A Clear Path: from the Yard Area
to the Site of the Slave Quarters at Poplar Hill
Black History Month 2007, the museum observed the Bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade with a new Web section.
Click on the image below to view images of the installation of flowers long the path by the horticulture class of Crossland High School in Prince George’s Coounty, Maryland.
A Clear Path: Project Description
Along with the mansion at Poplar Hill on His Lordship’s Kindness, a number of the original outbuildings still exist, among them are the smokehouse, the dairy, slaves infirmary, and dovecote. There is a visual path that leads from the old kitchen wing of the mansion past these outbuildings to a narrow dirt lane that leads to the site of the slave’s quarters. The original buildings no longer exist. With the help of volunteers, students, and others, the Foundation began the work of clearing the path. The site is an area that has remained undisturbed.
Crossland High School students designed the landscape plan for the path. Students at Croom High School are creating the historic markers that will be placed in front of each out building and at locations where buildings no longer exist. Students from C. Elizabeth Reig Special School are planting flowers that will be installed along the path. The intent of the finished project was to enable the Foundation to offer a new feature in its tour program that focuses on the African-American experience.
The development of the walking tour would have included a new site map for the path, showing significant locations and a new brochure that would guide visitors along the tour. The walking tour would have described what a typical day would have been like for the enslaved on Poplar Hill on His Lordship’s Kindness.
Poplar Hill on His Lordship's Kindness 