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A Dive Into Who Ran The Plantation
A Dive Into Who Ran The Plantation
What is commonly found with plantations around Florida during the early 19th century is the use of slavery as a form of replacement to paid laborers. More often than not these slaves were worked under harsh conditions with bare amounts of food, shelter and medical treatment.
In this map, the former sites of the Living Quarters can be marked with each square that formed a semicircle around the Bulow Plantation House.
Living Quarters
Living Quarters
All slaves in Bulowville would live in close proximity to the Plantation Manor. They were placed around the manor in their cabins. These cabins, located in an arch or semicircular shape, surrounded the manor.
Living Conditions
Living Conditions
In Bulowville there are an estimated 46 slave cabins home to at least 197 men, women and children. The cabins served as a community where they would come together and organize. In this community like many other slave communities, would unite together and become close knit families. With their free time from working and lack of restrictions, they would create songs (secret messages) and devise ways to resist their forceful working such as faking sickness and sabotaging equipment, slowing production.
Slaves were given shelter and basic necessities very similar to other comparable plantations. Each slave cabin's dimensions were around 12 feet x 16 feet (approximately 192 square feet), had shingled roofs, simple board floors and walls, and contained a coquina fireplace. Outside of most cabins you could expect to see a fire pit, this pit was usually used for cooking and heating water. The cabins were arranged in a semi-circular pattern around the main plantation house, while all other plantation facilities (such as kitchens, stables, etc.) were a quarter mile away.
The Jobs of The Slaves
The Jobs of The Slaves
Their Occupations and Work Life
Most of the slaves would work under various different occupations ranging from working machinery in the sugar mill, crop growth and harvesting, construction, and much more.
A lot of the major work done around Bulowville was in the sugar mill. Many would work on the process of sugar harvesting known as the Jamaica Train. In the hard and dangerous process, sugarcane is taken through a long process of steps creating a thick syrup that is broken down where sugar is eventually extracted.
Like many other plantations, one of the major sources of work and income is crop harvesting. Of course, with the purpose of the sugar mill, the major crop harvested was sugar cane among rice and cotton.
The process of harvesting sugar cane wasn't very complex and only required the crop to be cut down and transported where need be. It's possible that outside of harvesting seasons the slaves were reappointed other tasks such as creating clothing or constructing new buildings like the spring house or other slave cabins.
Where did they go?
Where did they go?
It's not completely certain where the slaves of Bulowville eventually left to. It's believed that they may have migrated North towards the Carolinas where they may have had permanently resided. Unfortunately, there isn't much recorded evidence describing their release but its possible Bulowville followed suit like other plantations.
It is also possible that some could have escaped during the running of Bulowville as evidenced by possible boat remains discovered. It's likely that some of those who resided in Bulowville would escape during its history and used crude wood carved canoes found in the area which would serve as a means to take to the nearby river and escape.
A majority of the slaves however would likely be abandoned in John Bulow's attempt to leave Bulowville. Due to rushed orders by the US Army to abandon Bulowville in anticipation of a Seminole attack he would be forced to leave all possessions and just about everything at the plantation and surrounding areas. As a result, the slaves were likely left to themselves, where they could decide on where they would go. It's also very possible that the slaves alongside John Bulow, followed the military North towards St. Augustine and from there could have potentially been released or moved.
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