Unearthing The Past

The Quarters was home to generations of workers, enslaved and tenant, and although the cabins give few hints about their lives, oral traditions, historical papers, and archeological artifacts provide insight into life there. Archeologists have studied the Quarters since the National Park Service acquired the land in 1997, recovering household objects, food remains, and personal items from the 19th and 20th centuries. Made, used, and discarded by African Americans in daily life, these objects offer clues to how residents lived and adapted to enslavement and the freedom that followed. Some artifacts clearly show their function, while others remain uncertain and may be better understood through future excavations. The Code Noir, or Black Code, regulated the life, death, purchase, treatment, and religion of enslaved people in the French colonies and required that all enslaved people be baptized as Catholic. A medal bearing the image of the Virgin Mary found in a cabin appears to have been altered. A bottle of Hoyt's Cologne was buried in front of the door to a room added in the 1900s; gamblers used Hoyt's Cologne for luck, and oral history says the room was sometimes used for gambling.

Montgomery, Louisiana · United States