New Perspectives on Haberdeventure Plantation in Charles County, Maryland, 1770–1787: A Historic Resource Study of Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Port Tobacco, Maryland
Speckart A. 2022. New Perspectives on Haberdeventure Plantation in Charles County, Maryland, 1770–1787: A Historic Resource Study of Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Port Tobacco, Maryland. Historic Resource Study. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
The purpose of this Historic Resource Study (HRS) of Thomas Stone National Historic Site, according to the scope of work issued by the National Park Service and Organization of American Historians, is to put the “extant cultural historical resources” of the park “within larger historical and geographical contexts.” The scope of work identified four priorities: agricultural history; family history; labor history, including “the histories and identities of enslaved laborers”; and legal history. A chapter is devoted to each one with the exception of labor history, which is incorporated throughout. The HRS also examines Haberdeventure’s relationship to social, economic, political, and cultural networks on local, state, and national levels. A supplement to an HRS from 1988, this project reflects recent developments in scholarship and takes advantage of an expanding body of electronically available primary and secondary sources. Thomas Stone (1743–87) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence for Maryland. In addition to serving in the Continental Congress, Thomas was a state senator, lawyer, and planter. This HRS attempts to broaden the story of the property beyond Thomas Stone, to be more inclusive of women and African Americans in particular. Despite persistent gaps in the historical record about Haberdeventure, new information was brought to light through improved accuracy in document transcriptions, inclusion of documents by or about women, and searching online databases and electronic publications. This HRS also benefits from the last thirty years of scholarship on the colonial and early national Chesapeake, particularly with regards to slavery, plantation economies, and material life.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Speckart, Amy
- Date of Issue
- 2022-02
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- NER , THST
- Keywords
- African American, agricultural history, agriculture, Continental Congress, enslaved labor, family cemetery, family history, fire, Haberdeventure, labor history, legal history, Maryland, material culture, plantation, plantation economy, slavery, Thomas Stone, tobacco