #plantation #boone hall #charleston #south carolina