Category: American Slavery

Providence (PVD); City Tour Series 2025-2026 & Short Trips for People with IPF

by Maria+Stephen, posted in American Slavery, Architecture, Art, Art Museum, Bike Trails, Coffee, Dining, History, Museum, Street Art and Murals, Travel

Day One: We made our way to PVD via Route 6 on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, by the time we arrived the clouds and rain had given way to sunshine. Thank you PVD.

We crossed the Providence River proceeding directly to the Fox Point neighborhood for coffee at Coffee Exchange. Fox Point sits at the convergence of the Providence and Sekonk Rivers providing a long southerly view of the Providence River as it wends its way towards the Rhode Island Sound and ultimately the North Atlantic.

After Fika we strolled around the Fox Point neighborhood where we photographed a number of murals (above and below). The fox mural pictured above was painted by Ben Keller who is a native of our home state of Connecticut.

From Fox Point we ventured into the adjacent College Hill neighborhood admiring the bevy of beautifully maintained historic homes and buildings on Benefit Street.

Every historical jaunt warrants more coffee and tea so we popped into Brown Bee Coffee where we found a table amongst the many Brown University students enjoying coffee and conversation. The photo second left, below is our first ever specialty coffee shop hot dog croissant. Boy howdy!

After imbibing our coffee and tea and consuming the Bee’s ever popular hot dog croissant (house-made tomato jam, whole grain mustard, crispy fried shallots and chives) we walked back to our vehicle at Fox Point. From there we made the short drive to downtown and checked in at the Neptune Hotel. The Neptune is fairly basic but is in the heart of the downtown arts district and makes for an excellent location if you are inclined towards walking.

After our obligatory lie-down we walked to Mokban Korean Bistro where we had a very good late dinner.

Day Two: we started our day as we always start our days: Fika. Bolt Coffee is a convenient five minute walk from the Neptune. Bolt Coffee has two cafes and a roastery in PVD and is a highly regarded specialty roaster in the Northeast. Our drinks and breakfast food items were excellent.

Our plan for day two was a downtown walkabout and mural tour. A non-profit organization called The Avenue Concept has been formally sponsoring public art and in particular street murals in Providence for the last ten years. The downtown area is chock-a-block with large scale murals.

After having our fill of murals and sightseeing we walked to the beautifully restored Providence Union Station building to have our fill of lunch.The station was constructed in 1898 by the long defunct New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (some of us are old enough to have ridden the line).

Track 15 (Photos below courtesy of Track 15) occupies space in the lower level of the former train station and is home to seven food purveyors and Bar Romolo.

After our tasty lunch break we walked along the Providence River to the Ode to Joy yarn store which is located within the jewelry district. If you are a knitter or crochetist we recommend you pay a visit while in PVD.

After yarn shopping we took our customary lie down at the Neptune before getting some tasty fish and chips at Murphy’s Providence.

Day Three: Another gorgeous day in PVD so after fika at Bolt we made the short drive over to the East Bay Bike Path (EBBP) Trailhead.

The East Bay Bike Path extends south from East Providence to Bristol. The EBBP was built on the former Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad line. The railroad operated from 1855 until the 1930s carrying passengers and freight. During the 1930s passenger service was discontinued. Freight service continued until 2006.

The trail is a 29 mile out and back ride from the trailhead in East Providence. There is a great view of the Ponham Rocks Lighthouse (built 1871) from the trail.

As you can see from the trail map below a significant portion of the trail provides views of the Providence River and crosses the Barrington and Palmer Rivers which makes for a scenic ride.

The trail ends at Bristol Harbor where we stopped for a few minutes to admire the view before starting the journey north to the East Providence trailhead. The Del’s stand in Warren was perfectly placed for an Italian Lemon Ice break.

After our ride we returned to the Neptune for a lie down. For dinner we Ubered up to Federal Hill in PVD which means Italian fare. We had a delicious dinner at Ristorante Il Massimo (photo left below courtesy of the ristorante).

Day Four: Museum Day. Our first stop (after Fika) was the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design. The museum was founded in 1877 (the same year as the school). The museum has acquired over 100,000 works of art and design since the founding. Approximately 2000 works are on display.

