The Medallion, Volume 49, Number 4, Fall 2011 Page: 7
15 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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THC site staff
are developing a
comprehensive
interpretive plan for
Varner-Hogg that
will enhance visitors'
experiences. Currently,
visitors can see the ruins
of the slave quarters and
the sugar mill where
most of the slaves lived
and worked.
"In the future, the site will present even more
information on the lives of all the people on the plantation
including expanded information about individual enslaved
people who lived on the plantation prior to the Civil War,"
says Sue Miller, site manager.
Over the years, the site's
focus has been the Hogg family--
including remarkable 19th-century
furnishings and references to the
tremendous oil reserves discovered
in the 1920s (at one point bringing
in nearly $40,000 daily). But over the
past decade, interpretive efforts have
turned toward the era of Columbus
Patton, the plantation's second
owner. Staff member Kyle Roberts
says students often inquire about the
former slave dwellings during school
tours, and visitors are curious about
the enslaved people who called the
plantation home at the time.
Varner-Hogg staff members are
enthusiastic about sharing all aspects
of the site's history. During insightful
house tours, held seven times daily,
guides educate visitors about the
legacies of the three families connected to the property:
Varner, Patton, and Hogg.
"It's been fascinating to develop this master plan that
better integrates the history of African Americans and many
others who worked and lived at the site 150 years ago with
the rest of Varner-Hogg Plantation's remarkable history,"
Miller says. "These amazing stories have been here for more
than a century just waiting to be told."
While conducting research for the master plan, the staff
accessed probate records in the Brazoria County Courthouse
FALL 2011containing detailed accounts
of slaves who resided and
worked on the plantation,
then known as Patton's Place.
The detailed information is
from a court case in which
relatives contested the terms
of Patton's Last Will and
Testament and declared
him mentally
unstable.
Included
in the file
is testimony
... .....1, 'from Patton
family members
about slaves
" ___ ' Rachael, Maria,
S...C Solomon, and
Big Jake as
well as names,
0 medical records,
and sales receipts
documenting slave-
related activity.
"It's fascinating to
see all these records
because they put
names with events and specific actions-it
personalizes the challenging aspects of
slavery," Miller says. "When you read about
a slave named Ina having a doctor attend
her at the birth of a child, it becomes
r much more real. It prompts you to think
about individual people rather than the
institution of slavery as a whole."
The court files include firsthand
testimony from neighbors, former plantation employees,
and family members about Patton's mental health and
about his relationship with Rachael, a house slave, who he
provided for in the will.
Charles Grimm, Patton Place overseer from 1847-49,
testified that Rachael "was the mistress of the plantation. I
never saw her do anything more than pour out coffee and
Previous page: Varner-Hogg Plantation's southern lawn. From top: A view
through Varner-Hogg's kitchen window; site staff offer seven insightful
tours daily; the table in the plantation's dining room expands to seat more
than a dozen guests.
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Texas Historical Commission. The Medallion, Volume 49, Number 4, Fall 2011, periodical, Autumn 2011; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth253479/m1/7/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.