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William Benjamin Gould, an enslaved plasterer who worked at the Bellamy site around 1860-61, was 'hired out' by his enslaver, Nicholas Nixon, for the construction project. A piece of plasterwork by Gould, inscribed with his initials and which features on the museum tour, was hidden until a 1990s renovation. It revealed both his skilled work and his singular story.  Hiring out was a common practice that could result in free and enslaved Black workers, including those hired out, appearing together on many types of work in antebellum Wilmington. In fact, enslaved artisans were central to the construction of much of the architecture of the antebellum South across the building trades. A large proportion of these men were hired out as part of an economic system that operated in most slaveholding states. Using North Carolina as an example, the following article explores their work, their experiences, and their often overlooked importance in building American towns.
The article Hiring Out: Enslaved Black Building Artisans in North Carolina is shared by kind permission from its author, architectural historian Catherine Bishir, and publisher, the University of Minnesota Press. The press publishes Building & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. The article is available for free until the end of August 2025 and can be read through this link: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/911886. After that, should you be interested in reading more from Buildings & Landscapes, or if you want to learn about the Vernacular Architecture Forum, click here for more information: https://www.upress.umn.edu/journals/buildings-and-landscapes/
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Actual progress happened more than two years later, on June 19, 1865, when U.S. Army troops led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, where Granger announced and enforced federal orders proclaiming that all enslaved people were now free in Texas -- the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.
When Granger arrived in Galveston, he assumed command of the Department of Texas and the almost 2,000 members of the 13th U.S. Army Corps. He and his men marched through Galveston reading the then assassinated president's General Orders, No.3: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."
He added: "Some waited, as was advised, to learn of the new employer-employee relationship. But there were also a number of freed people who grabbed whatever they could carry and, with the quickness, footed right off their plantations. That mass leaving became known as 'the scatter.' Those who opted for that alacritous pursuit of freedom faced peril. Some of them were caught on roads and beaten or bushwhacked or lynched. "Even after Granger and the blue coats galloped into Galveston, scores of should’ve-been-freed Blacks were hoodwinked into working months or even years more for their enslavers; victims of, among other factors, the state’s large size, and the obstinance and audacity of its lost-cause racists, as well as a lack of enough Union troops to enforce the order."
Before it was inaugurated as Juneteenth, the unofficial freedom holiday was often called"Jubilee Day" and celebrated by thousands of people with music, prayer and feasting. It was held on the day the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, January 1, but later corresponded with the date of General Granger's order on June 19. During the Jim Crow era, those revelers had to move their socializing to the banks of rivers and lakes because segregation laws left them without public venues. Nonetheless, in 1872, enterprising local leaders raised $1000, purchased a 10-acre plot of land in Houston, and built their own public space: Emancipation Park.
________________________________________________________________________ When did slavery end in North Carolina? Despite its expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. While it did apply to enslaved people in the states that had seceded from the Union, North Carolina did not officially recognize it. And like Texas, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.  African American workers on a Cape Fear rice plantation, etching, date and artist unknown. Courtesy, Library of Congress In Wilmington, NC, with its easy and safe access via the Cape Fear River, the port city was a popular destination for slave ships. Wilmington was actively engaged in slave trading and slave auctions were regularly held on the steps of the county courthouse. Although it lacked the large slave market of cities such as Richmond and Charleston, it still conducted a noteworthy interstate slave trade, according to James Redpath's Roving Editor: Or Talks with Slaves in the Southern States. The firm of D.J. Southerland and James C. Coleman, with a second office in Mobile, AL, was the leading slave trading company in Wilmington in the 1850s and early 60s. The 1860-61 city directory identifies the firm as a "negro mart."
In a July 2020 StarNews article entitled "Wilmington has a long history of injustice, exclusion of Black residents," historian Chris E. Fonvielle Jr. explained that slaves made up the principal workforce in every industry in Wilmington. And it wasn’t just individuals who held slaves. “Institutions of all kinds owned slaves in Wilmington, including railroad companies and even churches." He added: "The town relied on slaves' abilities in carpentry, masonry, and construction, as well as their skill in sailing and boating, for its growth and success.”
One of Wilmington's wealthiest citizens, John Dillard Bellamy, was among the largest slaveholders in North Carolina with 115 enslaved men, women and children spread across three eastern counties -- Brunswick, New Hanover and Columbus. His townhome on Market Street was built primarily by enslaved Black artisans and served mainly by enslaved women and children. Bellamy's turpentine operation thrived from the back-breaking work of young enslaved Black men and boys, and his sprawling Grovely plantation on the banks of Town Creek were tended by some 80 enslaved workers. As with other slaveholders across the Confederate states, not a single Bellamy slave was freed as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation. (And, by the way, the proclamation did not apply to slaveholders in the states that remained loyal to the Union!)
By the end of the Civil War in 1865, over 360,000 enslaved people in North Carolina were freed, thanks to the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified in North Carolina later that year on December 4.
Just 18 in 1839 and newly married to John Dillard Bellamy, Eliza McIlhenny Harriss Bellamy would have been well-trained in the role of a woman in the antebellum South. According to NC historian Alice Eley Jones, she was likely, "gracious, fragile and deferential to the men upon whose protection she depended; imbued with the proper manners and literacy required of a young lady in her station, as well as the necessary basic household skills like sewing, supervising the garden and putting up preserves.” Born in 1821 and growing up in Wilmington as the first of eight children to Mary Priscilla Jennings Harriss and her husband Dr. William James Harriss, Eliza has been described as a "rather plain girl but blessed with a bright inquiring mind, serious nature, and sweet disposition," wrote local historian Diane Cobb Cashman in her 1989 report on the "History of the Bellamy Mansion."
Interestingly, this was a memory Eliza shared with her family. Ellen wrote: "The Gallows Hill was where the Old Ladies’ Home now is, corner 9th and Princess [there was more than one Gallows Hill over time]; when the sheriff asked what crimes the woman had committed, replied; "'Nothing but killing old Mrs. Bradley' (her mistress). But as the town began to build up, the gallows was moved down to South Front Street, Dry Pond.”
For Dr. Bellamy, given his wealth and status as a "person of known disloyalty," gaining a pardon and regaining his properties were in the hands of General Joseph Hawley, who, together with his wife Harriet, and fellow officers occupied the Bellamy house until he was reassigned in June 1865. While there, the Hawley's received a visit from Eliza Bellamy hoping to reclaim her home. There are two versions of how that meeting unfolded. One was described by daughter Ellen in her memoirs and the other as recollected by Mrs. Hawley. Per Ellen: Mother found it "most humiliating, and trying, to be entertained by Mrs. Hawley, in her own parlor.... During the call, she offered Mother some figs (from Mother's own tree) which Aunt Sarah had picked -- our old cook, who had been left in charge of the premises" -- and presumably had offered her services to the new occupants. Eliza Bellamy played her role with panache, sharing the stance of many southern women who held up their gentility as flags unbowed by defeat. Per Harriet Hawley: "The lady [Eliza Bellamy] made herself as agreeable as possible, spoke of the General's occupancy and her own absence, much as people who had gone off to the sea-shore for the summer might speak of renting their town house till their return; intimating that she wouldn't hurry the General commanding for the world, and hoped that he would remain with his family until it was entirely convenient to remove, but suggested that she and her husband thought they would probably return in a couple or three months, when, of course, they supposed their house would be ready for them! Confiscation seemed to have no terrors for her; or, if it had, they were dexterously concealed under and air of smiling and absolute assurance." Dr. Bellamy finally received a pardon to regain possession of his home in September 1865. In a letter to her daughter Belle, Eliza wrote: "I never saw so much dirt in my life" and the basement, site of the kitchen and dining room, was "more like a hogpen than anything else." After refurbishing the house, Eliza turned her attention to the garden, where she put to use her longstanding interest in horticulture. Having lost one baby (Kate) in 1858, Eliza gave birth to Chesley the following year. Sadly, Chesley succumbed to an unknown illness in 1881 at age 22. Based on the symptoms described in his obituary, it is believed he died from viral encephalitis contracted from contaminated water. Eliza's husband died in 1896 age 79, while her first child, Belle, died at age 59 in 1900. Alongside these difficult and tragic experiences, Eliza was well-loved and cared for by her husband and family and mostly enjoyed a life of privilege. Daughter Ellen wrote in her memoirs: While at Grovely, "the fruit was in its glory and I would follow my father in the orchard culling the most choice which he always deposited in front of mother. He wanted the very best for her; he was always the most devoted husband and his love and attention never failed to the very end, although married 57 years.” “In civil and political affairs, American women take no interest or concern, except so far as they sympathize with their family and personal friends….” Catherine Beecher "A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home, and at School" (1845)
