Touching Plantation Memories : Tourists and Docents at the Museum Eddie Arnold Modlin Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2014 Touching plantation memories : tourists and docents at the museum Eddie Arnold Modlin Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Modlin Jr, Eddie Arnold, "Touching plantation memories : tourists and docents at the museum" (2014). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 2615. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2615 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. TOUCHING PLANTATION MEMORIES: TOURISTS AND DOCENTS AT THE MUSEUM A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Eddie Arnold Modlin, Jr. B.A., East Carolina University, 2006 M.S., East Carolina University, 2008 August 2014 To AJ, Onyx, Kim, Mom and Dad ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A dissertation is a huge undertaking. I could not have completed this work with the help and support of many people. I would like to start by thanking my committee. Dr. Helen Regis accepted me as an advisee at a very rough time in my graduate career and displayed a contagious enthusiasm for my research that recharged me every time we talked. Her advice was always timely and kindly delivered. Dr. Andrew Sluyter, Dr. Joyce Jackson and Dr. James Sullivan asked great questions and pointed me towards research that helped me significantly. Dr. Dydia Delyser and Dr. Craig Colten also pushed me to be a better scholar. Like my committee members, they invested a lot of time helping me get the most out of my experience at Louisiana State University. Thank you, Dr. Derek Alderman for demystifying the world of academic geography for me. What started out as an advisor-advisee relationship at East Carolina University almost eight years ago when I entered the Master’s program has grown into both a great friendship and working relationship, even as we both moved to other universities. If I become half the geographer and person that Derek is, I will be proud. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. David H. Butler, Dr. Perry Carter, Dr. Amy Potter and Dr. Stephen Hanna. Like Derek, each of these people allowed me to work with them as we explore plantations as memory sites. Their work has influenced me greatly and inspired me. It is nice to have such a supported team with which to work. There are too many peers, friends, professors and students to name who helped and encouraged me along the way. I would specifically like to thank Dr. terri moreau, Naomy Perez-Sanchez, Suzanne McArdle, Kate Renken, my cousin Leonard Lanier, Dr. Philip Schmutz, Dr. Paul Watts, Corey David Hotard, Mikeal Blackford, Stephanie Crider, Brian Hess, Stefanie Benjamin, Dana Sanders, John Anderson, Dr. Barry Keim, iii Dr. Jay Edwards, Dr. Peter Sutherland, Dr. Patrick Hesp, Dr. Stephanie Richmond and Dr. Charles Ford. Thank you. I close with my most important acknowledgements – the recognition of immeasurable support from my family. My mother, Barbara Modlin repeatedly read through various drafts of parts of this document and asking great questions. My son David (AJ) and my daughter Onyx grew up listening to me talk about plantations, while my father Eddie Modlin, Sr. supported my work. My wife, Kimberly Hill-Modlin traveled to many of the plantation house museums that I toured and listed to me talk through much of what is contained herein. I was a poor husband and father through this – of that I am not proud. Kim’s sacrifice for this dissertation exceeded mine as she served the role of single parent during my long periods at LSU and patiently put up with my obsession with this topic. Thank you for everything. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER ONE: TOURISTS’ ROLES IN REMEMBERING THE PAST...................... 1 CHAPTER TWO: REMEMBERING SLAVERY AS AN ACTIVE AND CREATIVE SPATIAL PROCESS ................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER THREE: ‘I WISH YOU WERE HERE’: WRITING ONESELF INTO THE PLANTATION PAST .............................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER FOUR: THE ROLE OF AFFECTIVE INEQUALITY IN MARGINALIZING SLAVES AT PLANTATION MUSEUMS .................................... 85 CHAPTER FIVE: VOICING THE PAST AS TOURISTS ............................................ 113 CHAPTER SIX: MAKING SLAVERY THROUGH TOUCH...................................... 136 CHAPTER SEVEN: REMEMBERING SLAVERY THROUGH TOUCH .................. 167 CHAPTER EIGHT: HOW TOURISTS PARTICIPATE IN REMEMBERING SLAVERY AND THE SOUTHERN PLANTATION PAST ........................................ 200 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 211 APPENDIX 1: LIST OF PLANTATION HOUSE MUSEUMS IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES ............................................................................. 229 APPENDIX 2: OUTLINE OF SITES VISITED ............................................................ 247 APPENDIX 3: DATING HISTORICAL POSTCARDS ............................................... 249 APPENDIX 4: ARTICLE REPRINT PERMISSIONS .................................................. 253 APPENDIX 5: FIGURE COPYRIGHT AND PUBLIC DOMAIN STATEMENT ...... 258 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 259 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Number of plantation house museums by state as of July 1, 2013. .................... 11 Table 2: Postcard Periods. For examples, please see APPENDIX 3. ............................... 54 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1. Locations of plantation house museums in the continental United States. ............... 12 2. Historic roadside marker in front of the mansion of Liberty Hall plantation in Kenansville, North Carolina. .................................................................................... 28 3. Liberty Hall, the plantation house formerly owned by Thomas Kenan, after whom the town of Kenansville, North Carolina was named. ................................... 29 4. Ruins of Rural Hill, a plantation house located near Huntersville, North Carolina, and formerly occupied by Major John Davidson, a Revolutionary War hero.................................................................................................................... 30 5. Marker indicating location of former slave cabin, Rural Hill Plantation. ................ 31 6. Slave cabin at San Francisco Plantation near Garyville, Louisiana. ......................... 32 7. Rope bed at Sally-Billy House, a plantation house relocated from Scotland-Neck to Halifax, North Carolina. ....................................................................................... 33 8. Wooden slat bed used by enslaved woman, Sally-Billy House. ............................... 34 9. Chamber pot, San Francisco Plantation. ................................................................... 34 10. Marble bathtub, Destrehan Plantation....................................................................... 36 11. Showering apparatus, San Francisco Plantation. ...................................................... 37 12. Planter’s house at Destrehan Plantation. ................................................................... 39 13. Desk owned by Jean Noel Destrehan of Destrehan Plantation. The desk was built by a local enslaved craftsman. .......................................................................... 40 14. Exhibit at Destrehan Plantation with mannequin representing Marguerite, an enslaved woman who cooked and laundered for the Destrehan family. ................... 41 15. Representation of the 1811 slave revolt by Lorraine Gendron exhibited at Destrehan Plantation. ................................................................................................ 42 16. Trough used by members of the Hope Plantation slave community to pickle meat for preservation and later use. .......................................................................... 43 17. Names of enslaved individuals on Home and Rosedale Plantations, taken from the early nineteenth-century estate listing of David Stone. ...................................... 44 18. “The Halifax Road,” painting by Tracey Bell on display at Hope Plantation. ......... 45 19. Display featuring painting, Hope Plantation’s visitor’s center. ................................ 46 vii 20. Sign on grounds of Hope Plantation. .......................................................................