A Life of Limes and Leisure: A Post-Emancipation Quaker Elite Site in Montserrat, West Indies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Working on the 19th-Century" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper presents results of a recent archaeological survey and excavation at an elite Quaker site on Montserrat. In the early 1870s, the success of the Sturge family’s prosperous lime enterprise, The Montserrat Company Ltd., enabled John Edmund Sturge and his wife Jane to construct a residence known as "The Cot" overlooking the town of Salem. The home was badly damaged and subsequently abandoned following the devastating 1899 hurricane. The layout and organization of the Cot offer insights into aspects of visibility and surveillance; excavations on the property provide material evidence associated with the daily activities and consumption practices of the Sturge family occupants. These materials reflect the possible ways in which this family may have negotiated the social discourse on Montserrat and enacted their Quaker ideals creatively in the context of late 19th-century post-emancipation Caribbean life.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Working on the 19th-Century

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 415