Existing comment:
Life in the Women's Bunk Room:
Had you entered this room one evening in 1799, you might have encountered ten to fifteen female slaves and perhaps their children. The women's lives were defined by work. They lived close to the Mansion, where a few were house slaves, and to the outbuildings, where others sewed clothing, cooked, or did laundry for the Washingtons. Some of these women were single, while others had husbands living elsewhere.
Some of the women who may have lived here included:
* Sall, House Maid
* Lucy and Delia, Knitters
* Charlotte, Seamstress
* Betty Davis and Delphy Judge, Spinners
What's Original?
Do you notice dark patches on the wall behind and to the right of the bunks? These are the only bricks that survive from the original greenhouse slave quarters, built in 1791-1792. |