Folks: A very good pair of sources on the practices of designing and building in the colonial, early national, and antebellum south are . . . Catherine Bishir and 3 colleagues, Architects and Builders in North Carolina [is specific to NC, but conclusions are applicable elsewhere] and . . . Catherine Bishir, Southern Built a collection of essays she has written and published over the past 20 years. Of particular use to those interested in a common [though not exclusive] way of organizing a construction project in the early 1800s is her essay on Jacob Holt, a builder active in NC and VA. Yes, blacks both free and enslaved were involved, but most "architects" were also builders and site supervisors as well . . . Hoping this helps. Camille Wells >> From: Emmanuel Dabney <[log in to unmask]> >> Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history >> <[log in to unmask]> >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: Slave carpenters and Planter's buildings >> Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 10:28:09 -0500 >> >> I do not believe Kathryn was discrediting the services of white skilled >> laborers >> in the construction of planter houses but rather giving credit to the fact >> that >> many of these buildings have a noted architectural style or a known >> architect. >> However, architects of the 18th and 19th centuries were primarily >> designers >> and not actually out there with hammers, cut nails, paints, etc. completing >> the construction. >> >> Rather instead these skilled laborers whether they be black or white were >> doing the actual work to complete the house. In the South, it just so >> happened there were slaves to be fully engaged or assist in the completion >> of >> a project. >> >> Where I work at Petersburg National Battlefield we have one historic house >> with centuries of papers for the Eppes family who owned the property. When >> the property owner Mary (nee Eppes) Cocke added on to her family home in >> 1841 she had a white man named Mr. Finn engaged in work to the addition. >> However by September of that year she wrote to her son, Richard Eppes >> (then a student at the UVA) that Cimon (one of the slaves she owned) would >> hopefully soon have the house shingled and she could return to her old >> bedroom. >> >> Her son, who inherited the property after his mother's death, also used a >> mix >> of white, free black, and slave labor in projects around the estate. While >> primarily white labor would be used in his 1854 and 1856 addition there >> would >> be skilled slave labor used. Richard Eppes had hired the services of a >> carpenter named Jef and Eppes recorded that on October 16, 1856, Jef >> had "commenced doors & windows of bath house today." Two days later >> Eppes was bargaining with a free black, Henry Claiborn to put up a kitchen >> building on another piece of property he owned. >> >> Source: Eppes Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond >> >> Also, William Johnson, free black barber and planter in Natchez, used a >> combination of white and slave labor to build his new house after a fire >> devasted the first. He also noted the hire of other slaves to complete his >> house and hired the services of George Weldon, a white man who owned a >> business with his brother. Which according to an 1885 source said they >> hired >> some 100 slaves. >> >> Source: William Johnson House: Historic Structure Report, 1997 >> http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/natc/hf_johnsonhouse.pdf >> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions >> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html