A Story to Tell

        Port Royal, TN has quite the story to tell. At least, I think it does. But I may be biased a bit. Port Royal is my home and I have been fortunate to call it that for close to 15 years. About 45 years ago, my grandparents purchased an old plantation home there and my father spent the latter part of his childhood there. This house became an important fixture of many of my childhood memories. In fact, I still live there today. But more about that later. A decade ago this year I began my career in TN State Parks at Port Royal State Historic Park. This allowed me the time and setting to become immersed in the stories of the area. So, in a way, I've been intertwined with Port Royal my entire life and now even my own personal story is part of the bigger story of Port Royal.
Over the past 15 years I have explored nearly every square inch of the area. I've presented hundreds of programs to park visitors. I've researched and found settlers forts, found remains of early 19th century flatboats, protected native American graves, and documented historic houses. I've stood with Cherokee people as they walked on a restored segment of the Trail of Tears for the first time since removal. I've crawled under houses and photographed hewn logs, documented prehistoric Native sites, and written lots on all of the above. I've tackled many subjects of Port Royal's history...except one.

Slavery.

The enslavement of people by other people.

Eliza Norfleet Gaines Williams, former slave on the Gaines Plantation.

I'm not gonna lie. I think part of me may have deliberately not explored slavery. It's uncomfortable. Its gross. Sure, I studied it in the survey classes in college and it factors heavily into any understanding of the early (or current) American South but I've never taken the time to let it be real to me. But it certainly was real and it happened to real people. I have chosen to seek out the reality of this and to make it real. Down the road, I'll write about a moment that this began to come to fruition.

Regardless, it's time. Is time to tell this story of how enslaved people were used to make Port Royal succeed as an early trade center. It's time to tell the story of how families were torn apart and of how identities were forged. Its time to find forgotten grave markers in the woods with rarely more than a crude limestone marker. I'm going to be focusing on the enslaved people who lived at the Gaines plantation in Port Royal - my home today. I may get off on a tangent or two but this group of people will be the central theme. Also - please comment! I'm by no means an expert and need all the help I can get.

So, Port Royal has a story to tell and its not just White. Or Red. It's also Black.