History

Historic Stagville preserves a small fraction of the plantation holdings of the Bennehan and Cameron families. From 1771 to 1865, the Bennehan and Cameron families profited from the forced labor of enslaved Africans and African Americans on this land. By the 1860s, the Cameron heirs enslaved over 1,000 people and controlled over 30,000 acres of land. This plantation was one of the largest in North Carolina. Stagville and the Horton Grove quarters are one of the oldest sections of this vast plantation complex. 

The site has been preserved as state property since 1976, including a Bennehan family house (c. 1799), four slave dwellings at Horton Grove (c. 1851), and a massive timber-framed barn (c. 1860). Other significant features include an excavated foundation of an enslaved family's house, the Bennehan family cemetery, and the foundation of a plantation kitchen.

Once one of the largest plantations in North Carolina, Historic Stagville now bears witness to the history of slavery.  A visit to Stagville reveals intertwined stories of bondage and wealth, injustice and resistance, slavery and freedom. 

Additional Resources

Want to learn more about Stagville's history? These books are available online, at our site, or at your local library.

Anderson, Jean Bradley. Piedmont Plantation. A detailed history of the Bennehan and Cameron families, including a chapter focused on enslaved African Americans sourced from family letters and business records. 

Gutman, Herbert G. The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom. This book features family history and transcripts of enslaved people's names from the records of the Bennehan and Cameron plantations.

Nathans, Sydney. To Free a Family: The Journey of Mary Walker. A moving biography of Mary Walker, an enslaved woman who was owned by the Cameron family, escaped from slavery, and fought for her family's freedom.

Nathans, Sydney. A Mind to Stay: White Plantation, Black Homeland. A profile of the enslaved Hargress/Hargris family forced to go to a Cameron cotton plantation in Alabama, and the free community they built there after emancipation. 

Nathans, Sydney. Freedom's Mirage. A biography of Virgil Bennehan, born enslaved at Stagville and manumitted in 1847. 

McDaniel, George. Kin and Community. Oral history, family trees, and photographs of African American families who lived and worked at Stagville after the Civil War. Out of print.