Primary Sources: Briesen, Martha von. Letters of Elijah Fletcher. University of Virginia, 1965. Mason, George.  “A Bill to Regulate Smallpox Inoculations,” January 12, 1778. https://www.consource.org/document/a-bill-to-regulate-smallpox-inoculations-1778-1-12/20130122080439/.

When comparing the lives of the enslaved communities at Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon there are certainly more similarities than differences. When analyzing a breadth

Keeping slaves from disobeying or resisting actively or passively was a main concern of Virginian landowners. The tactics used to combat resistance varied, and depended

Slaveowners were responsible for caring for the health of enslaved people in addition to food and shelter if they hoped to continue to use their

George Mason’s Gunston hall was divided into 4 tracts of land with approximately 400 to 500 acres of land. It is reasonable to hypothesize that

Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon both sat alongside the Potomac River where they operated fisheries to feed their slaves and line their pockets. In the

There have been numerous archaeological investigations at Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon. This research helps better pinpoint how enslaved people fed themselves and supplemented their

Owning slaves as a labor source left plantation owners with the question of how to sustain them with preferably as little food as possible. This