From Slavery to Freedom

The Magnolia Plantation Slave Cabin Project

1.0 Project Description

This project concerns the restoration and preservation of the five buildings known as the “slave cabins” at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, located at 3550 Ashley River Road in Charleston, South Carolina (www.magnoliaplantion.com).

Established in 1678 by Thomas Drayton, plantation ownership has stayed within the family for the past 308 years. To this day it has the oldest unrestored gardens in America with one section of the extensive gardens (Flowerdale) dating to 1680. The plantation opened its gardens to the general public for the first time in 1870, making it one of the earliest tourist attractions in the Deep South.

Slavery existed at Magnolia Plantation from its founding in 1676 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. This project focuses on the interpretation of African-American slaves and their post-emancipation experience at Magnolia Plantation. As a focal point in this interpretation, five buildings, four former slave quarters and one turn-of-the-century building, will be repaired, rehabilitated, and restored.

Four of the five structures in question were built in approximately 1850. The fifth smaller building was built between 1870 and 1900. This project will include all of the research and work needed to properly research, restore, and interpret these buildings for the general public.

The Magnolia Plantations slave cabins have a unique history, in which they have been utilized from the time of antebellum slavery through emancipation and the 20th century by African-Americans, both enslaved and free.

Magnolia is also unique in that it was also one of the earliest tourist attractions in the Deep South with its famous gardens and wildlife. As early as 1870, Magnolia opened its doors to tourists. This was in the midst of the Federal occupation and reconstruction era of the South. While most freed slaves were either migrating west or working as share-croppers on their former master’s plantations, Magnolia could employ free blacks to work in the budding tourism industry as porters for the railroad cars bringing in tourists, gardeners, dock workers for the steamboats, and much more.

The significance of these structures can not be under-stressed, and their restoration and interpretation would set a precedent for the Lowcountry with new standards of historic interpretation. African-American history and slave history has become one of the most important and popular topics to interpret in the Southern United States.

The discussion of slavery is often difficult, but it is an important topic that must be talked about openly and honestly whenever plantation life is discussed. Our knowledge and perspective about history is always changing and evolving. Enslaved Africans, and later African-Americans, were able to create a powerful and unique culture despite enslavement. Both the Europeans and Africans were pioneers in carving out an existence in the New World. In many cases they worked side by side, but there were also distinct differences.

From the 17th century until the early 19th century, West Africans were transformed from merchants, craftsmen, peasant farmers, and cattle-tenders into American slaves. They ate what they were given or could find, not what they wanted. They dressed in the clothes that were given to them, not those they had known in the past. The Africans had to give up their own language and learn to express themselves through other forms of communication. They were stripped of all material possessions as their enslavers attempted to transform them from human beings with a rich history and culture into beasts of burden. But the one thing that could not be erased was their memories.

The things they were taught as children, the cultural system they had grown up in, all of these things would remain part of their consciousness, and they would pass those memories down from generation to generation. By doing so, they created new patterns of behavior necessary to adapt to their new environment. Melding African traditions from various regions with those of the New World created a culture and language that survive in various forms to this day. These include food (rice, related rice dishes, okra, etc.), music (Gospel, Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Rock & Roll, etc.), literature, poetry, and language (Gullah). Therefore the examination of enslavement, even in a microcosm setting such as Magnolia Plantation, is important to the greater understanding of our world today.

One cannot look at the history of enslavement at Magnolia Plantation without an understanding of the importance of the Gullah language and culture. Of the approximately 400,000 Africans that were forcibly enslaved and brought into North American during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the majority were funneled through Charleston, South Carolina.

These African’s were from various regions, mainly from the West Coast of Africa, where there were hundreds of dialects within each region. Even today in Nigeria, there are more than 150 languages and dialects spoken. A creolization of languages began to emerge in the Lowcountry that allowed these slaves from various regions of Africa to communicate with each other as well as with their white owners and overseers. Thus the initial “Gullah” dialect began (or “Geechee” as it is referred to along the Georgia Sea Islands).

As more African slaves funneled their way through the port of Charleston, a constant reinforcement of the African culture continued for almost two centuries. It is believed this is why the Gullah language and culture continue to exist to this day. However, it is very unlikely that the Gullah we hear today is anything like the Gullah spoken in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Still, the Gullah language today continues to have great similarities with the dialect of Kio, which is spoken today among the people of Sierra Leone.

This language and culture almost certainly existed at Magnolia Plantation in the 18th and 19th centuries. As it was widespread in the plantations of Lowcountry South Carolina, Magnolia Plantation could be no different.

Punishments could be harsh on Lowcountry plantations as they certainly would have been at Magnolia. Disobedient slaves could be punished with everything from additional work to physical beatings. Those that continued to be a problem could be sent to the workhouse in downtown Charleston for beatings and training, or they could be sold to another plantation far away from their family.

But the true horror of enslavement was not the physical punishments, but rather the lack of free will and forced work & confinement subject to the whim of their owner. There were also contrasts in the way various slaves were treated by the different generations of Draytons, such as between artisans & house slaves versus field slaves. Contrasts in the way slaves reacted to the Draytons through time varied as well.

Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the former slaves at Magnolia Plantation would play an integral and unique role in transforming the site into one of the most beautiful tourist attractions in America.

2.0 Methodology

Because of its unique history and the almost constant occupation of these buildings in one form or another, we are pursuing the following in regards to their restoration and interpretation:

We will be restoring and preserving all five of the buildings to reflect the different time periods of occupation:

1. CABIN A: 1850 Slave Cabin
2. CABIN B: 1930 Gardeners Home
3. CABIN C: 1969 Leech Family Home
4. CABIN D: 1870 Freedmen’s Home
5. CABIN E: 1900 Gardeners Home

• Build an Interpretation Exhibits Building to accompany the interpretation of the cabins.
• Create an interpretive program for the public
• Create an extensive educational program for school children

While other historic sites have restored similar slave cabins and houses in the past for interpretation, no site has ever restored a series of structures that interpret African-American history from slavery to freedom and beyond. Magnolia has the unique and exciting opportunity to have a transitional interpretive area for African-American history that is certain to garner national attention.

