Place

Definition of Place:

"A particular area or point on Earth that has a particular characteristic. Every place on earth has a unique location physically and conceptually connection" (Open Geography Education https://www.opengeography.org/ch-1-intro-to-geographic-science.html, Spatial Thinking, and Analysis, place). [7]

History and Background

Owens-Thomas House and slave is now a landmark in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia. It was home to a banker shipping Merchant, and slave trader by the name of Richard Richardson. Richardson was a relative to a man named William Jay, who was the architect for the Owen-Thomas House. William Jay had initially drawn up the home plans for Richard Richardson and his wife, Frances. The home was designed by William Jay and constructed by John Retan and a crew of free and enslaved men starting November 1816-1819. Owens-Thomas house consists of the main home, two-sided and set as a carriage house and slave quarters. The Richardson's lived in the home for two years before their money dwindled away due to an unfortunate number of tragedies in 1819. There was a yellow fever epidemic, a fire that destroyed half of Savannah, and sadly the death of Richard Richardson's wife Frances and two of their children.

By 1822 Richardson decided to leave Savannah and head to Louisiana. Richardson and the rest of his family had business in Louisiana, where he'd shipped enslaved people, and according to Telfare Museum, mostly children from Savannah to New Orleans for quite some time. By 1824, the Bank of the United States had laid claim to the home and leased it to Mary Maxwell, who used it as a boarding house. In 1830, we meet Mr. Owens, whose family stayed with the home until the passing of his granddaughter. George Welshman Owens was a lawyer, planter, and politician. He was also the mayor of Savannah during 1830. The same year Owens bought the home for $10,000 at an auction. Owens and his wife Sarah moved with their six children in 1833 into the property. From then, Owens kept around 9 to 15 enslaved people on the property, but he'd had in his possession 400 men, women, and children on his plantations. As I said before, the home remained in the family until 1951 when George Owens granddaughter, Margaret Gray Thomas, had passed away with no direct heirs. She willed it to the Telfair Museum and Academy of Arts and Sciences to be run as a museum in honor of her grandfather and father.

George Welshman Owens (1786-1856) [1]

Home Structure

Owens-Thomas house consists of 5 main sections: the carriage house, slave quarters, parterre garden, the main house, and the workspaces.

Main House

There were two main parts in the main home, the public spaces and the private spaces. The Owens and Richardson family live and entertained those who entered their home in the public area they include the drawing-room, front hall, and dining room. They were created in the style of regency with American and English furniture and art. Much of their style was upper-class and glamorous. The features in the house were Grand and expensive. It is said that the Owens family butler Peter was always close by and had to listen to George Owens debate politics and policies that would affect himself and his people significantly. There were also private spaces in the home, such as the bedrooms, library, and the family dining room. These areas were used by the family and their closest friends. This is where you get a better look at how the Owens and Richardson families live daily and how the enslaved people in the home operate it.

The Carriage House

The Carriage House was where the homeowners held their horses and carriages on the property. They stayed on the first level of the carriage house while they had hay just above on the second level of the two-story shelter.

Slave Quarters

The slave quarters were in the northern half of the building. They housed nine to 15 enslaved people. The slave quarters were not used very often throughout their time living there between 1819 and the Civil War. After the Civil War ended, the slave quarters became servant quarters, but many of the same people who had resided in these spaces continue to live there and likely face the same treatment they've been dealing with

Work Spaces

The workspaces were mainly where you would find enslaved Butlers and Maids working day and night to keep the household running. This is where the kitchen scullery, seller, bathing chamber, and a large cistern were all held. The workers' spaces were the best kept in terms of preservation because they were untouched for years. People weren't telling the stories of enslaved people within the Owens-Thomas house. They mainly told the story of Owens and Thomas's and preserved all of the upper levels, the gardens, and the outside home because that is where people's interest seemed to be. But because of that, the slave quarters were Untouched by man, and now if you were to go there, you could see the original plasterwork. The Owens-Thomas house's original ductwork has one of the first to have indoor pipelines that were working and well working at that all throughout the entire home. The Telfair museums were able to preserve all of the natural and original pieces of the slave quarters and working quarters and the Owens and Thomas House.

Parterre Garden

The Parterre Garden is the Space between the main house in the carriage house. It has an English Regency villa style and was originally a work yard and had a small kitchen garden and laundry area. There was an area for small livestock such as chickens, eggs, and pigs. The garden also holds a two-sided privy on the northeast corner. Overtime, yardwork wasn't necessary as much, and the gardens evolved into much like what they look like today, which is a pretty area with lots of greenery in plant life. Though it likely was lovely, the garden was completely redesigned in the early 1950s by Claremont Lee, a landscape artist.

William Jay, Architect1816-1819[1[

Enslaved Life

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