The Great Barn @ Stagville Plantation

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Historic Stagville . Durham . NC

Remember our trip to Stagville back in the early summer? Well I forgot to show you the barn and had been meaning to link up with Tom's Barn Collective ...better late than never right?!

Anyways, this barn was built in the summer of 1860 by the enslaved community of Stagville. It was built like an upside down hull of a ship with many nautical features which leave historians speculating that some of the slaves spent time in the shipyards along the coast. This large barn housed up to 80 mules...you can see some cribbing done by some of them.

For more on Stagville Click Here and to see my other Stagville posts Click Here

American Tobacco Campus

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Plaque says: Blackwells Durham Tobacco Co. 1900 or 1903? Washington Warehouse

There's the Old Bull Building from yesterday's post.

An early spring day...pretty chilly out!

Crikey, the dino is attacking Nick!

These are all taken at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC
For more info Click Here

Linking with Tex's Good Fences

Today is Thursday...that means GAME DAY! So happy it's a home game!

Old Bull Building

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1874 . Durham . NC

Here's a great website with old pictures showing this historic building's life through the years... Click Here

Linking with Signs, Signs when it is up and ready.

Lunch Downstairs

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Old diner on the American Tobacco Campus . Durham, NC

Isn't this great?! I have told you before how much I love the Tobacco District in Durham, and it's because of gems like this! I didn't find much about this little place but here's a teency bit of what I did find:

"This is the front of a diner in the Historic Tobacco District of downtown Durham, NC. Tobacco and cigarettes played a large roles in North Carolina's history. From 1874-1987, this National Historic Landmark was the headquarters of American Tobacco Company, the worlds largest cigarette manufacturer where the raw leaves were made into the finished product. It was dirty, hard work for the employees at these large facilities. One can imagine this little lunch counter being an 'oasis' of sorts, providing a hot, cheap meal for these workers." Which I found HERE

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 87

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I am so sorry to be late with Willy Nilly this week. We had a huge storm last night and lost power here and there. I wish I had thought to take pictures as the sky was so lit up with lightning, more than I think I have ever seen! So anyways, here we go...back to Stagville...

1)

A barn near the Bennehan home I've shown you this week. The tour is divided into 2 parts, the Bennehan house and Horton Grove, which you need to drive to. The bricks I showed you on Tuesday were from there, the rest, including today's are from the first part of the tour, around the Bennehan house. Horton Grove consists of slave cabins and a great barn, which I will show you next week! Confused yet? lol

2)

The kitchen garden which grows original herbs and plants...I want a garden just like this!

3)

Tobacco barn

4)

Slave quarters foundation...these slaves would have worked in the "big house" as it is situated near-by. Unlike the field hand slaves, the domestic slaves were on call 24/7.

5)

Walking back to the main house I spotted this Honey Locust tree...I don't think there is any historical significance attached to it but holy moly...look at those thorns! Ouch! After this we met up at the visitor's center to join the tour group...Next stop, Horton Grove!
For more info on Stagville, you can visit their website HERE

And here's a few links I have found this morning on Stagville that I thought were interesting!
HERE is a blog with beautiful photographs of Stagville
HERE is a nice little article about the history of Stagville
HERE is a ghost story of Stagville


So that's my 5 this week! I hope you will join in! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend and Happy Father's Day to all you daddies!


I'm linking up with Amy :)
and also with Denise's Today's Flowers (you will have to zoom in to the garden shot there ;) )

The Bennehan Family Graveyard @ Stagville

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The cemetery is a short walk from the house (see Tuesday & Wednesday's posts)

It's quite hot out, nearly 100 degrees but the shade from these trees makes it feel much cooler! We were told though that when this was a working plantation there weren't any trees around...The house sits up on a slight hill so that they were able to see all around the land...amazing how nature takes over when you let it!

I got very excited when I saw the old rock walls!

And even more excited when I saw this magnificent wrought iron gate!

Beautiful...

Rest In Peace Bennehan Family...

Heading back to the house...you can just see it through those trees...

For more on the graveyard CLICK HERE

Linking with Tex's Good Fences & Signs, Signs

Stagville Plantation - The Bennehan Home

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Before our tour started we were able to walk the grounds, which was nice because our tour was very crowded so I was not able to get many pictures of the inside...

This little cradle is one of the few original pieces in the home, built early 1800's

The children's room

Our tour guide Gil...I like the floor...it is a painted canvas meant to look like marble

The girl in the painting died of Tuberculosis, along with 3 of her sisters. This portrait was found in an attic on the coast....it cost 10's of thousands to restore!
You can read more about the Bennehan Home HERE
Come back tomorrow to see more, including the cemetery!

Ancient Fingerprints

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On Saturday we drove down to Durham, NC to tour Stagville Plantation. In its day Stagville was the biggest plantation in North Carolina with 30,000 acres and 900 slaves. The slaves made their own cabins and the bricks for their fireplaces. In the photo above you can see fingerprints where the slave picked up the brick which was not yet entirely hardened...

another...

and another...

Now this one...can you make out the little tiny toes...it appears a toddler ran over the top of this brick while it was still hardening...this one steals my heart...

You can see the chimney there that I took these photos from.

For more info on Stagville, visit their website HERE

More pictures to come!

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures