"…The untarnished honor of our ancestors…": Transforming Landscape and Memory at James Monroe’s Highland

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.

Recent archaeological research at James Monroe’s Highland has focused on reconstructing and interpreting the plantation landscape as it existed during Monroe’s ownership of the property. While archaeological data has provided clarity to our understanding of the Monroe Period, it has also revealed the way in which the plantation was drastically reshaped over the course of the 19th century for both practical and political purposes. Using data obtained through archaeological survey, maps, photos, and documents, this paper examines how Highland was recontextualized by John E. Massey, prominent Democrat and Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, during Reconstruction to evoke an idealized past. Massey and his successors actively rebuilt Highland’s landscape to cultivate its association with Monroe and recreate the property's status as an elite planation. Furthermore, the restructuring of the landscape illustrates how plantations continued to play a central role in the negotiation of power, race, status, and gentility in post-Civil War Virginia.

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