For the purposes of this proposal, the slave cabins in questions will hereafter be referred to individually as Cabins A, B, C, D, & E as seen in the illustration below.

cabin diagram

A basic description of how each cabin will be restored and the work involved now follows.

Cabin A

Cabin A will reflect its original 1850 construction and usage as a slave cabin.

PRESERVATION

One room of the cabin (the right side) will be preserved with its ‘patina’ intact. The choice of which room to preserve versus restore is based on which of the two rooms in most intact with the period in question. It will be cleaned, repaired and stabilized as needed to ensure the safety of guests visiting the building. This will include some masonry details, foundation and floor repairs, and other work. The wall planks on the interior will be removed to show how the cabin was originally constructed. These planks will be numbered and saved to be utilized in the other cabin restorations or stored properly.

RESTORATION

Keeping as much of the original integrity of the structure as possible, the second room (the left side) will be restored to its 1850 slave cabin appearance complete with appropriate furnishings. This will include the removal of the wall planks and fresh white wash applied. We will give the room a feeling that it is being lived in so visitors will be able to compare and contrast what it might have looked like originally in one room, and see the original patina of how it looks in the other.

Cabin B

Cabin B will reflect a worker/gardeners cabin of the 1930’s.

PRESERVATION

The room to the right will be cleaned, stabilized, repaired, and preserved to reflect its period of usage in the 1930s. Visitors will be able to view the original fabric of the room and see the bits and pieces of the newspapers still on the walls and ceiling dating from the late 1920s into the 1930s from the New York Times to the local Charleston newspapers.

RESTORATION

The room to the left will be restored to the period of the 1930s complete with furnishings, a wood burning stove, and recreated period newspapers plastered to the walls and ceiling.

Cabin C

Cabin C will reflect the life of the Leech family circa 1969.

Cabin C has had the most extensive alterations done to it over the years. It has been completely gutted over time. Nothing remains of the original fireplace and chimney, or any of the original interior walls, however there are interior walls that have been added in the 20th century. A thirteen foot extension has been built into the southern end of the cabin as well as an additional room of the back of the structure. These additions were done during the latter half of the 20th century.

This was the home of Johnny Leech, his father, and later his son Isaac. It has a unique history in that it was lived in through the late part of the 20th century. Therefore it presents a unique opportunity for interpretation as a look into not just the architecture and evolution of a structure, but the story of a family who made it their home for decades.

In 1969, Johnny Leech was living in this cabin with his wife and three children. The cabin still had no running water and cooking as well as heating was done over wood burning stoves. In 1969 Charleston also experienced race riots, giving this location the opportunity to discuss the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and compare it to the Civil Rights movement of the 1860s.

RESTORATION

More detailed oral histories with both Johnny and Isaac Leech will dictate the complete restoration of this structure, including its furnishings. The hope is that we can restore the entire structure to the 1969 time period.

The work plan for this cabin will be determined after more oral histories and research has been done. However, the approach in telling the story of the Leech family with this building is the ultimate goal. As both Johnny Leech and his son Isaac both still work at Magnolia Plantation, this will be a very personal project.

Cabin D

Cabin D will reflect an 1870’s Freedman’s cabin.

Cabin D has had extensive alterations done to it in the late 20th century, including the removal of its firebox and chimney, a new wall, floor, and ceiling system, as well as electricity. It has also been raised higher off the ground than the other structures in the process.

RESTORATION

The removal of the late 20th century additions will reveal what is still original underneath and an attempt at preserving as much of that as possible will be undertaken. However, based on the extensive alterations a restoration of the structure to reflect a 1870s Freedman’s home, complete with furnishings, is the goal. This would include the lowering of the foundation and the construction of a complete firebox and chimney made from hand-made bricks manufactured on site.

Cabin E

Cabin E will reflect an evolution of time periods from 1900 to the late 20th century based on the additions built upon it over time.

Based on the construction of Cabin E, it is estimated that the original building was built between 1880 and 1900. Three additional rooms were added to the structure over time. This gives us the unique opportunity to show the evolution of a building over time. This is especially relevant as this structure was lived in up to 1999, which represents the last occupancy of any of the structures on this street.

RESTORATION & PRESERVATION

The main room (and only room) of the original structure will be restored to 1900, preserving as much of the original fabric in place as possible.

3.0 Interpretation

An extensive archaeological survey will be undertaken of the site around the cabins, including underneath the floors of some of the structures as well. This will give us insight as to how long slaves might have lived on this section of property prior to the construction of these buildings as well as their lifestyle during the occupation of these structures. Selected artifacts recovered will be put on display in the interpretive center.

The landscape will be interpreted as well with the reconstruction of a swept yard around the buildings and a vegetable & medicinal garden behind Cabin A. Tree’s, shrubs and additional undergrowth less than 50 years old will be removed.

Black living historians dressed in period clothing will be on hand to present programs and information on the various lifestyles and history of the African-Americans who worked their as both slaves and free people of color. It will give guests a unique look into a great arc of African-American history that cannot be found at any other plantation site is the South.

The exhibits building will house archaeological artifacts from the site, photographs, documents, working models of various industries found at Magnolia in the 19th century run by the slaves such as a grist mill and rice pounding mill, and interactive exhibits for children.

An extensive and interactive educational program will also be created for 3rd and 4th grade students studying African-American history that incorporates both oral history and a hands-on experience.