"By this time, the town was tense with a riotous atmosphere. A deadly quiet had spread over the city. Both blacks and whites remained at home behind closed doors or left town. Businesses and schools were closed. Churches provided shelter for many frightened blacks, while others fled into the woods and swamps surrounding the city. Martial law was proclaimed and military units were sent from cities around the state. Two hundred local white policemen were sworn in to keep the peace. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen were summoned to City Hall, where they were forced to resign. They were replaced by an all-white board of Democrats. The chief of police and the entire police department was forced to resign. Several prominent black and white Republicans were rounded up and forced to spend the night in jail. The next day, they were escorted to the railroad depot and made to board northbound trains. During the ensuing weeks all government jobs held by blacks, from fireman to City Hall janitor, were vacated and given to white employees." Following these violent events, John Jr. took his seat in Congress. In 1900 a North Carolina constitutional amendment creating a literacy test was passed. It was part a series of so-called Black Codes that disenfranchised Black voters and ended an era of Black political participation. Like most others among Wilmington's social and economic White leadership, members of the Bellamy family believed that life had been returned to "a reign of justice and peace," as daughter Ellen put it, at last.
Only a few years later, in October 1907, the Wilmington Messenger reported the death of Mrs. Eliza Bellamy, age 87, "the oldest living white resident of Wilmington."
 There are numerous types of magnolia and a sixth tree in our gardens is actually a dwarf varietal called 'Little Gem'. The grandiflora's glossy leaves, large white flowers, and dense oval seed pods distinguish it as both a botanical relic and an icon of the South. They begin to bloom in this area in late April and early May. In Southern U.S. culture, the magnolia is woven into the region’s identity. The magnolia's lush, highly fragrant, blossoms often evoke a romanticized South, appearing in literature, art, and music as emblems of longevity and tradition. Yet, the tree also exists in complex proximity to histories of slavery, segregation, and the rise of plantation culture.  In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, the presence of this tree sets a scene of beauty and tension, “The night was still. I could hear his heavy breathing, and I could smell the heavy sweetness of the magnolia blossoms.” William Faulkner's novels, often set in Mississippi, bring more beauty but often with elements of decay. Flora often sets a scene, such as, “The air was full of the smell of honeysuckle and magnolia and sweet shrub” in The Sound and the Fury. His 1841 essay, The Magnolia at Lake Pontchartrain, is direct, "Nothing at the south had affected me like the Magnolia ... I stood astonished as might a lover of music." In Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter, the blooms become a metaphor, “The magnolia’s white flowers were like ghosts of summer in the tree.” For Zora Neale Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God, it's a reflection on femininity and resilience, “She was a wind on the ocean. She had come back with the sun and the magnolia trees.” Magnolia grandiflora have also been linked to the interesting idea of witness trees — living trees that have stood through significant historical events. The White House grounds have a number of these. For example, the Andrew Jackson magnolia stood for nearly 200 years until it was removed for safety reasons on April 7, 2025. Another magnolia from a seedling replaced it the next day. Jackson is reputed to have planted the original in memory of his late wife, Rachel, and the tree appears on the back of the $20 bill. Our area features bald cypress on the Black River that are thousands of years old. The spectacular live oak at Airlie Gardens is 500 years old. At the Bellamy site, our magnolias are over 150, a venerable age for the species. They feature in Wilmington's Heritage Tree program and receive much love and care at the museum. Many trees have silently borne witness to moments of national significance and remain in place. A black walnut stands on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, a white oak in Arlington National Cemetery, an American elm survived the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and is now part of a national memorial. At this museum, the magnolias will have been there for Wilmington's short-lived progress in Reconstruction, the accomplishments in World War Two, the 1960s downturn and the post-1990s growth. They saw the arming of a mob 100 yards away on November 10th, 1898 that denoted a racial massacre, part of the only successful coup in American history. The trees were there for the march from Williston school to the County courthouse on April 5, 1968, the day after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. He should have been speaking at Williston at the time of his death. They would have reflected the firelight on March 13, 1972, when an arsonist set a blaze in the Bellamy house for reasons we still don't know. Trees can serve not only as biological survivors but as living testaments to history. A witness tree, by simply enduring, becomes a symbol of continuity, memory, and resilience. They can be fixtures of natural beauty and quiet observers.