The school was founded to meet the needs of textile and jewelry industries which were thriving in post Civil War PVD. While the textile industry is long gone the college has continued to thrive. Today the college has 2700 full time students and offers forty undergraduate and graduate degrees in art and design.

The RISD Museum is the 20th largest art museum in the United States despite the small size of the school. It is considered one of the best university art museums in the United States. We would concur.

After Fika at the Bolt Coffee cafe conveniently located at RISD, we walked a bit further up College hill to visit the John Brown House.

The John Brown House in Providence is not related in any way to John Brown, the violent and radical abolitionist (Bleeding Kansas) born in Torrington, Connecticut. The John Brown (Brown University) from Providence was a member of the affluent Brown family who made his fortune as merchant, ship owner and slave trader.

Brown was tried under the Slave Trade Act of 1794 but was acquitted. He continued to fund the transport of enslaved individuals. The John Brown House was quite an eye opener for us. We had no idea that Rhode Island was so deeply involved in the slave trade. Of course, Brown himself (not surprising under the circumstances) owned slaves (many of whom contributed to the construction of his grand mansion).

After our two museum visits we had lunch at Maruichi Japanese Food & Deli and then walked back to the Neptune for our afternoon lie down.

For our ultimate dinner on this excursion to PVD we selected New Rivers. The restaurant food and service were excellent. The interior aesthetic is warm and cosy. We heartily recommend this restaurant.

The restaurant sits along the Providence River in a restored iron merchants warehouse. It is the second oldest industrial building still in use in Rhode Island. The original section of the building dates to 1793.

Day Five: With another beautiful weather day in store we decided to bike the EBBP again before returning home to The Fort in Connecticut.

We had cycled by the Borealis Coffee Company in the Riverside neighborhood of East Providence on our first ride but the cafe was closed by the time we returned from Bristol.

With an earlier start we were able to stop at the cafe (a former railroad depot) for a well deserved Cortado, London Fog and chocolate chip cookie. Excellent drinks and a friendly barista. Nice.

We also took advantage of our second bicycle ride on the EBBP to track down one of Thomas Dambo’s gigantic troll sculptures. Pictured below is Mrs. Skipper which he completed in 2025. This sculpture sits on a point facing the Providence River and is a short walk from the trail.

We had not been in PVD for a number of years and are glad that we decided a brief city tour was in order. PVD with a population of just under 200,000 is a relatively small town but has lots of interesting things to do and see. Having several colleges and university in town always adds to the diversity of sights and sounds in our experience. Our four and a half days with a couple of bicycle rides mixed in was just right.

Be seeing you!

Montgomery

by Maria+Stephen, posted in American Slavery, Cities, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, History, Museum, Street Art and Murals, Travel

OTR Version 11.0 — the never better tour

During a visit to Birmingham on a previous OTR we had taken in quite a lot of the history of the civil rights movement. At the time, a guide at the 16th Street Baptist Street Church had recommended that we visit Montgomery in the future to further our knowledge and understanding of the history of slavery and the civil rights movement in the United States. As we planned to head south before heading west to Arizona, we incorporated a stay in Montgomery into our journey.

We chose the Trilogy Hotel as our base. The hotel is located in the heart of the city and within walking distance to the museums we planned to visit (as well as coffee).

Trilogy Hotel, Montgomery, Alabama

The Trilogy Hotel opened in 2023. The hotel reflects the history of the city, consisting of two renovated cotton warehouses joined with an 1851 Greek Revival mansion housing the hotel restaurant (The Kinsmith). The hotel is beautifully decorated with artwork and furnishings which are authentic to the area. The service was friendly and professional.

After checking in we departed for Prevail Union for coffee and tea. We were assured by our barista at Seeds (Birmingham) that Prevail is the only specialty coffee shop worth visiting in Monty.

We also met local artist Bob Adams while at Prevail. Bob worked for many years as a court room artist for the local television station in addition to producing his own work. The work clearly required an eye for detail and the ability to work quickly. Bob is 70 years old but still draws for about 90 minutes every day and has not lost any of his skills as you can see from the drawing below, which he completed while we were enjoying our drinks.

