New South Associates (NSA) conducted a Phase III Archaeological Data Recovery of the Fennell Plantation (Site 1MA840) on Redstone Arsenal in Madison County, Alabama. The site occupation spans nearly 100 years (1843-1942) and follows a journey from enslavement to Black landownership in North Alabama. Using geophysical applications and subsequent excavation efforts, NSA successfully identified planter-class main house features, a potential enslaved occupation, and the remains of subsequent tenancy in discrete locations at the site. These features provide valuable insights into the lifeways of both plantation owners and the Black enslaved population that helped to forge the thriving historic African American community of Mullins Flat.

In Decolonizing Archaeology: On the Global Heritage of Epistemic Laziness, Rizvi (2015) introduced a concept called the epistemic injustice double-bind regarding an archaeologist’s position as translators of cultural materials, stewards and advocates for historic sites and populations, both past and present. The double-bind we find ourselves in stems from our ties to an “epistemic heritage” that must be mastered to advance through the field. A heritage based on problematic ideologies and understandings which often create more barriers for BIPOC practitioners and Descendant group participation (Jones & Carey 2023; Franklin 1997; Hartemann 2021; Hartman 2008). This paradox is most readily apparent in archaeological investigations conducted on plantation landscapes. This paper will examine plantations through a frontier lens, the efficacy of commonly used methodologies, and ethical considerations resulting from archaeological processes. Further, decolonization efforts require flexibility and transparency when epistemic foundations do not ethically align with Descendant rights or community engagement standards.

This study will examine excavations around the Historic Core of Mount Vernon, searching for patterns in the size of artifacts to infer where high traffic areas, like desire paths or work spaces, may have existed. Multiple historic lanes lie on the landscape today, but were not always used by all parts of the population at all times. These areas may be identified through the presence of smaller artifacts dropped and broken under foot. Who was using them may also be determined based on location and artifact type. These areas can be tracked temporally through the artifacts and historically recorded changes to the landscape. A spatial analysis in the concentration and distribution of artifacts by size including least-cost path models will be performed. This project will create a better understanding of how the landscape was viewed and navigated, and establish a stronger footing for future research into pathways across the property.

Like many planters in the economically-ravaged postbellum South, Andrew Durnford’s family fell on hard times following the Civil War. Measures were taken to try to save their sugar plantation; however, following two crevasses and multiple U.S. Marshal’s Sales, St. Rosalie was seized and sold at public auction in 1874, ending the Durnford tenure of over four decades. During the next several years, agricultural operations were handled by absentee partnerships and lessees before the property’s 1881 sale to Theodore S. Wilkinson, who added it to the Plaquemines Parish “sugar empire” that he amassed along the west bank of the Mississippi River. Records indicate that the labor force employed at St. Rosalie during the examined decades ranged from freed enslaved persons of the Durnford era to tenant farmers, both white and African American, in later years.