Homes for Enslaved Families

Enslaved people who worked in the Madisons' household lived in the nearby area called the south yard, where the yards of their homes, the setting for most household activities, lay in direct sight of the mansion and under Madison control over both appearance and activity. During the work day, all but the oldest and youngest were occupied with assigned tasks. Archaeologists excavated one south yard house and found from its foundation that it was a duplex with a central chimney; other evidence showed that it had a wood floor, glass windows, and solid construction unlike the crude log dwellings occupied by field slaves a quarter-mile away. Buttons, beads, ceramics, and glassware recovered from one home were among the few personal belongings of enslaved people, items they likely bought at local markets and stores with money earned by selling vegetables they grew or by working in limited spare time. Dolley's niece remembered her aunt buying cabbages, sweet potatoes, chickens, and eggs from Old Sawney, who may have lived in one of these homes. In 1837, about a year after James Madison's death, Dolley insured the home and nearby outbuildings, and the insurance map showed three residences, each a duplex for two enslaved families, and two smokehouses in this area; the kitchen, a brick structure, was absent, suggesting it was not valuable enough to insure then.

Virginia · United States