The Quarter

The Quarter. . , Archaeologists uncovered evidence at this site for a building known as "the quarter." It was housing for workers enslaved on the property. Excavations revealed a sub-floor pit, quantities of nails, shards of ceramics and glassware, as well as a variety of small metal and bone artifacts. Many of these finds are now on display in the Ferry Farm Visitor Center. Evidence from the excavations, combined with research into other surviving examples of enslaved living quarters in the region, suggests that the quarter was used by a single person or a single family, who probably worked in the main house. Similar structures for other "home house" workers may have stood nearby while additional housing for field laborers was likely found in agricultural areas further from the house., [Sidebar:] , Prior to the 1500s, many West African communities used cowries for currency and adornment while carnelian beads served as prestige items reserved for those of the highest social positions. With the establishment of the Atlantic Slave Trade, Europeans turned these items into commodities used to procure kidnapped men, women, and children. For those forcibly relocated to the Americas and their descendants, these items represented a connection to their ancestral home, families, and traditions.