In the 18th century, enslaved African Americans on the plantation were housed in outlying barns and buildings and in the passageways of the manor house. By the 19th century, approximately ten slave cabins stood between the ravine and the agricultural fields within partial view of the house. This cabin would have housed an estimated two dozen slaves. The plantation owner provided little by way of furnishings, so slaves made clothing, furniture, and bedding themselves. Archaeological excavations at this site uncovered a hidden root cellar and hundreds of artifacts, including buttons, tools, and pottery. The cabin was built like typical agricultural buildings constructed between the 1830s and 1850s, but its builders hewed the earthfast posts flat on one side to prevent the four and a half inch to five inch thick plank walls from buckling. They drove pegs down through holes drilled vertically into planks to keep them stacked. Chinking of clay and mortar was added between the planking to protect against weather and bugs. The windows were not original and were added after the Civil War. The only light in the building would have come from the open doors, fireplace, or candles. The hard packed floor was at one time covered with a wooden floor that was later removed, and the loft had two shuttered openings.