Public vs. Private in the Domestic Spaces of the Enslaved: Yards and their Uses at Kingsley Plantation, Jacksonville, Florida, 1814-1860

Summary

Kingsley Plantation, a Second Spanish Period site located on Fort George Island in Jacksonville, Florida, has seen various excavations over the course of the past six decades. In addition to an intensive focus on the interiors of slave cabins, the investigation of which allows interpretation of private and personal spaces, yards around the cabins have been examined in order to better understand those areas that operate as both personal and public. Yards provided the settings for activities tied to personal, family, and even community life, where mundane and religious practices may have occurred not only in view of or collaboration with neighbors, but also potentially within sight of the plantation’s owner. This paper interprets the yards at Kingsley Plantation through examination of material culture recovered from excavation of the area around cabin West 15, particularly in comparison with that cabin’s interior and yards investigated at other plantations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2016   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 601