African American Archaeology: Born at Kingsley Plantation?

Page from the book.

Today while working on a research project I came across the book Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Early African America, 1650-1800 by Leland Ferguson. To my surprise, Kingsley Plantation was mentioned as the place where archaeologist and anthropologist Charles H. Fairbanks conducted professional excavations of slave cabins for the first time in the US. I immediately added the following to his Wikipedia page:

His 1967-1969 excavations on the slave cabins at Kingsley Plantation, Fort George Island, Florida—the southernmost of the Sea Islands—were the first of their kind in the United States. Undertaken to "learn more about slave life," he called his practice "Plantation Archaeology," and for more than a decade the graduate program he led at the University of Florida was the only one in the nation with a concentration in African American archaeology.

This also led me to write the folks at Kingsley Plantation regarding the 2010 discovery of a graveyard under the Witness Oak. I wanted to know if any new information had emerged as a result of data interpretation. Shauna Ray Allen, Chief of Resource Stewardship and Partnerships at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial quickly replied to my email stating that:

• The work at the University of Florida on analyzing and documenting the wealth of materials uncovered at Kingsley Plantation is...ongoing
• The discovery occurred during the 2010 University of Florida archaeology field school and...we have determined that the burials are Kingsley-era. The remains have not been linked to the Kingsley family other than by time and proximity. We have not conducted any DNA testing on the remains. 
• The civic engagement on the discovery continues and no decision has been made on marking the site at this time. There is a need to conduct additional testing to determine the approximate extent of the site...

I'll keep trying to keep apprised of the happenings at Kingsley Plantation as best as possible. After all, the Kingsley story —which in my case, crossed oceans—was passed on to me and those of my generation, and remains important to the Kingsley descendants of Mayorazgo de Koka, Kingsley's estate in Haiti.

Sandra Arvelo Kingsley in the Florida Times Union (2008 Kingsley Heritage Celebration)

Sandra Arvelo Kingsley, Kingsley descendant and "world's best mom" speaks at the Kingsley Heritage Celebration.

Sandra Arvelo Kingsley, a great-great-great-granddaughter of Anna and Zephaniah Kingsley, and her brother Wences flew from the Dominican Republic to attend the 2008 Kingsley Heritage Celebration. Sandra introduced the main event, a guided letter reading titled "Zephaniah Kingsley: World Traveller" and prepared by historian and Kingsley specialist Dr. Daniel L. Schafer, Professor Emeritus at the University of North Florida.

The event was covered by the Florida Times Union, as seen on the screenshot of the website, above. The article was titled "Descendants of Slaveholder Join to Note History: Zephaniah and Anna Kingsley Are Recalled at a Family Reunion."

Cover of the Kingsley Heritage Celebration program. The images are, from left to right: Easter Bartley, formerly enslaved at Kingsley Plantation and Emma Vera Baxter, Granddaughter of Zephaniah and Anna Kingsley through their daughter Mary.

Aerial view of Fort George Island and Kingsley Plantation

Aerial view of Kingsley Plantation and Fort George Island.
Image source: http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Bartram/February_1766/10-11feb1766.htm

Amazing aerial view of Fort George Island and Kingsley Plantation. I love the expanse of green, the setting is absolutely stunning. To me it's one of the most beautiful places on Earth! This image was taken from the University of North Florida's Florida History Online website and the original caption reads:

The northwest corner of Fort George Island, the site of Kingsley Plantation of the National Park Service. The building on the left is the oldest plantation house in Florida. Built in 1796 for John McQueen, it was subsequently the domicile of John H. McIntosh, Zephaniah Kingsley, and other planters. A map drawn in 1791 by Spanish engineer Mariano de la Rocque shows a second north to south road on the island that terminated at this site.

Zephaniah Kingsley Jr.'s handwriting and Signature

A sample of Zephaniah Kingsley Jr.'s handwriting and signature.

This is a sample of Zephaniah's original handwriting and signature. I guess in the absence of a portrait, this could offer a glimpse into the man, since handwriting is a very personal thing.

What the plantation looked like during Kingsley's tenure

What the plantation looked like when the Kingsleys lived there.
Photo source: I forgot!. contact me if you're the owner and I'll gladly remove it or credit you.

This image, shamelessly stolen by me from the web (for credit, see caption above) depicts Kingsley Plantation as it might have looked like when Zephaniah and Anna were living there. Since Ana's house was built in the 1820s, I'd like to believe that this is what the plantation might have looked like when my great-great-great-grandfather John Maxwell Kingsley—the fourth and last of Ana and Zephaniah's children—was born there in 1824. The image comes from an information panel located on the plantation.

Basically of note are the following:

• There were two chimneys and no interior staircase (one chimney is missing today, and an interior staircase was added in the late nineteenth century)
• There were only four corner rooms, the rooms placed in between with large bay windows were added later
• The covered walkway connecting the two structures was also added later
• The columns of the main house were cylindrical. At some point those were changed for rectangular columns (see my post titled "Oh, those State Park days"), but I believe that during restoration work on the basement one of the original columns was found and during a subsequent restoration of the house the rectangular columns were taken down and were replaced by replicas of the original cylindrical columns.

Oh, those State Park days...

Kingsley Plantation as part of Florida State Parks.
Image source: http://www.cowart.info/MyWeb_005.htm 

I came across these images of Kingsley Plantation while doing my usual Googling for all things Kingsley. They depict the main house and the remains of the slave cabins back when the site was under the stewardship of Florida State Parks.

When I first visited the house as a teenager, with my family, on our first pilgrimage to the Plantation, the site was still a state park. Those were the days when the house was furnished with antique furniture (some of which belonged to the Gibbs), when a peacock fan held sway over the dinning room and the tour guide would pull the string and swing the fan (which hung from the ceiling), all the while explaining how "that's how the servants would do it!" There was one carved mahogany chair that "could have belonged to Zephaniah Kingsley," I think it's no longer displayed so that myth was debunked, but if it had been Kingsley's it would certainly have been the only original Kingsley object at Kingsley Plantation. 

Kingsley Plantation as part of Florida State Parks.
Remains of the slave cabins.
Image source: http://www.cowart.info/MyWeb_005.htm 

Anyway, soon thereafter the plantation was transferred to the NPS and a more updated museography was installed which removed the furnishings and installed information panels, and the old quaint but outdated photocopied brochures (one of which I keep and hope to scan and post soonish) gave way to the amazing gridded NPS brochures designed in 1977 by the legendary graphic designer Massimo Vignelli, of the 1970s-NY-Subway-Map fame. The site was also incorporated, along with Fort Caroline, into Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

Here' some official information from Florida Memory: Kingsley Plantation was a state park from the 1950s until 1989. Tours of the house, furnished with antiques purchased in the 1950s and 1960s, were offered by park staff. In 1989, U.S. Representative Charles Bennett negotiated the creation of the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, which would include national, state, and city properties and parks. As part of the negotiation, the State of Florida purchased Fort George Island to be used as a state park, but transferred Kingsley Plantation to the National Park Service.

River side of the Zephaniah Kingsley house at the Kingsley Plantation State Park on Fort George Island in Jacksonville, Florida in 1953. Photo: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/30193

Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Kingsley Descendant

The very wise and inspirational Dr. Johnnetta Cole, descendant of Ana and Zephaniah Kingsley, and her companion, at the 2005 Kingsley Heritage Celebration. Click here to learn more about Dr. Cole. Photo by Benjamin Huber.