The Field Quarter

Southern plantations and large farms segregated the homes of agricultural slaves in an area the planters called the Field Quarter. Pamplin Historical Park has recreated elements of a typical field quarter to illustrate aspects of slave life and history in the antebellum South.

Visitors will find reconstructed dwellings, antique livestock breeds, a garden, and a modern museum exhibit that focuses on presenting a candid picture of slavery in America on the eve of the Civil War.

Inside one of the cabins is a sit-down theatre that features a video entitled “Slavery in America: Viewpoints of the 1850s.” The video introduces visitors to six fictional characters of that decade who speak frankly about their opinion of slavery. Adjacent to the Field Quarter, demonstration fields illustrate the growing of Virginia’s most popular crops in the years before the Civil War such as tobacco, wheat, and corn.