Blurring Disciplinary Boundaries: Historical Archaeological Investigations at St. Nicholas Abbey Sugar Plantation

Summary

Since 2007 faculty and students from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia have conducted archaeological investigations at St. Nicholas Abbey sugar plantation, one the most important heritage site in Barbados. The interdisciplinary research program developed for the site seeks to uncover evidence that will help in the restoration, preservation, and celebration of this important historic landmark. While deeds, maps, paintings, and other documentary sources offer insights into the early history of the estate and its owners, the archaeological investigations highlight the lives of the many people who made St. Nicholas Abbey one of the island’s premier plantations. The research program has helped illuminate the ways in which planters, enslaved workers, and poor whites negotiated their precarious positions at St. Nicholas Abbey and blended European and African cultural traditions to develop a truly creolized community. The evidence also sheds light on architectural changes to the estate’s great house. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• British Caribbean Plantations (1750-1840): Cross Disciplinary Dialogues Among Historians and Historical Archaeologists   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 316