Variation in Venues of Slavery and Freedom: Interpreting the Late Eighteenth-Century Cultural Landscape of St. John, Danish West Indies Using an Archaeological GIS

Abstract

An archaeological GIS is used to examine the late eighteenth-century cultural landscape of St. John, US Virgin Islands. Land use patterns are reconstructed using a combination of historic maps, tax records, and survey reconnaissance. The study demonstrates significant, heretofore undocumented, transitions taking place that reflect dynamic cultural and economic change within Danish West Indian plantation society that includes a significant trend towards land ownership by free-colored St. Johnians more than a half a century before emancipation. These venues of freedom are discussed in relation to broader patterns of estate consolidation and economic shifts.

Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism

“…Given that racebased slavery was the predominant form of labor utilized on the plantation, such a focus is warranted. Thus far, however, archaeologists working in the Caribbean have been less keen to address plantation labor in nonslavery contexts such as the postemancipation era or free laborers during the period of slavery (for exceptions see Armstrong 2003;Armstrong and Hauser 2004;Armstrong et. al.…”

In Search of Ubuntu: An Examination of Enslaved African Domestic and Labor Environments on St. Eustatius

“…Given this, I think it would have been a staple on most if not all Dutch islands despite its lack of depiction on historical maps. By the nineteenth century, however, provision grounds were widely used and noted as the main subsistence strategy used in the Caribbean (Armstrong 1999(Armstrong , 2001(Armstrong , 2009Bates and Galle 2012;Delle 1998;Heath and Bennett 2000;Higman 2001;McKee 42 1992;Mintz 1974;Pulsipher 1994;Ruppel et al 2003). While there were exceptions, for instance, some British planters opted to feed slaves exclusively with imported provisions to avoid the loss of labor for sugar production when enslaved Africans worked their own land (Berlin and Morgan 1993).…”

“…Slaves on mountainous islands like Jamaica were initially allotted the land next to their slave quarters to cultivate large gardens for domestic consumption, but over time the need to expand land used for cash crops on plantations forced slaves to utilize provision grounds that were assigned to them (Heath and Bennett 2000). These provision grounds were often in less desirable locations further up the mountains and slaves would have travelled great distances to cultivate this land (set in plots with unique size and shape) in order to have a surplus to sell at local markets (Armstrong 1999(Armstrong , 2001(Armstrong , 2009Bates and Galle 2012;Delle 1998;Heath and Bennett 2000;Higman 2001;McKee 1992;Pulsipher 1994;Ruppel et al 2003).…”

“…Archaeologists have become increasingly interested in the levels of freedom slaves experienced in designing their village settlements and constructing their cabins or slave quarters (Armstrong , 2009(Armstrong , 2001Beswick 2010;Deetz 2006;Delle 1998Delle ,1999Delle , 2008Denyer 1978;Ferguson 1992;Fesler 2004;Heath and Bennett 2009;Heath 1999;Higman 1988;Kelly 2004;Leone and Marie Fry 1999;MacDonald and Morgan 2012;Mullin 1992;Orser 1998Orser , 1996Ruppel et al 2003;Vlach 1993Vlach , 1993Voss 2010). Edwards (1994: 155) noted "In comparing the plans and other architectural features in colonial houses of the Spanish Caribbean, their French and English derivatives in the Antilles, and the Creole cottages of the Gulf Coast and Chesapeake Tidewater, one cannot help but be impressed with the similarities," and I think this is impressive; it attests to a pervasive thread that unifies their construction.…”

“…James Delle (1999) during his work in assessing the spatial arrangements of slave village sites in Jamaica determined that between 1834-1865 British planters standardized slave quarters on plantations, and this shift from traditional spatial organization to standardized village patterning is evident in the archaeological record. According to Douglas Armstrong (2009) and his work in St. John, however, the Dutch were quite different in their colonial conquests in that they lacked a specific colonization mission so plantation owners never adopted a standardized slave village design, and may have had greater autonomy to choose settlement locations (Armstrong 2009). This research will evaluate the degree of standardization in St. Eustatius settlements as well as the emphasis of communal identity.…”