South Carolina – African-Americans – Houses That Offered Little Cover

Visitors to Southern plantations described huts, hovels, and houses, with an occasional narrative romanticizing them as cottages. Manigault's slave quarters at Gowrie measured 18 by 18 feet and were built side by side, with a fireplace in the center that served both quarters. Each side was occupied by at least four people. While some houses were raised off the ground, not all slaves were so fortunate. Sylvia Cannon describes living conditions during her time as a slave in an area near Florence: There were about twenty other colored people house there in the quarter. The ground been us floor and us fireplace been down on the ground. Take sticks and make chimney, 'cause there won't no bricks and won't no sawmills to make lumber when I come along.

Tabby Slave House © Brookgreen Gardens

Us never had a chair in the house. My pa made benches for us to site by the fire on .... We had a large plank table that Pa made. Never had no mirrors. Went to the spring to see ourselves on a Sunday morning. Never had no such things as dressers in them days. All us had was a table, benches, and beds. And my pa made them.

The yard area is relatively clean, although on the northwest side there are at least two large shell piles located between and toward the front of the structures. Another pile may be on the southeast in the background. The photograph also illustrates a number of vertical stick fences attached to individual structures. These may represent pens or garden areas. These fences are a common feature of many African-American structures. The houses themselves are of frame construction, although the chimneys are tabby.

Fish Row Hall ©Brookgreen Gardens

• located on a wide street – perhaps in an attempt to reduce the spread of disease
• evenly spaced along this street in European fashion
• small and made of wood or occasionally tabby
• an average of 14 to 16 feet by 20 feet, with floor space ranging from about 277 to 320 square feet
• rectangular, perhaps early versions of the shotgun house linked with some West African cultures, or square

• a door facing the street
• one or two window openings
• shutters over the windows, since glass was uncommon
• roofs covered with wooden shingles or boards
• chimneys made of brick, tabby, or sticks and mud