Were there Slave Quarters right at the entrance to the new Liberty Bell Center?
Yes, according to the preponderence of the evidence. A 1785 map of the President’s House property shows the smokehouse and an attached covered shed. In 1790, Washington’s secretary wrote to him, “The Smoke-House will be extended to the end of the Stable, and two good rooms made in it for the accomodation [sic] of the Stable people.” The stable people consisted of one white coachman and three enslaved black stableworkers. According to Washington’s correspondence, the Slave Quarters, marked in blue, housed Giles, Paris, and probably Austin, as well as the white coachman Arthur Dunn; Oney and Moll slept over the kitchen; Hercules, Richmond, and Christopher slept in the attic of the main house; none of the 8 slept in the Servants Hall. (Detail of a 2002 National Park Service map, with additions by Ed Lawler.) IHA intern Jonathan Parker poses outside the main entrance to the Liberty Bell Center. An artist has superimposed walls and a roof on the taped outline to suggest the 2-room structure
