Cabins, Households, and Families: The Multiple Loci of Pooled Production at James Madison's Montpelier

Summary

The lives of the members of the enslaved community at James Madison’s plantation in Virginia, Montpelier, were shaped by the types of work they were expected to do in order to keep the president’s mansion and farm running smoothly. Recent work by historical demographers has highlighted the importance of pooling resources within households, with members each contributing the results of their production activities to the group.  Archaeological excavations at several different early 19th century domestic structures at Montpelier reveal the way the plantation inhabitants’ labors were differentially pooled across the property.  By comparing and contrasting the production-related artifacts found associated with different buildings, this paper investigates the multiple loci of shared tasks within the agriculturally-focused plantation and demonstrates how Madison and his overseers’ had to compromise their conceptions of discreet work spaces with the spaces of pooled production created by the social networks of the enslaved community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Space and Place in the African Diaspora: Assessing Household Context within a Virginia Plantation   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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PaperId(s): 381

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