The morning of Friday, March 17th was very eventful and interesting. Today was a beautiful warm and breezy day, perfect for hiking. The temperature rested at a nice 75 degrees Fahrenheit. We began our day by visiting some historic plantation ruins here on San Salvador. The plantation is called Sandy Point Plantation, and it was used as a cotton and orange plantation during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This plantation was owned by Mr. John Storr, who was a loyalist. This plantation has three different buildings, and I will go into detail about them, and what they were specifically used for. The people living on the plantation also had a special place that they retrieved their water.
The first building that you see is a simple rectangular building made of stone, and one door. This building was used by the plantation as a storage building. Considering there was no grocery stores at the time, they needed a place to safely store all their food and produce. I would have loved to see how the storage building looked when it was in use.
The second building you see is the main house for the plantation overseer, Prince Storr, who was an enslaved person. This house had three floors, and housed Storr along with the rest of his family. The last building is where they cooked their food. Walking into the damaged building, you can see that large fireplace that was used to cook.
Considering the plantation is located on San Salvador Island, you may be thinking, where did they get their water? The answer to that question is something called a banana hole. A banana hole is a karst formation where there has been collapse of an underlying cavern, causing an area of lower elevation. These “holes” can accumulate thicker soil, which is good for growing banana trees. The banana hole is a place located a little farther down the hill from the three buildings and serves as a recourse of fresh and drinkable water, because the people living at the plantation used this natural low point as an area to dig a well. Considering the placement of the banana hole, getting water means that you would have to go on a bit of a hike to have water. Along with the water source that the banana hole provides, we also saw bananas growing down there, which I thought was cool.
Friday morning brought many cool and informative activities. I learned that the plantations of San Salvador were sometimes run by other slaves, since the plantation owners were rarely there. Because of the remote location, many landowners chose to live in Nassau. We also were able to see that the walls of the plantation buildings had graffiti. The markings on the walls resembled tally marks, as though they were counting something. They also sketched a picture of a boat that they likely saw from the view of the ocean from the plantation. I also found it interesting that the whole plantation was put in the hands of a slave, due to the owner’s absence. I really enjoyed hiking around the plantations to see how they built their homes and buildings. I also liked to compare the plantations in San Salvador to the plantations that were running in the United States. I would like to learn more about the specific behaviors of the people living on the plantation. How they hunted, how they grew crops, their clothes, and their cooking are all fascinating to me.
This post contributed by Maddy K.
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