Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Bernard Fisher
Taken: October 24, 2009
Caption: The Brown Home
Additional Description: This small house, which has only 288 square feet of living space, has a brick chimney, windows that contain glass, and stairs leading to an overhead loft: improvements suggesting permanency. It is the type of house that would have been occupied by Anthony Brown, a former Lee slave who spent much of his adult life on the Hot Water tract. Brown, who was freed by William Ludwell Lee's executor in 1805, was a farmer. He shared a home with his wife, Rachel, a washerwoman, and the couple's several children. Although the Browns never were able to acquire land of their own, the disposable income Anthony earned enabled him to purchase a horse or mule to help with his farming operations. A draft animal also would have enabled him to maximize his agricultural productivity. The household furnishings in the Browns' dwelling reflect the improvements the family was able to make in the quantity and quality of their household possessions.
Submitted: October 25, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia.
Database Locator Identification Number: p81865
File Size: 1.168 Megabytes

To see the metadata that may be embedded in this photo, sign in and then return to this page.