Arcola Slave Quarters, Stone slave quarters in Loudoun County, United States
The Arcola Slave Quarters consist of two separate stone sections with central chimneys and multiple rooms built into a hillside below the main residence. The floors are dirt, and the structure shows how living spaces were arranged on this early 19th-century property.
The buildings were constructed around 1800 on the Lewis plantation to house enslaved people whose population grew across generations. After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people and their descendants continued to occupy it as tenant farmers until the property changed ownership decades later.
The stone building reflects how people lived and worked on this property during slavery and the years that followed. Walking through it offers a direct sense of the cramped conditions and daily hardships residents faced.
The structure sits at its original location next to a 1930s house that replaced the original plantation residence. Plan to walk the grounds carefully to take in the layout and understand how the buildings relate to each other on the property.
Stone construction was uncommon for this type of building, as most similar structures were made of wood. This unusual choice preserved the buildings far better than wooden alternatives, making them one of the few surviving examples from this period.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
