1895 view of the quarters when used to house paid farm laborers and their families.
NPS
The two stone buildings behind the Overseer's House were residences for enslaved people and tenant farmers on the home farm. These buildings were constructed as two-story stone structures and completed around 1854. Each building had two separate residences, each with single rooms on the first and second floors. At the time of construction, there were sixty four enslaved people living in various wooden quarters on the property.
In their new quarters, the enslaved had some privacy, but it was limited by the location next to the overseer’s house. There were with combined kitchens, living areas, and sleeping spaces. . In the winter, people likely slept near the cooking fire, and in the summer they may have cooked outdoors. Based on estate records, we know the enslaved were provided cornmeal, herring, and bacon, a diet supplemented with produce they grew in their own gardens. Food was an important element of family life, with individuals coming together to prepare and eat the evening meal.
Detail of the ornamental barge boards along the edge of the quarter’s roof line.
NPS
The two stone buildings, along with several other buildings at the Home Farm, were designed in a European-style called “ferme ornée” or ornamental farm. This was to make them appear more attractive from the Mansion. Most housing for the enslaved was built of wood and has not survived. The stone construction of these buildings was much more durable.
Walnut graining (faux-painting) detail in the Mansion’s Music Room added in 185. Very similar graining was applied to Quarters 2 about the same time.
NPS
Look closely at the woodwork. Can you see that it is painted to look like wood grain? This “faux painting” technique is walnut “graining” applied in the Ridgley mansion’s Music Room in 1854. This paint techniquewas also used in quarters that housed the enslaved. Could enslaved craftsmen have learned the technique by assisting with painting in the Mansion, and then applied it to their own living quarters?