By comparison, another Horry County taxpaying resident, John Rogers, owned 14,000 acres and enslaved 39 people. Although individual states, including North Carolina, had experimented with income taxation during the 19th century, it was not until 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln and Congress established a Commissioner of Internal Revenue that the country’s first income tax was levied to help with the mounting costs of the Civil War.
In reference to wealthy men like Dr. Bellamy, the Committee on Ways and Means, begun in 1789 and the the oldest tax-writing body in the U.S. House of Representatives, stated, "Owners of carriage valued at over $300, and gold watches and silver plate, are among those persons best able to contribute something to the support of the Government under whose protection they have been able to acquire articles indicative of wealth and assured means of support.” Luxury taxes had been repealed in 1817 after being levied to help raise revenue during the War of 1812, but with the escalating Civil War came the return of such excise taxes. During the Civil War specific items such as carriages, gold and silver plate, billiard tables, pianos, and even watches were all taxed as luxury items. Civil War excise taxes on luxury items were all repealed by 1871, except those levied on liquor and tobacco which remain to this day.
 This document is an 1866 Brunswick County tax assessment for Dr. John D. Bellamy. He was assessed a three cent tax for every pound of cotton produced. In 1866, Dr. Bellamy paid a total of $228.39 on 7,613 pounds of cotton produced at his Grovely plantation. The cotton tax was considered unfair and even illegal by many Southern men who paid it between 1862 and 1867. Some considered it unfair because it affected the deep South states more than northern ones, and its continuation after the conclusion of the Civil War left many Southern planters, like Dr. Bellamy, contemplating whether the cotton tax was even punitive in nature.
By Wade Toth, Bellamy Mansion Interpreter & Volunteer Committee Chair When we think of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, their aromas are usually setting a mood by wafting from the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day. Herbs are primarily thought of as culinary today by most Americans, but that was not always the case.  In the 1800s English folksong "Are You Going to Scarborough Fair," made famous in 1966 by Simon and Garfunkel's version, each herb represents a virtue. Parsley=Comfort. Sage=Strength. Rosemary=Love. Thyme=Courage. These four herbs, native to the Mediterranean basin, were used for centuries to treat a variety of afflictions. Parsley was thought to cure digestive disorders, bronchitis, and cure urinary tract problems. Sage was taken for ulcers, a sore throat, and to stop bleeding. Rosemary was seen as a memory enhancer, relieved migraine headaches, and thwarted nervousness. Thyme was a pain reliever, an antidote for poison, and had antiseptic properties. Even today, thymol, the active ingredient in thyme, is used in mouthwashes, toothpaste, and hand sanitizers.
In fourth century Greece, the scientist and philosopher Theophrastus (371-287 BC), known as the “the Father of Botany,” classified 500 medicinal plants known at the time in his Historia Plantarum. Plants in his list included cinnamon, the rhizome of the iris, mint, pomegranate, and cardamom. He noted that some species had toxic levels and encouraged people to gradually increase dosing as they became more accustomed to the plants’ effects on the body. Nineteenth century Americans relied on herbs for culinary purposes in backyard kitchen gardens, but also as cure-alls because current knowledge of medicine was only in relative infancy. An influential early book on the subject was American Medical Botany by Jacob Bigelow, published between 1817 and 1820. Throughout the 20th century advances in medicine skyrocketed. Penicillin, the first naturally occurring antibiotic drug, became available in limited quantities in 1928. Erythromycin, a sulfa drug combating bacteria, was developed in Germany in 1935. Jonas Salk (in 1955) and Albert Sabin (in 1961) introduced their polio vaccines to Americans. The first measles vaccine was licensed for public use in 1963. Smallpox, one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, was first vaccinated against by Englishman Edward Jenner in 1796. It persisted, killing some 300 million people in the 20th century alone, but was declared eradicated in the United States in 1980 thanks to the widespread adoption of the smallpox vaccine.
