Mrs. Muse and I took a Saturday off from the insanity of the holiday season crowds and drove up to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island for lunch and a little strolling around. Instead of hitting the interstate (I-95) for the 50 mile drive back down to Jacksonville, we decided to take the less traveled and more scenic A-1-A through the marshes and small islands of coastal northeast Florida. On the way toward the Mayport Ferry crossing, we came upon the Kingsley Plantation National Historic Site -- an important piece of regional history that we have never visited in our two decades in the area. The plantation, named for it's second owner, Zephaniah Kingsley was populated by several hundred slaves, along with its owners. The first photo is how I imagine the ghosts of those slaves must view the "master's" house -- remembering their labors in the production of cotton, oranges and indigo.
There is no doubt of the amazing northeast Florida rural beauty of the place. This next photo is the view across Ft. George inlet (the plantation stands on Ft. George Island) that is seen from behind the main house looking east. Still much as it was in the early to mid 19th century, the trip back to the site is traveled on a one lane unimproved dirt road through heavy tropical vegetation -- literally a drive back in time. Walking among the ancient cypress and palm trees I could sense that the spirits of the earlier inhabitants of that piece of beautiful, yet sad land were still there. The black slaves of 150 years ago live in small tabby built shacks about a half mile back from the scenic spot shown above. Here is what remains of those less-than adequate residences...
"Tabby" is a mix of oyster shells (taken from the waste and burial middens made by the Timaquan Indians -- the island's original inhabitants -- and ground limestone. Holes for ventilation, dirt floors and empty windows provided quarter for up to 300 African slaves, most of whom were first or second generation and still spoke their native African languages. In the twentieth century these important historical remnants have been heavily vandalized by visitors who found the soft tabby walls easy to carve (as seen in the final photo below).
I have always had a strong sense of history and a special interest in archaeology, but something about this place affected me more deeply, more strongly than the usual visit to an historical site. I could so easily visualize the children of slaves running through the trees, the pain, anger and sweat of black laborers, the arrogance of those who would be so brazen as to believe that they could own another human being as property. This was a place worth visiting, and one I will certainly return to -- to feel, to meditate in and on -- to record visually and to interpret -- and to be among the ghosts of the families who occupied those beautiful acres in pain and in vanity not all that long ago...
Mrs. Muse and I took a Saturday off from the insanity of the holiday season crowds and drove up to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island for lunch and a little strolling around. Instead of hitting the interstate (I-95) for the 50 mile drive back down to Jacksonville, we decided to take the less traveled and more scenic A-1-A through the marshes and small islands of coastal northeast Florida. On the way toward the Mayport Ferry crossing, we came upon the Kingsley Plantation National Historic Site -- an important piece of regional history that we have never visited in our two decades in the area. The plantation, named for it's second owner, Zephaniah Kingsley was populated by several hundred slaves, along with its owners. The first photo is how I imagine the ghosts of those slaves must view the "master's" house -- remembering their labors in the production of cotton, oranges and indigo.
There is no doubt of the amazing northeast Florida rural beauty of the place. This next photo is the view across Ft. George inlet (the plantation stands on Ft. George Island) that is seen from behind the main house looking east. Still much as it was in the early to mid 19th century, the trip back to the site is traveled on a one lane unimproved dirt road through heavy tropical vegetation -- literally a drive back in time. Walking among the ancient cypress and palm trees I could sense that the spirits of the earlier inhabitants of that piece of beautiful, yet sad land were still there. The black slaves of 150 years ago live in small tabby built shacks about a half mile back from the scenic spot shown above. Here is what remains of those less-than adequate residences...
"Tabby" is a mix of oyster shells (taken from the waste and burial middens made by the Timaquan Indians -- the island's original inhabitants -- and ground limestone. Holes for ventilation, dirt floors and empty windows provided quarter for up to 300 African slaves, most of whom were first or second generation and still spoke their native African languages. In the twentieth century these important historical remnants have been heavily vandalized by visitors who found the soft tabby walls easy to carve (as seen in the final photo below).
I have always had a strong sense of history and a special interest in archaeology, but something about this place affected me more deeply, more strongly than the usual visit to an historical site. I could so easily visualize the children of slaves running through the trees, the pain, anger and sweat of black laborers, the arrogance of those who would be so brazen as to believe that they could own another human being as property. This was a place worth visiting, and one I will certainly return to -- to feel, to meditate in and on -- to record visually and to interpret -- and to be among the ghosts of the families who occupied those beautiful acres in pain and in vanity not all that long ago...
1 comment:
Beautiful post and beautiful shots of a really interesting place. I am definitely going to have to check this out!
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