Reconstructed Slave Quarters

Tradition at Stratford has maintained that the reconstructed stone slave quarters were built on original foundation uncovered in the 1930s. Recent investigations, however, cast doubt upon this theory. Excavations revealed no evidence of the original foundations or building activity. Although it is possible that these foundations were destroyed or encased during the reconstrution, the lack of any evidence of the 18th-century construction of stone buildings suggests that the original structures were located elsewhere.

Although the foundations of the original slave quarters have not been located, a dramatic change in the landscape immediately to the south of the Great House was discovered. What is now a dirt road was once a shallow ravine, measuring at least four feet deep in some places and seventy-five feet from west to east. This was a combination work and domestic site. The depression is filled with domestic artifacts, probably numbering in the thousands. There is also evidence of masonry debris, including the manufacture of ornamental stonework. The bricks found are all different sizes and have no mortar on them, suggesting the presence of a large brick kiln site nearby. Some of the pieces of sandstone found have been purposefully shaped or molded. This is not red sandstone, but a finer grained sandstone similar to that used to make the balusters found near the Great House in the 1930s. At various times, large amounts of sand and clay were deliberately brought in to fill the ravine. We believe the domestic artifacts, ceramics and colonoware, are associated with Stratford's slave population.