Name/Title
BrickEntry/Object ID
2024.10.1Description
Rectangular red-brown brick. There are little to no inclusions in the brick, but it has several nicks and incised lines, as well as indents from fingers.Context
Produced for Headquarters Plantation (later renamed Kensington Plantation) near Eastover and bearing the fingerprints of its maker, this brick was likely made by one of the many skilled laborers enslaved by the Singleton family to plane the cypress and pine lumber, shape the bricks, mix the plaster, and forge the ironwork used in the site's construction. Built between 1851 and 1854 for Colonel Richard Singleton (1776–1852) and briefly managed by his son Matthew Richard Singleton (1817–1854), the mansion at Headquarters was ultimately controlled by Matthew's widow, Martha Rutledge Kinloch Singleton (1818–1892), in trust for her three children.
In 1850, under Richard and Matthew’s management, the Singleton family enslaved 281 men, women, and children at the site and enslaved many more people on ten plantations spanning Richland, Orangeburg, and Sumter counties. Ninety-seven of these individuals, including Jacob Stroyer (1849–1908), were age ten or younger at the time. By 1860, Martha increased the value of Kensington Plantation and expanded her enslaved labor force to 465 women, men, and children.
After the Civil War, Martha Singleton and her descendants continued to rely on Black laborers and lived on the plantation until 1910. Meanwhile, Stroyer attended schools in Columbia and Charleston before moving to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1870. He later became a licensed minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (often called the AME Church) and penned a biography, "My Life in the South," describing the abuse he suffered at Kensington as a child jockey and carpenter.
Kensington Mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and restored by Union Camp (later International Paper Company and Sylvamo) in the early 1980s.Dimensions
Height
2-1/4 inWidth
3-1/4 inLength
8-3/4 in
