The Great Orange Valley Plantation Exploration (1/15/15) - Matthew
Today we got a chance to do some archeological digging and explore a new plantation. In the morning, we all rode a bus to an archeological site named "Spanish Hill", which was about an hour inland from Falmouth Heritage Renewal. Once we arrived at "Spanish Hill", Dr. Conolley taught us how to dig for artifacts. He then handed over the tools to us, so that we could dig independently. We primarily found small shells and some broken pieces of pots, but then Paloma found what looked like a complete pot. However, it was mostly buried, so we couldn't exactly figure out what is was.
We then took a quick lunch break before we got back to work. During lunch, we decided that one group of students was going to continue digging and another group was going to go on a tour of the Orange Valley Plantation, which was about a ten minute drive from the archeological site. I, along with five other students (Shiraz, Jodi, Iris, Ian, and Becca), Dr. Lee, and KeVaughn, chose to go on the Orange Valley Plantation tour. I was really happy with this decision because the Orange Valley Plantation ended up being so interesting, educational, and fun. We walked down the road near the dig site and passed the ruins of a smoke house and another building that did not have a known use. These building caught our attention because they was oddly-shaped and the limestone bricks contrasted the lush, green forests behind them. Because we were so curious about these buildings, KeVaughn let us walk inside of them. The smokestack was completely made out of brick, and the smoke tower was about 100ft tall, completely made out of limestone bricks that probably weighed 50-100lbs each. How were they even able to place the blocks at the top of the smoke tower? As we were walking inside, we talked about the multiple changes that the building had. After spending some time inside of the smokestack, we moved onto the next building, which was about three or four times the size of the smokestack (the smokestack was about 200ft long and 60ft wide). Plants had taken over this large building, and they were so dense that we could not get inside of it. We discussed possible uses that this building might have served but there is no one use that has been proven.
After spending time by these buildings, the current owner of the land that Orange Valley Plantation is on, drove us to where the rest of the buildings were (the smokestack and other building were about a 8 minute drive from the other buildings). We got out of his truck at the building that used to be the slave hospital. This building was HUGE (about 60ft tall, 500ft wide and 500ft long) and was completely made out of limestone bricks, which I believe showed that it was to impose dominance over the slaves who entered it. We walked around the inside of this building and observed the architecture of it. KeVaughn also helped us understand the reasoning that multiple changes had been made to the building over the years.
We then walked to two other buildings that were ruins of the sugar cane foundries and rum distilleries. These buildings were also giant and made out of limestone bricks; however, even though they were ornate, they were no where near as ornate as the slave hospital. One of my favorite things about these buildings was that they were so open (because many of the walls had fallen in, exposing other rooms) which meant that we were able to freely explore them. The two foundries both had underground rooms, which were used for heating sugar, and we were able to walk down into these rooms and look at them as we talked about them. After spending ample amount of time at these two buildings, we headed to the great house, which ended up being so overrun with plants that we were not able to enter it. KeVaughn told us about the differences in the great house at Orange Valley and the great house at Good Hope (the one at Orange Valley was much more concerned with defense in the case of a slave uprising than the one at Good Hope). We then hiked about 2 miles back to the archeological dig site where we met up with the other group and returned to the treehouse.
Post by Matthew Watowich
We then took a quick lunch break before we got back to work. During lunch, we decided that one group of students was going to continue digging and another group was going to go on a tour of the Orange Valley Plantation, which was about a ten minute drive from the archeological site. I, along with five other students (Shiraz, Jodi, Iris, Ian, and Becca), Dr. Lee, and KeVaughn, chose to go on the Orange Valley Plantation tour. I was really happy with this decision because the Orange Valley Plantation ended up being so interesting, educational, and fun. We walked down the road near the dig site and passed the ruins of a smoke house and another building that did not have a known use. These building caught our attention because they was oddly-shaped and the limestone bricks contrasted the lush, green forests behind them. Because we were so curious about these buildings, KeVaughn let us walk inside of them. The smokestack was completely made out of brick, and the smoke tower was about 100ft tall, completely made out of limestone bricks that probably weighed 50-100lbs each. How were they even able to place the blocks at the top of the smoke tower? As we were walking inside, we talked about the multiple changes that the building had. After spending some time inside of the smokestack, we moved onto the next building, which was about three or four times the size of the smokestack (the smokestack was about 200ft long and 60ft wide). Plants had taken over this large building, and they were so dense that we could not get inside of it. We discussed possible uses that this building might have served but there is no one use that has been proven.
After spending time by these buildings, the current owner of the land that Orange Valley Plantation is on, drove us to where the rest of the buildings were (the smokestack and other building were about a 8 minute drive from the other buildings). We got out of his truck at the building that used to be the slave hospital. This building was HUGE (about 60ft tall, 500ft wide and 500ft long) and was completely made out of limestone bricks, which I believe showed that it was to impose dominance over the slaves who entered it. We walked around the inside of this building and observed the architecture of it. KeVaughn also helped us understand the reasoning that multiple changes had been made to the building over the years.
We then walked to two other buildings that were ruins of the sugar cane foundries and rum distilleries. These buildings were also giant and made out of limestone bricks; however, even though they were ornate, they were no where near as ornate as the slave hospital. One of my favorite things about these buildings was that they were so open (because many of the walls had fallen in, exposing other rooms) which meant that we were able to freely explore them. The two foundries both had underground rooms, which were used for heating sugar, and we were able to walk down into these rooms and look at them as we talked about them. After spending ample amount of time at these two buildings, we headed to the great house, which ended up being so overrun with plants that we were not able to enter it. KeVaughn told us about the differences in the great house at Orange Valley and the great house at Good Hope (the one at Orange Valley was much more concerned with defense in the case of a slave uprising than the one at Good Hope). We then hiked about 2 miles back to the archeological dig site where we met up with the other group and returned to the treehouse.
Post by Matthew Watowich
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