Slave Cabin to be Opened and Dedicated at Historic Mount Vernon
09-08-2007
Mount Vernon will exhibit a Slave Cabin to
show how 75-percent of George Washington’s slaves lived. The Slave Cabin will be
dedicated on September 19, at 11:00 a.m., with a ceremony that will include
descendants of Mount
Vernon slaves, musical tributes, and a scholarly keynote
address.
The reconstructed 16-by-14-foot slave cabin is an
important domestic space that further illustrates the story of slavery at
Mount Vernon.
Previously, home life was represented by the Slave Quarters, a dormitory-style
brick structure where enslaved workers on the Mansion House Farm lived. By
contrast, the wooden Slave Cabin represents the small, substandard dwellings of
approximately 235 slaves who lived on one of Washington’s four outlying
farms.
“After
conducting extensive research and archaeological excavations, we determined that
it was critical to portray how the majority of slaves lived at Mount Vernon,” said
Dennis Pogue, director of preservation. “In order to fully understand what their
lives were like, visitors must see how they lived.”
The Slave Cabin at Mount Vernon is located near the 16-sided barn
at the George Washington: Pioneer Farmer Site, a four-acre farm that
demonstrates how crops were grown and harvested in the 18th century. Because the
barn was originally located about five miles from the Mansion on Dogue Run Farm,
the nearby Slave Cabin represents housing from that same area of the Estate.
Silla and Slammin’ Joe, a married couple, and their six children were a slave
family who lived on Dogue Run Farm, and it is their home that will be
interpreted to the public.
The Slave Cabin joins the Slave Quarters, Slave Memorial,
a slavery gallery in the Donald W.
Reynolds Education Center, and tours, public programs, and
educational outreach, as means by which the story of slavery is told to
visitors.
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Public Information: 703-780-2000; 703-799-8697 (TDD);
www.mountvernon.org
Since 1860, over 80 million visitors have made George
Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens the most popular historic home in
America. Through thought-provoking tours,
entertaining events, and stimulating educational programs on the Estate and in
classrooms across the nation, Mount
Vernon strives to preserve George Washington’s place in
history as “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His
Countrymen.” Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon
Ladies’ Association, America’s oldest national
preservation organization, founded in 1853. A picturesque drive to the southern end
of the scenic George Washington
Memorial Parkway, Mount
Vernon is located just 16 miles from the nation’s
capital.
Hours of operation: April-August, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
March, September, October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November – February, 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. Regular admission rates:
adults, $13.00; senior citizens, $12.00; children age 6-11, when accompanied by
an adult, $6.00; and children under age 5, FREE. Admission fees, restaurant and retail
proceeds, along with private donations, support the operation and restoration of
Mount
Vernon.
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