Field Trip to Stagville

Our FIAR group took a field trip to Stagville Plantation.  It is one of the largest plantations of the pre-Civil War south.  There are buildings there from the late 18th century.  You can read more about it here at the Stagville site  

We split into an older and younger group.  The younger children started out in a group talking about various jobs that the slaves held.  They talked about this as they played a game of Charades.  

We then toured the home.  Its beautiful inside.

Great cabinet in the hallway for storing dishes.

Steep stairs.

Neat room in the attic space.

View of the garden from the Master bedroom.

The master bedroom.

This is the back of the house.  (Not sure why I didn't get a good picture of the front of the house.)

I love that children will play with whatever they find.  Rocks can be something fun.

Taking a peek into an old outhouse.

We then drove down the road to the slave's quarters.

We first walked to an enormous barn which was built entirely by the enslaved people.

The children listened and learned.

It truly is a remarkable building.  It shows that it has been standing for over 150 years!

This is the outside of the barn.

These are the homes that the slaves lived in.

Better than the conditions of many slaves, but not what anyone would want for their life.  This is such a hard period of history to learn about.  Its so very sad in so many ways.  And sad to see the effects of slavery even so many years later.  

As we finished up our tour, we decided to go to a nearby park to play.  It was a gorgeous day and a great way to end our field trip.

As always, I'm thankful to be able to learn about history in a hands-on way.  I think it is more real than just reading about facts in a book.  I hope that through learning about history that my children will have a better understanding of the past and thus make better decisions for the future.

Blessings

Leslie