Boone Hall
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
Components: Interpretive panels; Artifact cases; Archaeological dioramas
Major John Boone established Boone Hall Plantation by the late 1600s. The plantation remained in the Boone Family until 1811; it was purchased by the Horlbecks in 1817 and remained in the Horlbeck Family until 1926. Boone Hall became one of the largest brick manufacturers in the Lowcountry.
Today, one of the most unique features of Boone Hall is the street of original brick slave cabins. In 2003, Brockington and Associates conducted one week of archaeological excavations under a portion of the floor in one of these cabins. We invited visitors to watch archaeologists work and to view our temporary artifact laboratory.
The cabin contains a display interpreting the archaeology of slavery in South Carolina's Lowcountry. A diorama in the excavated portion of the cabin includes equipment typically used at archaeological excavations and incorporates some of the recovered artifacts to replicate an ongoing excavation.
In addition, two panels explain how archaeologists work and how we use archaeology to learn about the enslaved African Americans' lives. The panels are complemented by a large table-top artifact display highlighting ceramics, as well as toys, tools, and personal items. Two mosaics were constructed with artifacts that have been collected across the property over the years and that no longer have provenience, or origin, information. The mosaics are hung at child height to encourage touching. The most important artifact on display is a City of Charleston-issued slave tag.