University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 9-2020 “For the stones will cry out”: An analysis and interpretation of the landscape of enslavement at Historic Brattonsville, York County, South Carolina Gabriel Harper Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Harper, Gabriel, "“For the stones will cry out”: An analysis and interpretation of the landscape of enslavement at Historic Brattonsville, York County, South Carolina" (2020). Theses (Historic Preservation). 700. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/700 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/700 For more information, please contact [email protected]. “For the stones will cry out”: An analysis and interpretation of the landscape of enslavement at Historic Brattonsville, York County, South Carolina Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the landscape of enslavement at Historic Brattonsville located in York County, South Carolina and propose an interpretive framework to be utilized by caretakers of the site as well as future scholarship of American slavery and related topics. The development of the Bratton Plantation largely reflects both a regional and nationwide socio-economic dependence on the institution of slavery. “Brattonsville” would grow to become one of the largest cotton plantations in South Carolina, at one-point enslaving 139 peoples. Due in part to the extensive history of slavery at the site, Historic Brattonsville offers a distinct perspective into a community which endured slavery’s brutality and undoubtedly resisted it through the claiming of individual aspects of the landscape for themselves. In accordance with the understanding that a society imprints a degree of its values into the aspects of the landscape it occupies, it stands to reason that the lives of Brattonsville’s slaves would likewise leave marks of their own. By thoroughly analyzing the surviving features of Brattonsville’s landscape of enslavement, namely the dairy and slave dwelling, and comparing them with other documented buildings and sites across the Southeast, the narrative of slavery at this particular site is clarified. urF thermore, while much of the history of interpreting sites of enslavement in the United States is riddled with bias or missing entirely, it is crucial that this work synthesize the information harvested from the site in a just and complete way. Keywords slave quarter, Upcountry, historic preservation, plantation, NRHP Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/700 “FOR THE STONES WILL CRY OUT”: AN ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE LANDSCAPE OF ENSLAVEMENT AT HISTORIC BRATTONSVILLE, YORK COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Gabriel Joseph Harper A THESIS in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION 2020 _________________________________ Advisor Aaron V. Wunsch Professor in Historic Preservation __________________________________ Program Chair Frank G. Matero Professor For my grandfather Curtis Repairer of the Breach ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first and foremost like to thank Joe Mester and Sara Johnson for giving me the opportunity to work for a summer at Historic Brattonsville. Their encouragement and expertise kept me excited for the day’s work and reaffirmed my desire to become a better craftsman and historian. To Professor Aaron Wunsch, who provided me with the guidance I needed to think critically and write confidently, I give you my sincerest thanks. I look forward to working alongside you one day soon. I would also like to extend my thanks to Zach Lemhouse at the Historical Center of York County for offering his archival expertise particularly in the early stages of my research, to Darrell Schell for his woodworking wisdom and to Farmer Eli for all the good fishing. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, who instilled in me a boundless love of place and a passion for truth seeking that’s louder than cicadas in August. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………………….……...………………….…iii LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………….vi INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………….……………………………...1 METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………….…………..…………………….9 PART I: CONTEXTUALIZING THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BRATTON FAMILY………………………...10 PART II: SLAVERY AT BRATTONSVILLE AND SITES OF PARTICULAR INTEREST……………………….33 BRATTONSVILLE’S WHITE LANDSCAPE…………………………………………………………………..37 BRATTONSVILLE’S BLACK LANDSCAPE……………………………………………………………….…..45 SITES OF PARTICULAR INTEREST……………………………………………………………………………53 Initial Observations………………………………………………………………………………….53 Building in Brick……………………………………………………………………………………….56 Construction Methods………………………………………………………………………………59 Uses………………………………………………………………………………………….……………63 iv PART III: TOWARD AN INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK FOR HISTORIC BRATTONSVILLE…………….73 HISTORIC BRATTONVILLE AND NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE INTERPRETATION…………….…73 CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE INTERPRETATION…………………..76 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…82 APPENDIX A: FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………………………………….85 INDEX……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…112 v LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1: A view of the Homestead House facing west. (Harper, 2019)….………………………………...…85 Fig. 1.2: A partial view of the original slave dwelling (left), dairy (center), Homestead House (right) and reconstructed kitchen (seen through the covered walkway) illustrating the symmetry of the domestic quarter. (Harper,2019)………………………………….…………………...86 Fig. 1.3: Stone “piedmont piers” beneath the Homestead House. (Harper, 2019)….…………….…...87 Fig. 1.4: A view of the original dairy and reconstructed loom house within the domestic quarter illustrating the extensive use of brick at the site. (Harper, 2019)………………………………....88 Fig. 1.5: Illustration of Mount Airy’s Buildings and Gardens. (Cornell University Library Collection)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..….89 Fig. 1.6: View of the Homestead House while approaching from the road below. (Harper, 2019)…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...90 Fig. 1.7: View of the assembly hall from the doorway of the dairy. (Harper, 2019)……………………91 Fig. 1.8: View of the doorway in the southern wing of the Homestead House (left of the chimney) likely used by domestic slaves to access the parlor. (Harper, 2019) ………………92 Fig. 1.9: View of the domestic quarter at the southern end of the Homestead House illustrating the architectural uniformity of Brattonsville’s dependency structures. The reconstructed loom house is seen in the foreground and the original dairy and slave dwelling are in the background. (Harper, 2019)………………………………………………………………………………………….93 Fig. 1.10: Perspective view of the original dairy alluding to the structure’s multiple uses. The reconstructed bulkhead doors (bottom left) lead to the cellar for milk cooling and storage, the main floor was likely used as both a living space and work room, and the window opening within the gable end allows for light to enter the loft. (Harper, 2019)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………94 Fig. 1.11: Perspective view of the original dairy emphasizing two of the three grilled vents at the base of the structure. (Harper, 2019)……………………………………………………………………………95 Fig. 1.12: View of the main house at the Tuckahoe Plantation in Henrico and Goochland Counties, Virginia. (Virginia Department of Historic Resources)…………………………………………………..96 Fig. 1.13: View of the main house at Keswick Plantation in Powhatan County, Virginia. (Virginia Department of Historic Resources)……………………………………………………………………………….97 Fig. 1.14: View of the jack arch spanning the doorway of the original slave dwelling. (Harper, 2019)……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………98 Fig. 1.15: View of the eastern wall of the original slave dwelling with visible putlog holes. (Harper, 2019)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………99 Fig. 1.16: Putlog holes in the northern wall of the original dairy. (Harper, 2019)……………………..100 Fig. 1.17: View of both the 19th century and replacement framing members of the roof structure of the original slave dwelling. (Harper, 2019)……………………………………………………………..101 vi Fig. 1.18: View of the opening in the ceiling of the dairy’s main room leading to the loft above. (Harper, 2019)……………………………………………………………………………………………………………102 Fig. 1.19: View of the ceiling joists within the original dairy. (Harper, 2019)……………………………103 Fig. 1.20: Perspective view of the original dairy illustrating the grilled vents in the base of the southern and western walls. (Harper, 2019)…………………………………………………………….…104 Fig. 1.21: View of the reconstructed bulkhead doors leading to the cellar of the original dairy. (Photograph taken by Sara Johnson of Historic Brattonsville)…………………………………….105 Fig. 1.22: View of the dairy’s cellar. (Photograph taken by Sara Johnson of Historic Brattonsville)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………106 Fig. 1.23: View of the northern wall of the original dairy’s cellar. The arches can be seen at the base of the wall. (Photograph taken by Sara Johnson of Historic Brattonsville)………….107 Fig. 1.24: View of the rightmost arch at the base of the northern wall of the