The Venture Smith Site: An Eighteenth-Century African American Homestead in Haddam, Connecticut

Summary

The Venture Smith homestead is an important eighteenth-century rural black archaeological site with a remarkable level of integrity, associated with a person significant to American history. Born about 1729, Broteer Furro was an African prince abducted and sold into slavery when only six years old. Thirty years a slave, he purchased his and his family’s freedom and became a prosperous mariner-merchant-farmer and benefactor to fellow blacks. At his death in 1805, he owned over 100 acres of farmland, three houses, outbuildings, a wharf, and numerous watercraft. Respected by white neighbors/associates to whom he was known as Venture Smith, he became a local folk hero. Historical documents speak of his integrity, courage and strength. Smith’s life story is critically important to the study of slavery in New England, to African-American history, and to American cultural heritage. He is the focus of ongoing research across several continents. The BBC produced a film on his life: A Slave’s Story (2007). For reasons to be discussed, though not formally a State Archaeological Preserve, the Venture Smith site warrants consideration as a National Historic Landmark.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21051