Visiting the SlaveCabin

            I visited the slave cabin on Wednesday October 24th after much trouble in getting the key. I am really glad Professor Rainville recently opened up the cabin for students to visit. My first impression of the cabin was that it was bigger than I expected it to be. Yes, it would be way too small for ten people to live in it, but I was expecting it to be smaller. I was also surprised at how not old the first floor felt. That was probably due to the pretty coat of white paint and the outlets. The loft felt much older, though I was expecting it to open up to the lower room and not be so big. I suspect the loft felt older because the original siding seemed to be used, and downstairs the walls were plaster. I would love to see this cabin reverted back to its 19th century state, I think it would really emphasize what you are standing in if it looked and felt the way the people living in it back then saw and felt it.

The beams on the ceiling which have the square nails.

Crooked stairway to the loft. 

The loft.

View of the lower level of the cabin.

The loft

19th Century Kitchen

             During the late 19th century, gas and electricity were just starting to be introduced into the kitchen. Most middle-class families would've had gas or coal fired stoves. The kitchen I am designing will have a cast iron stove that runs off of coal. 

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/facultypages/PamMack/lec323/household.htm

This cast iron stove needs about 300 pounds of coal and 5 and a half hours of maintenance per week. Since so much coal is required, a coal skuttle will also be in my kitchen.

http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/asset94837_2878-.html

There will also be a preparation table, where food is prepared, and a separate dining table, both made of wood. Along with my preparation table, there will be utensils such as beaters, wooden spoons, rolling pins, and sifters.

http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/asset76376_2282-.html

http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/asset76373_2282-.html

 Pots and pans will also be necessary. These tin and copper pots are nice, since they can be used on either a coal-fired stove or electric or gas stove.

http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/kitchen/tech.html

 Eating utensils will be plain and fashioned out of a cheap metal. Glass cups and pitchers will be used for liquids.

The Story of Writing

A cake. That's how my struggles first began. A cake with frosting and sprinkles and gumdrops and licorice and gummy bears and jelly beans and M&Ms and a pickle. More specifically, I suppose it was the pickle that started those struggles. See, I had to be the pickle. I had to let the thoughts of me, the pickle, flow effortlessly onto some sheet of paper, which then had to be carefully typed and then edited and then submitted to my Enriched Language Arts teachers.

This assignment, as well as many others, did not go so well for me. I was taking ELA in fifth and sixth grade, and although I had many fantastic ideas and a wild imagination, I could never seem to capture them with words. It was my deepest dream to be able to express the passion I felt, the beauty I saw. I wanted others to feel and see it it too. I wanted to connect with other people through words, beautiful, inspiring words. Yet my writing always felt dry, boring, and clunky. It wasn't until I wrote my last story ever for the class that something clicked. I cant explain what happened, I just couldn't keep my pen from flowing with words about a girl with golden eyes named Annabel who was trying to save the world. My teachers returned the assignment to me with a good grade and a note recommending I try out for the middle school writing team. I took their advice and ended up making the team. From there, my writing improved and my love of it grew and grew.

One of my favorite experiences that I gained from writing was New Stages, a play series my high school puts on every year. New Stages features six or seven student written, one-act plays that are directed by students and, of course, performed by students. Normally, only upperclassmen's plays get selected, but the year I was a sophomore, my play was one of the selected plays. It was an amazing experience, seeing something I'd created in my head actually happening. It was also extremely rewarding when my play made people laugh, and then, when people came up to me and told me how much they had enjoyed it. This experience reinforced my desire to be a writer. Ideally, I want to write fiction and plays, but I also don't mind writing nonfiction. This is why I want to find someway to combine my love of writing with my interest in environmental science. And then, maybe I could still write fiction on the side.

A picture of the cast and I

A trail through the woods at my summer camp. The beauty of the land here always inspires me to write.

The Sweet Briar Slave Cabin: What Does it Mean Today?             

