Les survivants de l'esclavage: The Archeology of Slavery at L'Hermitage Plantation, Maryland
Speaker: Joy Beasley, National Park Service
Sumner School, 7 pm. Dinner at 5:30, Beacon Hotel
In 1793, the Vincendière family came from the colony of Saint-Domingue to Frederick County, Maryland within what is now Monocacy National Battlefield. Bringing 12 of their enslaved laborers with them, the Vincendières acquired land and labor that eventually comprised a 748-acre plantation called L'Hermitage. By 1800, L'Hermitage was home to 90 enslaved African-Americans, making the Vincendières among the largest slaveholders in Maryland. Recent archeological excavations at the L'Hermitage slave village have revealed what is thought to be one of the largest slave sites in the Mid-Atlantic region, including the remains of six dwelling houses and associated features such as enclosures and trash middens. In addition to revealing much about the lives of the enslaved people at L'Hermitage, this project provided applied field and research experiences for students from American University, Hood College, the University of Maryland, and Howard University.
Joy Beasley is the Cultural Resources Program Manager for Monocacy National Battlefield. She received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Georgia in 1993, and completed her graduate work at the University of Maryland in Applied Anthropology and Historical Archeology in 2001 at the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to coming to the National Park Service in 2004, she was a faculty research assistant at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research interests include plantations and African-American archeology, early transportation and commerce, and vernacular agricultural landscapes.
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