. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. The young woman alluded only twice to Somerset blacks — once to the slaves who dug the 6-mile canal con- necting Lake Phelps to the Scupper- nong River and once to "hired girls" who kept the house, a sanitized refer- ence to the enslaved people that were the lifeblood of this once 100,000-acre farm. Redford recalls the tour of the 14- room mansion, built in 1830, as unre- markable, and the state of the visitors' center, lamentable. Buzzing flies and two drab pictures of Collins and his wife kept
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. The young woman alluded only twice to Somerset blacks — once to the slaves who dug the 6-mile canal con- necting Lake Phelps to the Scupper- nong River and once to "hired girls" who kept the house, a sanitized refer- ence to the enslaved people that were the lifeblood of this once 100,000-acre farm. Redford recalls the tour of the 14- room mansion, built in 1830, as unre- markable, and the state of the visitors' center, lamentable. Buzzing flies and two drab pictures of Collins and his wife kept vigil in the dusty visitors' cen- ter. Known as the Colony House, this two-story building provided overnight lodging when Somerset was still an absentee-owner farm in the late 1700s. The outbuildings such as the kitchen and smokehouse were mere storage bins. Trees and tangled under- growth obscured the lake. And in a clearing west of the mansion, one lonely wooden sign commemorated 26 disappeared slave cabins. Almost a decade later, Somerset is in a striking metamorphosis. It began with the culmination of Redford's genealogy, which not only included her own direct maternal line, but 20 other families that made up Somerset's slave community. She celebrated in grand style, with a homecoming of slave descendants — as well as Collins heirs — at the site in September 1986. Redford, then- Gov. Jim Martin and 120 oak trees cinched with yellow ribbon wel- comed Alex Haley, national media and nearly 2,000 kinfolk from across the country to the commemoration of Somerset's roots. Redford was hired as program Scott D. Taylor. Dorothy Redford watches Virginia fifth-graders dip candles. specialist the following year, and Somerset began to emerge from its cocoon. With the help of then-legisla- tor Howard B. Chapin, she cleared the growth from the lakeshore. The outbuildings — including the kitchen, laundry and salting house — were cleaned, furnished and opened to the public. Books b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
