(If you are looking for my Skywatch Friday post, please check out yesterday's post).
Fort Hill is one of the historic buildings on the campus of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. This was the home of 19th century politician John C. Calhoun and his family until Calhoun passed away in 1850. Calhoun was the Secretary of War under President Monroe and a Vice-President of the United States, and, at the time of his death, a United States Senator.
The modern Clemson University campus is, in part, the original grounds of the Fort Hill plantation, which consisted of about 1,100 acres. Some descendants of the enslaved people owned by these families still live in the Clemson area.
The Fort Hill Mansion. Thomas Green Clemson married one of the Calhoun daughters, move into Fort Hill, and was an ambassador to Belgium and later first acting Secretary of Agriculture. He willed 814 acres to the State of South Carolina for an agricultural and mechanical college, which is now Clemson University.
Piano. Many of the furnishings in the house are original to the house.
A clock.
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| Inventory of Enslaved - Names and Ages- at Ft. Hill | 1854 |
But there is also a history to Fort Hill that wasn't acknowledged until the past few years. The Calhouns and subsequent occupants of this house and plantation enslaved African-Americans to work in the house and on the plantation. Their story is now being researched and told.
We happened to visit during Black History month but the student tour guides assured us that plaques in the house telling their story were not just up for the month of February.
A PDF with what we know of African Americans that lived and worked on this property, both as enslaved and (after 1865) wage workers is available on the Clemson website. One of these families, the Reids, held a reunion at Fort Hill in 2007.
"F" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Exploring South Carolina and the Eastern United States.
This is a beautiful mansion. Great story about it all.
ReplyDelete...a beautiful and ugly time in history.
ReplyDeleteOn the occasion of Easter,
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the graces of God,
Have a cheerful, healthy Christmas
and prosperity in personal life.
Los muebles están en consonancia, con la antigüedad del edificio. Tanto el mobiliario , como la arquitectura ha cambiado mucho desde esos tiempos.
ReplyDeleteFelices Pascuas de Semana Santa.
Those horns in the bedroom would be sure to give me nightmares!
ReplyDeleteI find it painful to look at plantation buildings knowing the extent of unpaid labor that was put into them by enslaved people. I hope that a discussion of reparations is part of Clemson's effort to tell the story of those who were so cruelly exploited to create such beauty.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a good tour. I'm glad that these places are acknowledging their slave histories. In the past such things were glossed over. But it's time to pay attention to those histories. I think we're stronger for it.
ReplyDeleteOne don't hear much about our Vice Presidents.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe.
Interesting history leading to Clemson University. A lovely Southern plantation home now a museum. The 1854 framed document is an example of what is now known as the US Census. CollectInTexasGal
ReplyDeleteCalhoun not only kept slaves; he proselytized about the alleged benefits of the un-biblical, un-traditional, unmitigated evil in slavery as practiced in the United States.
ReplyDeleteHe also shares the name of my neighbor the sociopath.
The mansion has an aura of grandeur about it—interesting artefacts and memorabilia too! Glad you had a nice tour of the place.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it, much of what we have now is the result of what was built a couple centuries ago with unpaid labour and unfair practices.
ReplyDelete