Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha inherited Poplar Forest plantation from her father in 1773. From then until his death in 1826, Jefferson used it as an investment (growing tobacco and wheat) and as a retreat from his Monticello estate, 90 miles to the north. While still president, he oversaw the development of Poplar Forest, complete with a unique retreat house of his design and pleasure grounds. After his death, Poplar Forest went through a series of owners and deprivations until a non-profit foundation acquired it in 1983 to restore and preserve the historic property. Archaeological research began in 1986 and has continued ever since.
In this volume, Barbara Heath and Jack Gary, the last two directors of archaeology at Poplar Forest, have assembled 10 essays from a group of interdisciplinary scholars to explain what has been learned at the plantation and what that means for larger issues in historical archaeology. The series of archaeological digs reveal details about the lives of Jefferson, subsequent owners and their families, and the slaves and their descendants who built the plantation and worked there.
Using a series of surveys, block excavations, and specialized analysis, the archaeological teams have been searching for the sites of stables, vegetable gardens, plant nurseries, and slave quarters from the Jefferson era. Slavery archaeology continued for the pre-Civil War period and has produced significant results with much new information about the material culture of slaves. All the new information is being used to guide the restoration of Poplar Forest and for interpretive material for the general public.
Jefferson’s Poplar Forest is a fascinating report on cutting edge historical archaeology that ties the written record together with the archaeological findings to produce a much clearer picture of what life at an important Virginia plantation was like in the early years of the republic. Poplar Forest is located near Lynchburg, Virginia, and is open to the public from March through December. See www.poplarforest.org for details.