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Medicinal Plants in the Bellamy Herb Garden Click here for a complete list in our garden brochure: https://www.bellamymansion.org/uploads/2/3/2/1/23216980/gardentourbrochurefinal.pdf
Dill: Chewing the seed of this herb was said to freshen breath, and the green of the plant was prescribed for new mothers to increase the flow of breast milk. Hops: We associate this traditional herb with beer making, but it too was considered a medicine. A tea made from hops was used commonly for relaxation and considered helpful for insomnia. Butterfly Weed: The plant, though not thought of today as an herb by most people, was considered to have a curative use for diarrhea and rheumatism. Its benefit came from the root of the plant. Lavender: It was used to treat insomnia and as a relaxing agent. Crushed leaves and flower heads were tucked in bed pillows or oil of lavender was applied directly to the specific locations on the head, arms, and feet.
The Wizard’s advertisement lists supposed curative qualities. Active ingredients included: alcohol, camphor, sassafras oil, clove oil, turpentine, ammonia, and chloroform. The company even went so far as to promote its use for cancer. A case was brought against Hamlin’s in Illinois for that cancer 'treatment.' The company was found guilty of false claims and fined $200.
In the beginning, PNC decided that this site should be more of a "museum in a house" than a traditional house museum, which was innovative at the time. Instead of filling space with Victorian ephemera, some rooms are set up as historic vignettes, while others are galleries for rotating art and history exhibits. As a result, the space is dynamic rather than static, and the art shows, family days, lectures, and jazz concerts we host give the community a reason to keep coming back. Through the years, we've adapted to changing audiences. These days, we offer an accessible, virtual on-site tour as well as neighborhood walking tours. Our self-guided tour features smartphone narration, and written versions are multilingual. Our guided tours use Bluetooth headsets to make sure everyone is able to the hear the guide. We collaborate with teachers across New Hanover County to align our school tours with changing curriculums, and work with neighboring museums on cross-disciplinary programs for the community. However, the innovation I'm most proud of is the fact that we continually strive to be honest about history. We talk about the history and legacy of both white supremacy and Black achievement. Our daily tours begin the slave quarters and integrate the stories of everyone who lived and worked in the site. We host talks about charged topics like slavery, the Wilmington 10, and the 1898 massacre in the parlor of a house built by enslaved craftsmen for 1898 leaders in front of descendants from all sides of those events. Our volunteers and staff engage in direct discussions about these topics every day, because truthful stories are the most interesting and useful. Museums like this one provide people with a nuanced, layered understanding of our shared history, which in turn helps to inform our future. We do not and cannot always get the scope and language of social history right. But I am confident that we give it our best shot on a daily basis. We find that almost all our visitors respond positively to a complicated story, truthfully told. One of my favorite quotes is attributed to American anthropologist Margaret Mead. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." For more visuals, including many before and after photos, check out Our Story on our website here. Below are two video discussions on the 1859, interpreted, urban slave quarters. One describes the building and its restoration. The other highlights urban and rural enslavement and details the builders and workers originally at the site.
William A. Wright was the first local victim of Spanish flu, dying on Sept. 21 just a few days after contracting it. The 29-year-old was described in the news as a popular man who left behind a widow and two sons. This virus was called Spanish Flu not because it originated on the Iberian Peninsula, but because Spain remained neutral in World War I, and unlike the Allied Powers and the Central Powers engaged in war, did not suppress the information about the disease. This hadn’t been the first time a crippling epidemic had snuck into Wilmington under the distraction of war. An epidemic of yellow fever in the fall of 1862 had claimed more than 650 lives in Wilmington while the Civil War raged across the country. John D. Bellamy, his wife and nine children escaped the ravages of the epidemic by leaving town and taking refuge some 90 miles northwest in the town of Floral College. During the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Bellamy family members still living in 1918 -- daughters Eliza and Ellen and sons John, George and Robert -- survived again through that deadly outbreak.
