Stagville Plantation is located in Durham County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. With buildings constructed from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, Stagville was part of one of the largest plantation complexes in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. The entire complex was owned by the Bennehan, Mantack and Cameron families; it comprised roughly and was home to almost 900 enslaved

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

in 1860. The remains of Historic Stagville consist of , in three tracts, and provides a unique look at

's history and general infrastructure in the

antebellum South In History of the Southern United States, the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit=Status quo ante bellum, before the war) spanned the Treaty of Ghent, end of the War of 1812 to the start of ...

. Among structures on the Stagville site are several historic

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

s and barns, including the original Bennehan House and some of the original slave quarters, which were in an area known as Horton Grove. The Bennehan House,
/ref> built 1787 with a large addition in 1799, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973; Horton Grove, an area of two-story slave residences built in 1850, was listed in 1978. The slave residences are well preserved and are the only two-story slave quarters remaining in North Carolina. Significant archaeological finds around the quarters have given

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s and historians a glimpse into the lives of the many

enslaved people Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

who lived and worked at Stagville and throughout the Bennehan-Cameron holdings. In 1976, Liggett and Meyers Tobacco Company, which had owned and worked the land for decades, donated some of the acreage to the state of North Carolina, which now operates the property as Historic Stagville State Historic Site, a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

, which belongs to the North Carolina Departmen

of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Notes

External links

Historic Stagville
- official site

Sources

* Anderson, Jean Bradley. ''Piedmont Plantation: The Bennehan-Cameron Family and Lands in North Carolina''. Durham: Historic Preservation Society, 1985 * Anderson, Jean Bradley. ''A History of Durham County, North Carolina''. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991 Archaeological sites in North Carolina Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina North Carolina in the American Civil War Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Historic house museums in North Carolina Plantation houses in North Carolina Open-air museums in North Carolina Museums in Durham County, North Carolina Georgian architecture in North Carolina North Carolina State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Durham County, North Carolina Houses in Durham County, North Carolina Slave cabins and quarters in the United States {{DurhamCountyNC-NRHP-stub