Our first museum visit was to the Rosa Parks Museum. The museum provides a re-creation of the fateful day when Rosa Parks refused to relinguish her seat on the bus in order that a white man could sit.

The re-creation is accomplished using an actual city bus from that time period with a digital representation of the people and characters involved visible through the bus windows. The exhibit is well done and quite moving.

We definitely recommend visiting the Rosa Parks Museum if you visit Montgomery. The link embedded is from the museum and provides an excellent overview of the life of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

https://www.troy.edu/student-life-resources/arts-culture/rosa-parks-museum/about/index.html#bus

We also visited the Legacy Museum during our stay in Montgomery. The museum opened during April 2018 and was built on the site of a former cotton warehouse (there were many in Montgomery). The museum endeavors to tell the story of enslaved Africans starting with their kidnapping in Africa through to the years of Jim Crow and race issues which still persist today. (All photos courtesy of the Legacy Museum)

The museum is state of the art — making full use of technology to deliver an experience from the perspective of enslaved individuals. The exerience for us was quite intense.The physical and emotional suffering of the enslaved individuals is tragic. It is difficult for us to fathom how slave owners could have by any measure justified owning and brutalizng other human beings.

The museum also delves into the slave trade in detail. We commonly think about the hardships inflicted upon the enlaved individuals on the plantation while overlooking the misery and frequency of deaths that occurred on the slave ships. Over two million people died on the journey from Africa — starvation,sickness, beatings and sheer exhaustion.

Of course, slavery did not truely end with emancipation in 1865. As southerners were allowed back into politics and positions of power most African Africans found themselves anything but free. White only laws and other barriers restricted blacks in every aspect of their daily lives.

Another dimension of the immoral treatment of African Americans occurred all too routinely during the 12 year period of Reconstruction (1865-1877). Lynching of blacks by white mobs and the KKK. Over 2000 lynchings have been documented during that 12 year period. Sadly, a additional 2000 lynchings have been documented from Post Construction to the end of World War II.

We could continue on but instead will provide you with a link to the Legacy Museum if you are interested in learning more. We will leave you with one quote that we think captures the essence and depth of racism that existed in the South for over 200 years.

“In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”. George Wallace, Alabama Governor, 1963 Gubanatorial Inaugural Address

Museum
Selma to Montgomery Marches Mural

We learned quite a bit more about black history in the United States during our visits to the two museums. The town itself is was nice but seems a bit on the sleepy side. The museums are worth a visit if you are going to be nearby but not a destination in our opinion.

We are heading west from Montgomery on US 80 through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. US 80 was, before the construction of the interstate system, one of a handful of coast to coast two lane highways We will keep you posted on what we find along the 80.

Be seeing you!

street.art.tourist—Pennsylvania to Alabama

WHITNEY PLANTATION (WP)

by Maria+Stephen, posted in American Slavery, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, History, Museum, Scenic Drive

The Whitney Plantation is not the plantation to visit if you are interested in touring a beautiful antebellum mansion and being regaled with stories of a fabulously wealthy aristocratic southern family. The focus here is just the opposite. The Whitney Plantation tells the stories of enslaved African-Americans who toiled, suffered and died on plantations all across the South, prior to emancipation.

Slave labor powered the Southern economy from the early 1800s until the end of the Civil War (and to some extent beyond, as will see later in the post). In the years just before 1800 there were just under 20,000 enslaved Africans in Louisiana and several hundred enslaved Native Americans. Surprisingly, there were almost as many free people of color (16,000) in Louisiana at this time. When the Civil War commenced in 1860, the situation had dramatically changed. The were slightly over 330,000 enslaved Africans while the census of free people of color was almost unchanged (18,000).

Slave Pen — “Hot Box”

“One night master come in drunk an’ set at de table did his head lollin’ aroun’. I was waitin’ on de table, and he look up an’ see me. I was skeered, an’ dat made him awful mad. He called an overseer an’ tol’ him: ‘Take her out an’ beat some sense in her.’ I began to cry an’ run an’ run in de night; but finally I run back by de quarters an’ heard mammy calling’ me. I went in, an’ right away day come for me. A horse was stand-in’ in front of de house, an’ I was took dat, very night to Richmon’ an’ sold to a speculator ag’in. I never seed my mammy any more.” Delia Garlic, Louisiana Slave*

The WP is one of several plantations that sat along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. This area was called the German Coast as many of the plantation owning families in this area were originally from Germany.

The Big House

The WP was owned by a German family, the Haydels, who owned the plantation for 110 years. The enslaved individuals on this plantation numbered around 130 adults and children at any one time, the majority of whom were from West Africa.

The enslaved individuals built the plantation for their owners. They cleared all the fields in order to farm sugar cane, rice and indigo. They felled the trees and built the Big House along with all of the outbuildings and their own quarters.

The kitchen pictured above was built in the mid-1800s. All of the cooking for the plantation owners was done in this location away from the Big House. This was common on plantations so as to keep the heat, smoke and smells away from the owners’ living quarters. It is in kitchens such as this one that you will find the origins of what is now Creole food as the kitchen slaves cooked using their African recipes, such as gumbo, couscous and jambalaya. Also, don’t forget that okra, yams and watermelon also were brought from Africa and subsequently grew here in popularity and in abundance.

There were 22 slave cabins at WP. Today seven cabin remain. Entire families or groups of enslaved people lived in this one room (many families were separated as slaves were bought, sold or died from illness.) Multiple people shared a single bed while many of the slaves had to sleep on the floor or wooden pallets. These cabins offered very little protection from the extreme heat of the summer or the cold during the winter months.

The typical workday was from sunrise to sunset — what was commonly known as “can’t see to can’t see”. Children were typically viewed as adults by age ten and accordingly sent to the fields to work along side the adults.

Pictured above and below are the sugar kettles used to boil and reduce the sugar cane to create sugar and molasses. Beginning in October the enslaved individuals worked in shifts around the clock, every day of the week, until all of the sugar cane was cut, ground and refined into sugar and molasses. As there was no electricity, the enslaved individuals worked by candlelight throughout the night. Many enslaved individuals were injured, some by snakes in the fields and others during the grinding and boiling process, and working by candlelight added to the likelihood of injury.

The WP grew two main crops, sugarcane, as mentioned above, and rice. Since these crops are harvested at different times of the year, the enslaved individuals had no down time. When you owned a plantation and treated humans as property – your machinery – it was a most productive environment and quite lucrative. Shameful.

The plantation Overseer was the person responsible for the day to day operation of the plantation. Plantation owners took great pains to avoid the dirty business of managing the enslaved workforce. The Overseer was a free white man who lived on the plantation.

Overseer’s House

The WP also utilized Slave Drivers. The Slave Drivers worked for the Overseer and were enslaved individuals themselves. The Slave Driver was charged with directly supervising the field gangs and was the person that usually administered physical punishment to workers not meeting standards and to runaways who were captured and returned to the plantation. Not surprisingly, Slave Drivers were usually despised by the other enslaved individuals on the plantation (and occasionally found dead in the fields).

“Take that old woman, poor old woman, carry in the peach orchard, and whipped her. You know, just tied her hands this way you know around the peach orchard tree. I remember that just as well – look like to me I can’t – and round the tree, and whipped her. And she couldn’t do nothin but just kick her feet, you know. Just kick her feet. But they just had her clothes off down to her waist you know. Just didn’t have her plum naked, but they had her clothes down to her waist. And every now and then they’d whup her again. And snuff a pipe out on her. Just snuff the pipe out on her.” Laura Smalley*

Considering the horrendous working and living conditions and the brutally violent punishments (torture) that were frequently inflicted upon the enslaved population of this and other plantations along the German Coast, it is not surprising that there were periodic revolts by the enslaved population.

German Coast Uprising Memorial

In 1811, enslaved individuals led by a Slave Driver (Charles Deslondes) from a nearby plantation on the German Coast led a revolt. The rebels marched from plantation to plantation (with the intent of killing the plantation owners) and enlisting more enslaved individuals. They were armed primarily with tools from the plantations and some weapons provide by Marroons. The number of rebels is not known for certain – estimates range from 200 to 500. It was definitely the largest revolt in the history of slavery in the United States.