Beyond Wilmington the Spanish Flu (a.k.a. La Grippe), first appeared on American soil in March of 1918 at the US army base of Fort Riley, Kansas. Within five weeks, 1,000 men were infected and 47 were dead. One “preventive measure” as seen in the image above was gargling with salt water. With no vaccine to protect against the virus, people were urged to isolate, quarantine, practice good personal hygiene, limit social interaction, and wear masks. The worst outbreak of the entire pandemic for any U.S. city occurred in Philadelphia. A massive outdoor parade with an estimated attendance of 200,000 had been scheduled to take place on September 28, 1918, to promote the sale of war bonds to the public in support of The Great War. The city’s health director, Wilmer Krusen, refused pleas from medical professionals to cancel the parade, and thousands lined the parade route. The consequence: 20,000 died in Philadelphia. Deaths mounted so quickly that even burials in mass graves dug by steam shovels weren't quick enough to avoid bodies decomposing in the streets. Families that could find cold storage units waited weeks for undertakers to prepare for funerals.
America would see a flattening in the number of cases after October of 1918, but a second wave during the winter of 1918-1919 resurfaced. When the disease finally abated in 1920, 675,000 Americans lay dead from the influenza, and it is estimated that 50 million died worldwide. The number of North Carolinians was 13,700.
The aftermath: World War I ("The Great War") and the Spanish Influenza turned 1920s America inward toward isolationism. Despite pushing for a League of Nations, the United States did not join. Citizens became fearful of the world and what the world seemed to offer - including ideologies like bolshevism and communism. America First rose as a new motto. The 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote passed, but misogynistic comments didn't disappear in this jazz age … “Bobbed hair! Painted faces! Smoking cigarettes! Hemlines at the knee! Wearing brassieres! Having jobs outside the home! All sure signs of a harlot!” That recently won right of women’s suffrage, to some, was abhorrent. [3] Returning African-American soldiers who fought to liberate Europe, now sought to continue their fight for equal rights as American citizens. They were faced with continued federal and state sanctioned government discrimination and Jim Crow Laws, coupled with the exploding growth of the Ku Klux Klan to deny Blacks these inalienable rights. As the decade of the roaring 1920s moved forward, America looked backward to what some believed were the good old days. [4] Prepared by Wade Toth, Bellamy Mansion Museum Volunteer Committee Chair, during the COVID-19 pandemic (with updates). Original publish date: August 2020. Pandemic notes: The word quarantine — which means restricting the movement of people or goods — is rooted in the Latin word for “forty days,” a reference to preventative measures taken in Venice during the Middle Ages to stop the spread of the bubonic plague. Ships arriving from areas affected by the “Black Death” were required to anchor for 40 days before the crew could disembark. Centuries later, hundreds of Wilmingtonians were dropping dead from a yellow fever epidemic in 1862, also referred to as the "Black Death." Both yellow fever and the bubonic plague were infectious diseases spread by bites from two different infected insects (mosquitos vs fleas). Blackened tissue due to gangrene was caused by the bubonic plague while black vomit resulting from internal bleeding was caused by yellow fever, hence the homonym. Learn more about the 1862 yellow fever epidemic here: a-scope-into-the-speculation-wilmingtons-yellow-fever-epidemic-of-1862
Infectious diseases like typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, polio, the Spanish flu and, more recently, COVID-19 have had a major impact on the way we live. Today, we take for granted running water and flush toilets, but do you know why homes are built with half-bathrooms, typically referred to as the "powder" room? The latter term originated in the 17th century when aristocratic citizens would use a private space to freshen their wigs. Wigs were often made of real human hair and required regular "powderings" to maintain their appearance. In the early 20th century, as the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of diseases became well known, these “powder rooms” offered a place for guests to wash their hands as they entered a home, and also for delivery workers dropping off items like milk, coal, and ice to wash up. Sources: [1] Building Ships for Government, Sept. 2017. NC Dept. of Cultural and Natural resources. https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2017/09/21/building-ships-government [2] World War I Left Enduring mark on Southeastern NC, Oct. 2013. Star News/Wilbur D. Jones. https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2014/10/30/world-war-i-left-enduring-mark-on-southeastern-nc/30970559007/ [3] National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. National Women's History Museum. https://www.crusadeforthevote.org/naows-opposition/ [4] An Anatomy of Isolationism. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/excerpt-isolationism
