Challenging Landscapes: Alternate Perspectives of Chesapeake Plantation Gardens

Summary

Much has been written about 18th and 19th century American and European formal plantation landscapes and gardens.  Traditional interpretations of these spaces have relied on notions of power, hierarchy, and surveillance—which come from the ideals of the plantation owners. Mark Leone illustrates this with his work at the Paca House in Annapolis, Maryland.  However, as Dell Upton argues, those of European and African descent would have approached these landscapes in vastly different ways and inscribed them with different cultural meanings.  The work discussed in this paper has opened the door to future research investigating alternate interpretations; specifically, one centered in the empowerment and agency of those enslaved at these plantations.  Such an approach has been called for by Ian Hodder in his critique of Leone’s work in Annapolis. This paper contributes to the conversation in which archaeologists look at these landscapes from a neglected perspective.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Obscured by Clouds: Landscapes in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 625