By Way of the Back Door

The living history museum at Brattonsville presents By Way of the Back Door, an African-American tour focusing on three generations of slavery from 1780-1865. Two special guided tours will be offered at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. each Saturday during the month of February, along with ongoing activities throughout the day.

Reflecting on the lives of the enslaved from the American Revolution through and beyond the Civil War, the tours will include stops at Colonel Bratton’s house, the slave cabins, the Brick Kitchen, and the Homestead. Interpreters will tell the story about Watt and lead visitors to the slave cemetery to ponder upon his marble tombstone, a rare tribute for a slave, erected by the Brattons in honor of his patriotic services in the Battle of Huck’s Defeat. Visitors can learn about the “Seven Sacred Families” of Historic Brattonsville and how slave descendants are currently active in sharing their family history.

Historic Brattonsville features over thirty colonial and antebellum structures, including two house museums. The plantation spreads over seven hundred seventy five acres and includes farmed land with heritage breed animals, a Revolutionary War battlefield site, and a nature preserve with miles of walking trails. Seasonal events, reenactments, and living history programs interpret Southern rural life from the 1750s to the 1850s.