 "Plantation Frolic on Christmas Eve" Library of Congress Articles of clothing such as pants, hats, frocks, handkerchiefs, ribbons, socks, cravats, and hand-me-downs were given. Also, tobacco, beads, toys, candy, blankets, pocket knives, pipes, and sometimes money. Some enslavers gave their enslaved workers a feast. According to different slave accounts, the enslaver provided the food, or they allowed the enslaved to go hunting. Occasionally enslavers provided liquor, and some foods and drinks they gave at Christmas included:
 John Canoe (Jonkonnu, JonKanoo) Dancers, Jamaica, 1838; Image Reference Belisario01, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org. In North Carolina, some enslaved people had a holiday traditional celebration called Jonkonnu. The celebration has roots that go back to the Caribbean and West Africa. Wilmington and New Bern were the main places in which the celebrations occurred, but similar versions of Jonkonnu could be found in coastal South Carolina and Georgia dating to the 1700s. During this celebration enslaved men and women would dress up in colorful outfits and parade around performing music for their enslavers “demanding” gifts. The enslavers’ families then participated by giving out small gifts.  Jonkonnu reenactment at Bellamy Museum Often enslaved individuals had relatives enslaved by other families on neighboring plantations or in nearby towns. In order for slaves to travel to visit family, the enslavers distributed passes. During the holiday season, enslavers issued these passes more often than during other times of the year. Why did enslavers give these gifts of goods, time off, and even visits with family members? One major reason was to try and prevent enslaved individuals from revolting or running away. The holiday season meant “hiring out” of slaves for contracted work was nearing. Enslavers negotiated these contracts on or near January 1st each year and a contract could be for many months or even a full year. Individuals and businesses contracted enslaved men, women, and children to engage in often backbreaking and dangerous work. For example, the railroad company "hired out" many men and even offered insurance policies to enslavers in case of injury or death to the workers. It's possible the stress of this impending change was deliberately defrayed by the slight loosening of the usual order within slavery during the holiday season. -Bigham, Shauna, and Robert E. May. "The Time o' all Times? Masters, Slaves, and Christmas in the Old South." Journal of the Early Republic 18, no. 2 (Summer, 1998): 263-288. https://search- proquest-com.liblink.uncw.edu/docview/220950705?accountid=14606.
-Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940. -“Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938.” Library of Congress, online collection. -Wiggins, D. “Good Times on the Old Plantation: Popular Recreations of the Black Slave in Antebellum South, 1810-1860.” Journal of Sports History 4. Fall 1997. 260-284.
 On top of leg number 4, Bob located the piano’s serial number. The leg is just one place makers put the serial number signifying the year that the piano was made. On grand pianos, the serial number can often be located on the soundboard or under the logo. On upright pianos, the serial number is often stamped on the piano's frame in line with the middle octave. The Antique Piano Shop in Friendsville, Tennessee, helped determine the piano was manufactured in 1854 by looking up the serial number in The Pierce Piano Atlas. In 1839, William Knabe (born Valentin Wilhelm Ludwig Knabe in 1803 in present day Germany) and William Gaehle formed the piano manufacturing firm of Knabe & Gaehle in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1854, Knabe took control of the business and changed the name to William Knabe & Company. The first pianos were manufactured in November 1854, making the square grand at the Bellamy Mansion Museum one of the first produced by the company. There is no bill of sale or easy way to determine when John and Eliza Bellamy actually purchased the piano, and the square grand was often a combination of a custom case sat atop pre-manufactured legs chosen by the buyer.
Article by Wade Toth, Bellamy Mansion Museum Volunteer Coordinator and Leslie Randle-Morton, Bellamy Mansion Museum Associate Director.
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10:00 am - 4:00 pm daily
Monday-Friday 9:30 am- 5 pm |
Admission Prices (tax not reflected)
Self-guided
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Stewardship property of Preservation North Carolina
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