Not surprisingly, the revolt was short lived. The rebels killed two white people during the revolt. Around 40 rebels were killed. Another 65 rebels were captured and went to trial in New Orleans. Also, not surprisingly, they were all found guilty. The rebels were then transported back to their respective plantations. There, the plantation owners executed and then decapitated the rebels in front of the enslaved population of each plantation. The plantation owners’ finishing touch was to put each head on a pike, where it was left to rot (see the photo above of the German Coast Uprising Memorial).

Antioch (Anti-Yoke) Baptist Church

“I don’t know about the church when they first start….you know….when I was a child, you know, they didn’t have no church you know, in no house, you know, they only had in the trees. Under trees, yes ma’am. Brush arbors. Just like you know you get a big ol’ tree and clean all out from under it and make a [unintelligible] and makes benches on it you know that would church.” Laura Smalley, Texas Slave*

Whitney Plantation Store – courtesy of Whitney Plantation

After emancipation, multiple generations of descendants of some enslaved individuals stayed on at WP as paid workers – living in the same quarters and working the fields until they were replaced by machinery. The plantation owners took advantage of this situation and opened a plantation store which operated similarly to the company stores commonly found in factory and mining towns. This system kept the workers in debt and on the plantation. The cost of food, clothing and medicine was deducted from paychecks – leaving the workers with little pay for their work and no ability to save. The last workers left this plantation in 1975!

“They stayed in debt, you know? You work for — you know, you’re working – whatever you’re working for he control it cause they had one store, that store right there, everybody go up in the one store so he got control of your living.” John Howard (born on the Whitney Plantation in 1961)

“When Mr. King was assassinated, all these stores they had, people had to put black ribbon so they don’t burn them. People said they got burn them stores down. They put black ribbon on all them stores so that they can let you know that they were for Martin Luther King.” Laurent Alexis*

Whitney Plantation Map – courtesy of Whitney Plantation

John Cummings, a successful trial lawyer from New Orleans, purchased the plantation in 1999 and over the next 15 years restored the plantation with his own funds. He opened the WP to the public in December of 2014. In 2019, Mr. Cummings donated the museum to a newly created non-profit organization to be maintained as a museum with a mission to educate the public on the history and long legacy of slavery in the South. Please find a link below which provides a profile of Mr. Cummings and his passion for this project.

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2016/0324/A-retired-lawyer-opens-first-US-slavery-museum-with-8.6-million-of-his-money

WP gives insight into some of the worst years in the history of the United States. It also unflinchingly provides a view into the life of enslaved individuals and thus unavoidably, the cruelty of the plantation owners and overseers. The WP presents all of this in a factual and objective manner – however, we found it hard to keep our emotions in check as we toured the plantation and gained a deeper understanding of what life was like as an enslaved individual.

We think the Whitney Plantation is a must visit in order to understand slavery and learn more about the human beings – the people – who were treated as expendable property by their owners. The WP is a short drive from New Orleans. Additionally, there is quite a bit more to see and experience that we have not covered – The Wall of Honor, Field of Angels and the sculptures – to cite a few. If you are going to be anywhere in the vicinity of New Orleans or Baton Rouge – please visit the plantation.

https://www.whitneyplantation.org

Be seeing you!

*Transcripts from recorded interviews with former enslaved individuals. The interviews were conducted as part of a Works Progress Administration project. Over 2000 former enslaved individuals were interviewed as part of this project.

ctsprinterlife: OTR 8.0 Mississippi Part 2

by Maria+Stephen, posted in American Slavery, Art, Art Museum, Biking, Civil Rights, History, Museum, road trip, Scenic Drive, Sportsmobile, sprinter van, street art, Street Art and Murals, Travel

Hattiesburg — a very brief history

After spending time in Louisianna we traveled north back into Mississippi to visit Hattiesburg. We were up in the air about visiting Hattiesburg but after a conversation with a former resident of Hattiesburg (that we met in Cleveland, Mississippi) we decided to invest a day and check out the town. Additionally, visiting Hattiesburg would provide an opportunity to ride the Longleaf Bike Trail.

Hattiesburg was founded in 1882 by William Hardy and named after his wife Hattie. The land that is now Hattiesburg became available after the Chicksaw and Choctaw peoples were forcibly removed under the Indian Removal Act which allowed the government to relocate the nations to land west of the Mississippi River.

