Archaeologists at Montpelier this week announced a three-year excavation program that will investigate the slaves who lived on the estate during the time of President James Madison.
The study will focus on the home sites of three groups of slaves:
— house slaves, who worked directly for the Madisons in the mansion
— stable and garden slaves, who lived and worked in the stable quarter
— and field slaves, who lived away from the mansion near the agricultural fields.
The archaeological work began this season and continues through the fall of 2012.
A $250,000 “We the People” grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will fund the initiative. The grants are intended to further the study of American history and culture.
“This new excavation program will give us a comprehensive understanding of the entire slave population of nearly 100 who once lived here serving James and Dolley Madison and the Montpelier plantation,” said Matthew Reeves, Montpelier director of archaeology.
“Few plantations have pristine archaeological remains of an entire slave population like Montpelier, and this creates a remarkable opportunity to gain insight into the complex workings of the whole plantation.”
Montpelier was Madison’s lifelong home. He is a father of the Constitution, an architect of the Bill of Rights and the fourth president. His 2,650-acre estate is located on Route 20, four miles south of the town of Orange.
The archaeological excavation is one part of a larger comprehensive effort to investigate the daily lives of the many enslaved individuals who lived at Montpelier for generations.
Interested?
Visitors can see the excavation until Oct. from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, visit montpelier.org.
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