Today we looked at the ways people lived in 18th century Virginia, starting on a middling size plantation. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has created Great Hope Plantation to show modern visitors what such a place would have been like, but it is smaller than they would have been, and much to close to the Capitol city. Other than that, however, they do everything they can to represent the buildings, crops, livestock, and work of a middling plantation in the 18th century.
We learned about the slave trade, and the conditions for slaves on small plantations.
Of course the big topic was tobacco, how to plant it, tend it, harvest it, and what a big pain it is to work on. We certainly got a quick taste of how hot it was working in the fields. We were there first thing in the morning, but it was still amazingly hot and uncomfortable, and there was no way to get cooler unless a light wind happened to reach you.
We got a mini-lesson on splitting the tobacco plant and getting it ready to dry in the barn.
More later, it is time to start Day 5.
I love plantation. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has created great hope for planting to show visitors.
Posted by: ליסינג פרטי | November 19, 2011 at 04:33 AM