The city thrived in its early days as part of the burgeoning lumber industry (Hattiesburg sits in the Pine Belt) and is known as the Hub City because of the confluence of rail lines running through the city. While the timber industry is not a major economic force today, the city is still a major rail hub with freight lines bisecting the city.

While Hattiesburg was not founded until well after the Civil War, the town nonetheless did its part to uphold the legacy of slavery and segregation. The Black residents of Hattiesburg were still largely unregistered to vote in 1962 due to the efforts of the municipal government to make it impossible for Blacks to qualify to vote. For more information about the Civil Rights Movement in Hattiesburg click on the link: https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hattiesburg-civil-rights-movement/

Hattiesburg — home of rock ‘n roll?

One facet of Hattiesburg that we were totally unaware of prior to our visit is the claim that Hattiesburg is the true home of Rock ’N Roll. Musicologists have traced the roots of the genre to the Graves brothers – Blind Roosevelt and Uaroy. The brothers started as Gospel singers but in 1936 joined with pianist Cooney Vaughn to form the Mississippi Jook Band. Two of their songs in particular are now viewed as very early Rock ’N Roll songs. These songs, Barbecue Bust and Dangerous Woman, were performed and recorded long before the genre was clearly defined and popular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pegm79r1zE

Today, many musicologists consider the roots of Rock ’N Roll began in the African American Churches in the South where the music was “rocking and reeling” and instruments other than the organ were used to accompany the singers (out of necessity as the congregations could not afford an organ). An excellent article on this subject: https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/visual-performing-arts/hattiesburg-birthplace-of-rock-n-roll/

Longleaf trail

The Longleaf Trail is a 45.5 mile paved rails-to-trails bikeway. The southern trailhead is in Hattiesburg and the trail runs in a northwest direction terminating in Prentis. We rode out and back on the southern half of the trail from Hattiesburg and the northern half of the trail from Sumral Station (west of Laurel).

Longleaf is a Hall of Fame trail and for good reason. The trail is paved, in excellent condition and passes through beautiful Southern scenery. Surprisingly, we encountered very few other riders on either of our rides. We highly recommend this trail. The round trip is 91 miles – beyond our current range – so we split the trail and enjoyed two rides.

The town

Laurel is not our ”home Town” but it could be!

Laurel was added to our intinary once we decided to visit Hattiesburg. If you are a fan of the HGTV show Home Town you may recognize Laurel as the small town where husband and wife Ben and Erin Napier help folks renovate local homes. As a result of the popularity of the show, the town has attracted many visitors and new residents.

We visited their retail store and woodworking shop while in town, but there were unfortunately no celebrity sightings. We can tell you their two stores are doing a brisk trade! Good for them – the couple has done a lot to help bring back this former lumber industry town.

We arrived in Laurel on the day of the annual crawfish festival. The festival runs from 11AM to 3PM – all you can eat for $15- Classic Low Country Boil – crawfish, sausage, potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn. Live music to boot. Now that is Southern Hospitality!

Laurel has more than the CrawFest and the TV show to offer. There are several excellent restaurants (The Loft….our favorite) and several neigborhoods with streets lined with live oaks and stately homes. Lastly, the former town library was converted and expanded into an art museum with a very nice collection of paintings and sculptures. We have included several photogrpahs of our favorite paintings at the end of this post.

William Hollingworth (1910-1944) The Mystery of a Southern Night, 1941, Oil on canvas
Charly Palmer (1960) Leadbelly c. 2012, Acrylic on canvas
Alfred Conteh (1975) Preme 2020, Acrylic and Atomized brass dust on canvas
John Winslow (1938) Painting in Marcella’s Studio 1982, Oil on canvas
Janet Fish (1938) Pink Scarf and Daffodils 2008, Oil on canvas

This post is our penultimate post on Mississippi as part of OTR 8.0. If you missed our previous posts you can find them at ctsprinterlife: OTR 8.0: Mississippi Part One and Ocean Springs, Mississippi at ontheroadwithmariastephen.net Our final post will cover our exploration of the Mississippi Delta.

Be seeing you!