At Historic Stagville in Durham County, North Carolina, the remnants of a sprawling plantation complex testify to the intertwined histories of slavery and emancipation. In an area now known as “Horton Grove,” visitors can view four extant dwelling houses that once housed men, women, and children enslaved by the Bennehan and Cameron families. Built during the early 1850s, these dwellings remained in use as private residences and work buildings well into the twentieth century.
Before entering the first dwelling, visitors are encouraged to examine a two-story, brick chimney. Here, they will find impressions made by enslaved brickmakers while the clay was still wet and pliable. These impressions remind visitors of the men, women, and children who contributed to the brickmaking process. Those who listen to the audio tour will learn that children helped to make the bricks, some as young as twelve or thirteen. The narrator explains that enslaved children “worked in the brickyard turning and checking the bricks as the clay dried in the summer sun.” These children might have been the ones to press their hands into the unbaked clay, leaving behind indentations that are still visible today.
One brick bears five small impressions that together form the outline of a child’s footprint. The print measures 75 millimeters across; taking into consideration the fact that bricks shrink during the firing process, it is likely that the footprint belonged to either a toddler or young child. The footprint faces the back of the house and sits approximately 6½ feet above the chimney’s base. Here, it would have remained visible to the dwelling’s inhabitants, but concealed from the wandering eyes of passersby.
The prominent position of this brick indicates that it was intentionally preserved by the enslaved craftspeople who built the dwellings at Horton Grove. A vast quantity of brick passed through their hands; in addition to the chimneys and fireplaces, rows of loose bricks stacked between the framing timbers provided insulation. This technique, known as brick nogging, took advantage of the plantation’s natural resources as well as craft knowledge possessed by members of the enslaved community. Rather than use this brick for nogging, or place it so high on the chimney that it would be invisible to human eyes, the craftspeople who built this dwelling saved it from obscurity, placing it within eyesight, and within reach.
The buildings and collections at Historic Stagville challenge longstanding archival legacies that intentionally privilege the history of white childhood. This brick, made and preserved by members of the plantation’s enslaved community, testifies to the presence of enslaved children as well as the lasting impressions they made upon those who loved and cared for them.
Emily Wells is a PhD candidate at William & Mary. Her dissertation examines how elite, white, southern girls negotiated and performed their social identities through interactions with place during the early national and antebellum periods. She would like to thank Vera Cecelski and Bill Bryant at Historic Stagville for sharing their knowledge and insight with her.