We spent last Friday at Historic Stagville in Durham. It was great. If you live in our area and have a free day, we highly recommend a visit. Our tour guide was Frichelle and she was excellent. A quick run down of the place for those who aren't going to check out the link:
Stagville was a HUGE estate owned by the Bennehan-Cameron families. It isn't what you typically picture a plantation home to be, somewhat modest compared to many antebellum homes, but this was an incredibly wealthy family as evidenced by the 30,000 acres (47 square miles) and around 900 enslaved people. This, of course, is the most interesting par
t to us. There are four slave houses still intact on the grounds (two pictured above) and if you happened to see the news piece done on Stagville last year then you know about the finger prints in the bricks left by the enslaved men who made them. Here's a picture...
t to us. There are four slave houses still intact on the grounds (two pictured above) and if you happened to see the news piece done on Stagville last year then you know about the finger prints in the bricks left by the enslaved men who made them. Here's a picture...You can see how the homemade brick molded to the fingers as it was set into place. It is very moving for a family like ours to stand there with our black children knowing the incredible freedom they enjoy and the progress still to be made.
It's a beautiful place and a great history lesson for the kids. Check it out!
1 comment:
Hi Sexton Crew:
I just wanted to thank you for mentioning your trip to Stagville in your blog. I love the work I do there, and it means so much to me that you've taken a piece of our history with you and are sharing it with others!
Happy travels--
Frachele Scott (tour guide and new site manager, Historic Stagville)
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