L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site
|
L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site
|
|
L'Hermitage Plantation-Best Farm main house
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | 4801 Urbana Pike, Frederick, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°22′13.174″N 77°23′55″W / 39.37032611°N 77.39861°WCoordinates: 39°22′13.174″N 77°23′55″W / 39.37032611°N 77.39861°W |
| Area | 1.4 acres (0.57 ha) |
| NRHP Reference # | 07001450 |
| Added to NRHP | January 29, 2008 |
L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site is an archaeological site near Frederick in Frederick County, Maryland. The location, within the boundaries of Monocacy National Battlefield, was the site of l'Hermitage Plantation, founded about 1793 by the Vincendière family. The Vincendières are believed to have been former Haitian landowners who had fled the Haitian Revolution to the Catholic-leaning state of Maryland. L'Hermitage was notable during its time for its size, brutality and for the large number of slaves on the property.
The site was the subject of an archaeological excavation by the National Park Service in the summer of 2010 which focused on the structures on the site, believed to have been slave cabins. The Park Service had acquired the area in 1993 as part of an expansion of the battlefield site, and conducted preliminary investigations in 2003. The location became known as the Best Farm, and many of its structures remain extant as part of the battlefield's landscape.
The Vincendière family was initially headed by Marguerite Mangan de la Vincendière, some of her children, and a relative, Jean Payan de Boisneuf. Marguerite's husband, Etienne Bellumeau de la Vincendière did not come to Maryland, choosing instead to establish himself in Charleston, South Carolina. Twelve slaves accompanied the Vincendières. Marguerite and Etienne's daughter Victoire, aged 17 in 1793, was responsible for assembling the lands of the plantation between 1793 and 1798 and became head of the family by 1800. By 1800 there were ninety slaves on the property, which encompassed 748 acres (303 ha) at its peak. The plantation was notable for its size and ethnic character; more typical landholdings in the area were much smaller, with no more than a dozen slaves, and were owned by German immigrant farmers. The slave population at l'Hermitage was the second largest in Frederick County, and one of the largest in Maryland. The Vincendière family may have been trying to re-create the large-scale slave labor system that they were familiar with in Haiti, possibly in order to cultivate labor-intensive crops. The Vincindières built many of the structures still visible at the site.
...
Wikipedia