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Buildings t
and "Negro Quarter"
The only surviving evidence for the "Negro quarter"
is four subfloor pits and possibly three postholes. Many lines
of evidence point towards the pits being a part of the 17 by 34
foot, two celled quarter that Jefferson described in his ca. 1776-78
plan for Mulberry Row. 
First,
the material contained within the features suggest that a structure
encompassed all four pits. High amounts of ash and charcoal, and
the heating of the cellars' clay sidewall to a brick-hard consistency
suggest that the two northern pits were filled as the result of
the collapse of a still burning building. Preserved mud chinking
from both lathing and logs of varying diameters support this conclusion.
Second the four pits are not aligned along the final orientation
of Mulberry Row. This suggests that the structure that they were
a part of was constructed prior to Mulberry Row's completion in
the early 1780s. Stratigraphically, the pits were also the earliest
features at the site, reinforcing this interpretation. Finally,
by using distances provided by the ca. 1776-78 plan of Mulberry
Row, the approximate position of the 17 by 34 foot "Negro
Quarter" was reestablished. Its center point rests in the
space between the four subfloor pits, suggesting that the cellars
pairs, east and west, conform to Jefferson's plan of two cells
with a central chimney.
The
surviving structural evidence for building t was minimal. Only
a single sub floor pit, measuring 3 by 3.5 feet was found within
the map predicted location for the dwelling. The artifact assemblage
is similar to what was found in the building s cellar, suggesting
contemporaneity.
Using both documents and archaeological evidence we see an architectural pattern emerging at Monticello. Slave quarters constructed prior to 1780 (building o, "Negro quarter") are larger than their later counterparts (building l, r, s, and t). Further, we see a decline in the number of subfloor pits contained within each building. This pattern mimics that of the Chesapeake region as a whole -- in the late eighteenth century there is a shift from large two-room structures to smaller one-room dwellings. Insight into a possible explanation for this shift can be found at the following research page.