Henry McAlpin's home at Hermitage Plantation, built c. 1820.
From the collections of The Henry Ford
Henry McAlpin's 400-acre plantation was located on the
Savannah River, just north of the city of Savannah--the heart of a
rice-growing region. McAlpin was one of the wealthiest men in the South.
He didn't just rely only on crops for his livelihood; he manufactured
bricks, rice barrels, cast iron products and lumber, too. Examining the
site plan of the Hermitage Plantation reveals a variety of buildings and
industries. At the Hermitage Plantation, like other plantations along
coastal South Carolina and Georgia, the task system of labor
organization was used.
| Most plantations included housing for the planter's family, housing for the enslaved workers, mills and other industrial buildings. |
 Site Map, Hermitage Plantation, Savannah, GA.  |
 Main entrance to Henry McAlpin's Hermitage Plantation. Note planter's home at end of street. (Edited historical photo) From the collections of The Henry Ford | |
| In 1850, there were 201 enslaved African Americans living at the Hermitage Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. Their homes were built of brick because the Hermitage Plantation operated a brickworks. Most other enslaved persons' houses were built of wood and didn't last long. The African Americans who lived at the Hermitage made the bricks and then constructed the houses by hand--in fact, by l850, these skilled workers made 60 million bricks for buildings around Savannah!In the American South, enslaved families often lived together or near one another. On Henry McAlpin's Hermitage Plantation, enslaved families generally lived together as a unit. Not all plantation owners believed this was important; some separated families by selling individual members to other plantation owners. Faced with hostility and oppression, enslaved African Americans formed tightly knit communities bound together by a spirit of cooperation. |
Brick house from Hermitage Plantation
now in Greenfield Village, 1997
Source: The Henry Ford ~ 