In 1865, Booker Taliaferro, his mother Jane, elder brother John Henry, younger sister Amanda, aunt Sophia, uncle Monroe, and cousin Sally were freed here at the site of the plantation's "Big House," where they first heard that they were free. Booker recalled the enslaved people drawn up in a line before the big house while papers were read and his mother said they were free. He also remembered that the first great rejoicing, thanksgiving, and wild scenes of ecstasy were brief, as the newly emancipated people soon felt the responsibility of having charge of themselves and of thinking and planning for themselves and their children. After emancipation, Booker's family left the plantation for good, joined his stepfather in Malden, West Virginia, and began their lives as free people. Booker T. Washington returned to the former plantation only once, in 1908.