BALTIMORE — The greenhouse on the Maryland plantation where famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass spent part of his childhood was not as uniquely European as once thought: Its furnace was built by slaves, who hid distinctly African touches within it to ward off bad spirits, researchers said.
A stone pestle to control spirits was concealed in brick ductwork used to heat the orangery — a type of greenhouse used to shield citrus and other trees from chilly winters — and University of Maryland archaeologists found charms buried at the structure’s entrance, said excavation leader Mark Leone. The greenhouse was long considered a mark of European sophistication and was a status symbol of the era.
Douglass described the cruelty of his enslavement after he was freed, though he didn’t realize the slaves were helping create a unique agricultural practice, Leone said.
“What he must have seen as a boy is the creation and use of African-American gardening,” Leone said.
Richard Westmacott, a University of Georgia professor emeritus and author of “African-American Gardening,” said slaves were often chosen because of their agricultural skills. Many slaves brought to South Carolina, for example, had more experience growing rice than their owners, said Westmacott, who was not involved in the Maryland research.
However, in America they were also exposed to practices they had not seen in Africa, such as row crops and flower cultivation. From that, a distinct form of gardening evolved, he said.
By looking at pollens found during the Wye House dig, researchers found that the greenhouse was first used to grow flowering plants, shrubs and medicinal herbs, Leone said. By the 1820s, lemon and orange trees were being grown. They also found pollens from the rose family, lily, iris and nightshade, among others.
The pollen evidence matches Douglass’ descriptions in his 1845 autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” written after his 1838 escape from slavery.
Douglass, who lived at the plantation for several years in the mid-1820s, said the garden drew visitors from as far as Baltimore, about 40 miles away and across the Chesapeake Bay.
