Analysis of 300+ years of Slavery, Tenancy, and Farm Labor at the Cremona Estate

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

West Ashcom, later called Cremona, is located in tidewater Maryland, USA and has witnessed over 300 years of continual estate agriculture throughout the beginnings of the colonial period to present day. Changing hands from elite white owners, the estate was built on the labor of trafficked and enslaved Africans and African Americans, and later post-emancipation, a mixed-race farm laborer workforce. Archaeological excavations led by Dr. Liza Gijanto from St Mary’s College of Maryland have been ongoing since 2012, most recently funded by a three-year NSF-REU grant. Excavations have focused on the 17th-18th century manor house and outbuildings, and a 19th century extant cabin. This paper takes a long view of enslavement, tenancy, and farm labor focused on the years from 1650-1946. We will demonstrate the effect of changes in plantation culture and labor practice through the racialization of space through oral histories, documentary and archaeological records.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow