Studio39Designs

McLean House Slave Quarters

Next to the Summer Kitchen was the house where the slaves of the house would live.  I have to admit, I hesitated about including this post in my blog, but decided to include it as it is a part of this country’s history, and ignoring it does nothing to speak to what the slaves and their descendants have accomplished in the ensuing years.  And, so, let’s look back into history….

McLean House Slave Quarters

The building itself is quite simple in design and structure, and was painted white and matched the summer kitchen, which was right next door.

Dining Table

The dining table was certainly much simpler and the difference in style and décor from the dining room in the formal house is, of course, striking.  The mismatched table ware and chairs makes me angry in a way – I wish they at least had a complete set of things that matched.  Small detail, I know, but I tend to notice these things.

Hearth

It appears that cooking was perhaps done at this hearth, and not in the summer kitchen.  This, too, makes me angry, as it would have been considered ok for their home to become hot in the summer, but not the main house.  Notice the smoked meats hanging from the ceiling of the room.

Bedroom

This sort of mirrors the bedrooms in the main house, in that it is multi-purpose.  You can see the beds in the background, with a barrel table and chairs for playing cards, checkers, or whatever.  And, there is a small hearth to make a fire in the winter months.  Stark simplicity.

Bedroom 2

Here’s another bedroom with the same sort of stark simplicity.  This one has a stairway to the second floor, altho we weren’t allowed in this building, so I couldn’t explore upstairs.  Again, as angry as seeing this might make one today, it was a part of our history, and slavery of some sort was a part of many countries back in those days.  We have moved on from there, altho there is still a way to go.  However, ignoring or trying to erase this piece of history from our minds will not serve future generations well.  There is an old saying that if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.  If we erase history that we don’t like, we cannot remember and learn from it, so instead of ending this post with my usual “enjoy”, instead, for this post, I say –

Remember.