            Being from the north, I wasn’texactly sure how I should feel about going to school at what once was aplantation. I suppose it made me feel a bit uncomfortable; especially because Ididn’t know how touchy a subject it would be among the students, staff, andadministrators. Today, though, I admire how dedicated this college is to itspast. We remember the white founders of the college, as well as the blackpopulation that lived and worked here, and without whom, there probably wouldnot have been a Sweet Briar College.

            Uponhearing that there was a grand plantation mansion complete with slave cabin inbackyard at my college, I immediately thought that when I stepped on campus, Iwould feel like I had been transported into one of those romanticized Civil Warmovies we watched in eighth grade American History. I thought that this slavecabin would literally be a disintegrating shack, made out of poorly piecedtogether logs and complete with a dirt floor. This impression was probably frommy prior, eighth grade knowledge that slave living quarters were absolutelyhorrendous and border-lining unlivable. When I saw the cabin for the firsttime, on a walk for my Honors Variant class, I was shocked at how notdilapidated it looked. The green roof really shocked me. Who knew slave cabinshad such pretty metal roofs?! As it turns out, they didn’t, which I found outlater during Pizza With Parker.      

            PizzaWith Parker was when I learned most of my prior knowledge about the slavecabin. Along with learning that the roof was not original, I also learned that thiswas the oldest standing slave cabin known, Sterling Jones, who had made some ofthe bricks used in the earlier buildings, lived in the cabin with his family,and that new research questioned whether this building had been a slave cabinat all. I also knew that there was a second floor or rather, loft, and that thecabin was kept locked most of the time. This disappointed me, since I wasbecoming more and more curious about the cabin as I learned more and more aboutSweet Briar history.

            Afterhearing Mr. McGill and Dr. Rainville speak on this tiny cabin, and learningwhat was original and what was added and what it was used for in the 20s andthen the 30s and so forth, I’ve come to appreciate it more. I’m also a littleskeptical of it, though. Was it truly a slave cabin? If it wasn’t, I don’t wantto treat it at as such, for some reason that doesn’t seem respectful or rightto me. However, I realize that it may be impossible to discover the use of thecabin back in antebellum times.

Either way, Ithink this building holds great importance to the Sweet Briar community, and italways has. The historical buildings are a constant reminder of our past, apast filled with interesting and important people of all races. Since we are soclosely linked to our founders through our many traditions and ghost stories,it is only right that we also remember the others that called this place theirhome. It is important to acknowledge the past, no matter how embarrassing anddreadful it may be. This way, such mistakes will not be repeated, and we cancelebrate the great improvements in our society.

I would like toknow how previous generations viewed the slave cabin. Was it referred to as“The Slave Cabin” back when the college first started? I would assume not, andif so, when did it first gain that name? Did the people using it as the AlumnaeOffice realize what their office was? What about the students that used it as alounge back in the 80s? The idea of using it as a lounge today seemspreposterous! It’s so old and, frankly, it would feel weird to relax in such aplace. How much research was done on it before Dr. Rainville started studyingit? Was there any interest in its history or the people that lived there beforeshe came along?

Personally, Iwould love to see the cabin restored to its original form and left as such. Anyinformation posted about the cabin should be posted outside, and a bit a waysfrom it, like the sign already posted there. I feel like I get the most out ofhistorical objects/buildings/etc. when I am allowed to interact with them intheir true form. I welcome information, but I would either like to read aboutit before the experience, or have someone relay the information throughtalking.

Especially becausethe slave cabin is a direct connection to the people who once lived and workedhere, and it is such a powerful symbol of its time, I think it should be viewedas a memorial. Ideally, I think the slave burial ground and the cabin shouldhave a similar reflective and respectful feel. And also be so unchanged fromtheir original forms so one could easily imagine that she were at Sweet Briarwhen it was a working plantation. The cabin should be a place where people cango to reflect on what the house means to them, this school, and the country asa whole. Students should be made aware of its history, and others that comethrough the college should know of it as well. I also think that the cabinshould always be open, this would further encourage students to visit it. Theproper precautions, of course, must be taken to ensure that the cabin ismaintained and not harmed by the many visitors it would receive.  This cabin is an important part of our history;it should be more accessible to those who are interested in it.