Remembering Past People

Remembering Past People. . , From 1818 until 1968, countless people lived, worked and visited this property. Thousands more have visited since its debut in 1970 as an historic house museum. Photographs, maps, letters, oral and written histories and other resources have helped tell the stories of some of those who came before you. But the stories of others, particularly those of enslaved persons who had little to no choice in what they left behind, have been more difficult to tell. As you walk the property today, consider how you would want to be remembered., [Captions:] , Alfred, March 1850, Daguerreotype taken by J.T. Zealy, Columbia photographer , Alfred was a West African man enslaved by John Lomas, who is credited with construction with many buildings in Columbia, including several for the Preston family. Alfred may have helped build the mansion's circa-1850 addition., Under the College for Women, antebellum buildings took on new roles, as shown in the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company map from 1898. The northeast building, formerly a multi-purpose building where enslaved workers lived and labored, housed "recitation" classrooms, while the addition's first floor served as a dining room and kitchen.