The goal of Joe McGill's Slave Dwelling Project is to remind people of an important part of American history by sleeping in remaining slave quarters across the country. With 31 overnight visits to slave quarters, the project came to Greenwich, Connecticut in March. McGill, a program officer with the National Trust for Historic Properties, is involved in saving and restoring old buildings. He noticed that little attention was paid to what was behind the facades of plantation homes. "You can see the mansion, very seldom do you see those outbuildings," he said. "Very seldom do you get the stories attached to those outbuildings and the people who lived in those outbuildings and the people who made those plantations possible. It was what is not there that inspired me to do this."

Along with Joe McGill and two others, writer and historian Grant Hayter-Menzies slept in the Bush-Holley House attic as well. Grant, a descendant of Cypress Cemetery's Nathaniel Lynde, came to Old Saybrook the day before the Greenwich stay to visit the grave of Lynde in Cypress Cemetery. During his visit, his interest was grabbed by the graves of Rose and Phyllis Jackson (photo at left), slaves owned by General William Hart in the 1800's. Rose, who's epitath suggests that she was greatly loved by the Harts, would have lived in the room over the kitchen in the Hart House - the slave quarters as described by the Old Saybrook Historic Society.

Then, the wheels started turning. Grant wondered if McGill's Slave Dwelling Project could come to Old Saybrook and to the historical society's General William Hart House on Main Street. Sleeping overnight in the same room as Rose, Phyllis and the other slaves owned by the Harts would be a way to honor those who served the Harts. So, the question was posed to the Old Saybrook Historical Society to see if the Project could come to Old Saybrook in the same way that it celebrated the slaves who likely lived in the Bush-Holley House in Greenwich.

The interesting thing about Rose and the Harts was that she was given her freedom in 1849 and remained with the Harts until her death in 1878. There was obviously much love and affection between them. A nagging question remained: why weren't Rose and Phyllis buried with the Harts, who were buried in another part of Cypress?

For write-ups of the experience by the four participants of the Greenwich Slave Dwelling Project, click here.

View of South Cove from the Newly Expanded Section