Sotterley Creek

What We Learned about Sotterley Creek

The Sotterley Creek was used for bringing slaves and different materials from other countries to the Sotterley Plantation. The three countries that traded in the Triangular Trade Route at Sotterley were America (The Thirteen Colonies), England, and Africa. Sotterley Creek was also used for trading goods with other countries (like the West Indies and England). There was a dock at the Sotterley Plantation to bring the slaves and supplies off the ship.

When a ship brought slaves, often times the slaves would get sick on the journey. A person would stand right by the slave taking them off the ship, and if a slave got out of place or order they could get whipped or beaten. Slaves were treated very poorly back then.

Today, the creek is very shallow, but 200 years ago, the creek was probably about 15-20 feet deeper back then. It has filled in with silt over the last 100 years. There is not much left of the dock now, because as time passed the wood started to decay. The wood of the dock eventually got weaker and weaker until it crashed into the creek. Sotterley has had its creek ever since the Triangular Trade Route began. This creek has a lot of wildlife around it from birds like herons to fish swimming along the creek floor. It is a great experience for anyone to see and hear all of the wildlife around Sotterley creek. The creek is very important and remarkable, because if we didn’t trade things with Europe and Africa, our country may not have started out as well as it did.

Triangular Trade Route

Long ago when the Thirteen Colonies could not get enough supplies for their colony, they had to rely on the other countries to have what they needed. They traded between U.S, Africa, England, and the West Indies. They traded on a route called the Triangular Trade Route. It is called that because they traded in a triangular shaped path. Now, because of erosion, the Triangle Trade Route at Sotterley is closed. The Trade Routes were very helpful for the wealthy land owners to trade needed natural, capital, and human resources. The big boats use to be able to come in whenever they wanted. Now the ground level is too high for the big boats to come in. The Triangular Trade Route lasted from 1450 to 1750.

Whenever they traded slaves, molasses, gold, or food products they would send it on a big ship to fit everything. This is a photograph of the a big ship they used in the triangular trade route to trade all of their goods with the other continents. Also, when the slaves got there, they had either a one or two room house to fit 8 people in. They were really cramped in the houses and they had to sleep on the hard dirty ground the slaves thought it was cruel.

When did the Triangular Trade Route start? Well, let's find out!

When did the Triangular Trade Route start?

The Triangular Trade Route started in 1450- 1750.
Also, it started in the fifteenth century, when African American slaves were being sent over.

Triangular Trade Route Changes Over Time

This is an overhead picture of the Triangular Trade Route. The Triangular Trade Route was a route for boats to go to other countries or continents to trade mollasses, slaves, raw goods and much more. They would send a boat over with goods from where the boat came from then the people from where the boat landed would send the boat back with the goods from their place.

What Happened?

The slaves got barely any water or food, to survive on the boat.
Most people got safely over on the boat.
It took a few weeks for the boats to get across the ocean.
The Triangular Trade Route got its name because it’s in the shape of a triangle.

Present Day:

Today where the boats came in it’s just about 6-7 ft. deep of water, and it will keep getting shallower.

Did you know that…

While slaves were on the boat, they didn’t have much food or water?
That slaves on the boat didn’t have much space?
Sotterley Plantation was the first thing some slaves saw in Maryland?
That slaves lived in slave cabins, which were very small?
Slaves rolled barrels down a hill to the dock so boats could take them?
Boats used to dock in the now very shallow water?
The boats came during colonial times?
The ships would follow the trade winds?
The ships would trade with the people already there?
Countries that were in the Triangular Trade Route were England, Africa, and America?
Sugar, cotton, and tobacco went from America to England?
Slaves, sugar, and molasses were sometimes on the boats?
That if the slave died they were buried in the water?

Views of Sotterley Creek

Here is a close up of the view from the edge of the dock. There was a different dock farther away. The dock used to be very long and you wouldn’t need to have your camera on close up to see the other dock.

Here is the non-close up view of the other dock. This was taken at the very edge of the dock. You used to be able to stand at the edge of the dock and have a good look at the other dock. A little like the picture before.

Here is a close up picture of the right side of the edge of the dock. In this picture you can see the beginning of the dock better than the close up of the end of the dock. You can also see where the water and the land meet. It is also very shady where the water and land meet because of the tall trees.

Measuring the Ravine

We learned that the ravine is a creek that is very shallow and skinny. The ravine has a bridge over the middle. It also has rocks on the side under the bridge. We made the flags so we could measure the amount of erosion that happened during the year. We are going back to the ravine to see how far away the flag has moved from its original place.

We made flags and buried the bottom in the ground. We did this so when we come back to Sotterley, we can measure the amount of erosion that happened around the flag at the ravine.

Here is a close up view of the flag buried in the muddy water.

Here is a picture of where we put flags and we measured how far the flags were apart. We are going to go back later to see how far the ground eroded.

Fun Facts

The creek is over 200 years old.
Most of the slaves went to the owner of the plantation.
Slaves were walked down the rolling road from the creek to the plantation.
The rolling road is where slaves that worked on the plantation rolled big containers filled with tobacco down to the ship to trade to other countries.
The creek is shallow because when the people came they dug up trees which loosened up the soil. When a rainstorm came afterwards along the hill, the loosened soil filled the river.
The creek was deep, but now the bottom is covered in dirt and the creek is shallow.
Ships came over to bring slaves and supplies.
The dock was long until the wood started to decay and get weak. Then the dock crashed into the water.

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