Cultural Resource Study of Slavery-Related Buildings and Sites in Stafford County, Virginia

Dovetail Cultural Resource Group; Dennis Pogue, LLC

Abstract: "Dovetail Cultural Resource Group (Dovetail), along with Dennis Pogue, LLC (Pogue), conducted a county-wide survey of Stafford County, Virginia between October 2014 and May 2015. The project was completed at the request of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors in satisfaction of requirements outlined in the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) through the Certified Local Government (CLG) Grant Program. The goal of this CLG project, entitled Cultural Resource Services for Slavery-Related Sites, was to gather data to note the extant above- and below-ground slave-related resources in the county. This is the first step in the development of a county-wide context for historic properties with an association with enslaved individuals. The survey included a background review of slavery related resources throughout the county, the identification of up to 30 places with a connection to slavery in the county for field study, fieldwork on these 30 properties, limited archival research, Geographic Information System mapping, and the production of a report on the investigations. For documentation, each property received a reconnaissance architectural summary and additional resource documentation including mapping, photographs, and CAD drawings of their respective footprints. This report contains recommendations on additional studies on this topic, as the current survey is a preliminary document to ascertain the potential of this subject as a future research venue. Given this and due to the cursory nature of the current undertaking, the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility for each recorded property as an individual resource was not determined. In addition, as part of the CLG project, the Center for Historic Preservation at the University of Mary Washington agreed to fund student aides from the Department of Historic Preservation, working under Professor Douglas W. Sanford, to conduct historical research. Specifically, the students gathered and analyzed data from the U.S. Federal censuses for Stafford County as evidence for African American slavery. The study sought to provide a demographic and historical context for: slave ownership patterns; the different sized groupings of enslaved African Americans on the County’s farms and plantations; and the number of slave buildings in the County and as possible, the composition of slave households for the 1860 census. For additional information and analysis of the census records see Appendix B entitled Examining African American Slavery in Stafford County, Virginia from the Perspective of the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1810 to 1860." Funding for this study was provided in part through a fiscal year 2014 Historic Preservation Fund grant to Stafford County, Virginia (project number VA-14-001E) administered by the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P14AF00156) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Stafford County, Virginia is a Certified Local Government.

Cultural Resource Study of Slavery-Related Buildings and Sites in Stafford County, Virginia

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