Slavery at Traveler's Rest

Slavery at Traveler's Rest. Traveler's Rest State Historic Site. , "... binds himself to do good work at all times unless accidentally sick commencing work at sunrise and continue until sunset except two hours at twelve o'clock during the long days and one hour in the short day -- said Jasper binds himself to keep good order at all times and to account for and return tools which he may use when called for." --From an August 1865 contract between Charles Kennedy Jarrett and the recently emancipated Jasper Jarrett, who agreed to work in exchange for five dollars worth of corn, syrup, and pork each month., Unfortunately the history of slavery at Traveler's Rest has not been well-recorded, but one can be certain that when James R. Wyly ordered the construction of the inn around 1815, and when Devereaux Jarrett decided to enlarge it twenty years later, slaves provided most of the manual labor. Besides building the inn and tending the fields along the Tugaloo River, slaves worked as blacksmiths, tanners, millers, spinners, weavers, cooks, nannies, and gold miners, and they provided Jarrett with a remarkable increase in wealth during his lifetime. Using the census and other records, we know that Jarrett owned 17 human beings in 1807, 21 in 1820, 45 in 1830, 74 in 1840, and 68 in 1850, making him by far the largest slave-owner in the Tugaloo valley. After he died in 1852, his youngest son, Charles Kennedy Jarrett, continued the inn and plantation operations with the assistance of many slaves, some of whom, like Jasper Jarrett, kept working here after emancipation in 1865. Very little is known about the lives of slaves at Traveler's Rest, but we do know that they tended their own vegetable gardens and were allowed to own small personal items, many of which they purchased at the Jarrett store. There is little evidence as to how the slaves were treated at Traveler's Rest, but there is no indication that the Jarretts were cruel. On the other hand in 1860 several slaves in the area planned a revolt, which indicates that many slaves so despised their state of bondage that they were willing to risk their lives to gain their freedom., (caption) , Meely Jarrett (photo taken after emancipation)