Savannah Gray Brick, Likely Made on the Hermitage Plantation, 1820-1850

This brick was likely made on the Hermitage Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. The Hermitage was the first Savannah River plantation to turn a profit from industrial, rather than agricultural, pursuits--profit made possible by the labor of enslaved African Americans. In 1850, 201 enslaved workers provided the skills and manual labor required to make this industrial plantation a successful enterprise for owner Henry McAlpin.