A corner of Florida, part 3

After some fresh air and sunshine on Little Talbot Island, it was time for some history and culture.

Just a few miles further along Highway 1A, we found Kingsley Plantation, which has the oldest plantation house still standing in Florida, dating back to 1814.

Don't come expecting Tara from Gone With the Wind. The house is a small, white clapboard construction with no grand columns or ballrooms. During our visit the house was closed to visitors because of ongoing structural work, but there were exhibits in the outbuildings scattered around the main house.

The grounds themselves were a lovely spot for a stroll through the palm trees with wide-ranging views over the river.

A short walk from the house are the remains of the slave quarters. The original owner treated his slave workers as best he could afford. This was not surprising as he had freed one, married her and had four children with her.

Whereas slaves eleswhere were being driven to exhaustion in the cotton fields by a gangmaster, here the slaves were given a task each day and on completion of this task (say, building a certain number of barrels) they were free to do as they liked the rest of the day.

All that remains of the slave quarters are their thick walls made from brick and tabby, a type of cement made from crushed sea shells.

Some historians have pointed out that it is significant the walls remain in such good condition and not just because of their sturdy construction. After emancipation, the freed men destroyed most slave quarters, but here they remained lived in until the 1890s.

Coated in whitewash, they seemed more like the adobe ruins of a New Mexico pueblo.