Foreseeing Freedom: Discovery of an Enslaved Family’s Subfloor Storage Pit and Religious/Magical Shrine at the South Dependency Slave Quarters of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial (44AR0017)

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Historical Archaeology of the Mid-Atlantic (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

A major rehabilitation project was undertaken from 2017-2020 at Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, a National Park Service site preserving portions of an antebellum plantation in Arlington County, Virginia. The site includes the mansion, dependencies, and immediate grounds constructed between 1802 and 1818 by George Washington Parke Custis, the adoptive grandson of George Washington; and later served as home to Custis’ son-in-law Robert E. Lee. During the rehabilitation, workmen removing fill soils during a floor leveling task in the South Dependency west room slave quarters (where previously archeological investigations had taken place) made an interesting discovery. Subsequent archeological investigations of this unanticipated find identified a subfloor storage pit near the fireplace hearth that contained an enslaved family’s “spirit bundle” with four north-facing “conjuring bottles”; exhibiting West African religious connections and creolized Hoodoo Rootwork religious/folk magic customs that demonstrate resistance to their state of bondage and perseverance for freedom.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021   •
• Historical Archaeology of the Mid-Atlantic (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology