Historic Documents
March 22, 1808 - Jefferson to BaconThe documents presented here are a variety of letters and memoranda from Thomas Jefferson and his overseers (Jeremiah Goodman and Joel Yancey) that shed light on plantation buildings and activities, some of which may have stood or occurred at Site B. Nurseries, gardens, stables, slave quarters, orchards, and a spinning and weaving house are referenced in these documents. While locations for many of these facilities are vague, the information in these letters and memoranda provides considerable insight into the operation of the Poplar Forest plantation. Although Jefferson was essentially an absentee landowner for most of the year, he remained intimately involved in the operation of the plantation through correspondence with his overseers. This personal involvement was necessary for Jefferson to ensure that Poplar Forest ran with efficiency and produced the financial return he desperately needed to help offset his debt. Jefferson’s attention to detail in some of these matters has left behind valuable documentary evidence for life at Poplar Forest.
Feb. 27, 1811 - Planting Memorandum for Poplar Forest
Dec. 5, 1812 - Planting Memorandum for Poplar Forest
March 1, 1812 - Jefferson to Goodman
Dec. 13, 1812 - Jefferson to Goodman
April 18, 1813 - Jefferson to J. W. Eppes
March 5, 1813 - Jefferson to Goodman
Dec. 10, 1814 - Jefferson to Goodman
Nov. 2, 1815 - Planting Memorandum for Poplar Forest
March 15, 1816 - Jefferson to Joel Yancey
March 14, 1818 - Jefferson to Yancey
Jan. 17, 1819 - Jefferson to Joel Yancey
April 23, 1819 - Planting Memorandum for Poplar Forest
Dec. 12, 1819 - Yancey to Jefferson
Nov. 27, 1819 - Jefferson to John Hemings
Feb. 27, 1820 - Yancey to Jefferson
Some details of these letters and memoranda have given us clues about the relative locations of certain buildings. For instance, the stable and nursery are tied together, as Jefferson directs plants to be placed in a nursery behind a stable (see Planting Memorandum for Poplar Forest 1811, Jefferson to Goodman 1814 and Jefferson to Joel Yancey 1816). This is a logical placement of facilities, as the manure produced in the stables can be expediently hauled to the nursery or placed on a nearby dung heap. Not surprisingly it seems that the vegetable garden was also close to the stables (see Jefferson to Goodman 1812), and it is possible that the stables, nursery, and garden created an interconnected complex. It is exciting to think that positively identifying one of these areas archaeologically will lead to the discovery of the other two.
One structure mentioned briefly in letters that we do know the location of was the curtilage fence. Jefferson had a surveyor named Joseph Slaughter lay out a 61 acre block enclosing the main dwelling house. This block, referred to as the curtilage, was bounded by a split rail fence according to Jefferson’s instructions to his overseer Jeremiah Goodman (see Jefferson to Goodman 1812). The map resulting from Slaughter’s survey also shows this curtilage block (see Maps Section). The activities and buildings located within this space are not known, but most likely included the stables, nursery, gardens, and slave quarters. This area was of particular interest to Jefferson and he listed it as a major improvement to the property when stating that he had planted it with trees of use and ornament (see Jefferson to J.W. Eppes 1813). Site B is located within the curtilage and the excavations may provide us with the first glimpse of how at least one section of this large space was ordered (See Maps Section for location of Site B in relation to Slaughter’s map).
From these letters we are also able to get a glimpse into slave life and the movement of individuals and materials between the enslaved communities at Monticello and Poplar Forest. Learning to spin and weave at Monticello, driving hogs from Poplar Forest, and accompanying wagons full of supplies or plants for the nursery were all ways in which the two slave communities traversed the distance between the two plantations. The spinning and weaving operation, for which a specific building was erected, is particularly well documented, however the location of the activity itself is unknown (see Jefferson to Goodman 1812, Jefferson to Goodman 1813, Jefferson to Yancey 1818, Yancey to Jefferson 1819, and Jefferson to John Hemings 1819). Jefferson had the successful implementation of this operation in his best interest as it allowed him to move Poplar Forest closer to the ideal of a self-reliant plantation. Clothing for upwards of 100 enslaved workers made from the plantation’s own wool and hemp was cheaper than buying cloth from stores. However as we see in these letters, a broken spinning jenny and the need for the weavers to attend sick workers or participate in field labor forced Jefferson to buy cloth from outside the plantation in 1819. It is assumed that the spinning and weaving house was located within the curtilage, and locating it would provide valuable information about Jefferson’s attempts to implement light industry at Poplar Forest as well as help us understand the lives of enslaved women associated with this type of work.
The documents presented here give us a starting point for understanding how Poplar Forest may have been organized, the types of activities associated with slavery, and Jefferson’s attempts at establishing a productive plantation. Ongoing archaeological research will illuminate these documents with the tangible evidence for life at Poplar Forest. Only through locating the postholes and planting stains related to buildings and plantings will we be able to understand Jefferson’s statement that he has laid out the curtilage “into suitable appendages to a Dwelling house” or know where the various “trees of use and ornament” once stood. Similarly, individuals such as Hannah and Maria, two of Poplar Forest’s most accomplished weavers, are little understood without the materials that made up their lives both while working at the loom and at home in the slave quarters. The artifacts recovered from our excavations give us a glimpse into the reality of the people involved in many of these documents. These are the indivduals who were responsible for working Poplar Forest’s fields, splitting the rails for the curtilage fence, tending the ornamental plants laid out in the beds of the nursery, and constructing the buildings we continue to research and restore today.