The Royall House and Slave Quarters: A Physical Juxtaposition of New England Race and Economic Issues

While house museums, often serve as centers of education, and as a way from which a community can safeguard architectural relics of a bygone era, house museums also serve as a physical representation of a community’s past, and as a symbol for what that past once was.  Such historic symbols can often be a source of pride in one’s heritage and cultural, these symbols can also represent a time from which the social and cultural makeup were quite different from that of the modern era. The Royall House and Slave Quarters, located by the Mystic River in Medford, Massachusetts, is a historical house museum that represents two parallel cultures that existed in eighteenth-century Massachusetts, a history represented by two structures which comprise this multi-structured house museum. 

The first of these two structures is the Georgian-style mansion of the Royall family, a prominent family of merchants involved in the rum and sugar trade.  While the second structure located immediately next to this elegant mansion, is the Slave Quarters, reserved for the slaves owned by the Royall family, and is a structure which also represented an entirely different chapter of eighteenth-century New England history from that of its neighboring structure. 

Royall House (left), Slave Quarters (right). Photo Courtesy of Lorenzo Deagle

It is due to the close proximity of these two structures, both of which represent two different classes of people who occupied different socio-economic and racial classes, that has compelled the citizens of Medford to preserve them for educational and historical purposes.  A mission which led to the formation of The Royall House Association, who in addition to serving as the stewards of these structures, have constructed a mission statement in which they assert their objective to explore, “the meanings of freedom and Independence before, during and since the American Revolution, in the context of a wealthy Loyalists and enslaved Africans.”[1]

Obtained by the Bradlee Fulton chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, The Royall House and Slave Quarters consists of the “Great House,” a portions originally constructed in 1637 by Governor John Winthrop following the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, this mansion would be acquired by Isaac Royall Sr. in 1732, who would continue the renovations after formally moving in 1737 until his death in 1739.[2]  Isaac Royall Sr. at the age of 28 established his first sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Antigua, from which he became a prominent merchant in not just the sugar trade, but also in the lucrative production of rum which utilizes the molasses byproduct from sugar production, as well as the African slave trade of which the sugar and rum industries relied heavily on for a labor source.[3] 

Royall House. Photo Courtesy of Lorenzo Deagle

While the Royall House represents the affluence and success of Isaac Royal Sr. as a successful merchant, the Slave Quarters, a multipurpose building located directly next to the Royall mansion, the Slave Quarters, adds value to this house museum not just as one of only a handful of examples of slave structures in the New England area, but also as a visual representation of the different life styles, foodways, leisure activities and physical spaces that were occupied by slaves and their masters.  Built initially in 1732, the Slave Quarters proved to be a structure of vital importance as it would serve as the housing for nearly twenty-seven African slave brought to Massachusetts by Isaac Royall Sr. and his son Isaac Royall Jr., following a hasty exit by the Royall family from the island of Antigua due to an attempted slave uprising on the island, which resulted in the execution of the Royall family’s slave overseer Hector, for his involvement in the failed uprising.[4] 

Slave Quarters. Photo Courtesy of Lorenzo Deagle

In addition to placing these two building in the proper historical context, the Royall House Association through the use of lectures and the use of archaeological artifacts are attempting to emphasize the invaluable significance of the property as an archaeological site.   As the result of findings obtained during archaeological digs conducted at the site from 1999 to 2001, the archaeological context of the site has assisted in the understanding of slave-master relations in eighteenth century New England. An exhibits of great interest have also been produced as the result of artifacts collected near the Slave Quarters, resulting in a diverse collection of ceramic shards and items discarded by members of the Royall family, which were then often appropriated by their slaves and converted into game pieces and jewelry.[5] 

Overall, this house museum sheds light on a specific niche of New England history, which is of vital importance with regard to the racial and economic issues which permeated eighteenth century New England. The Royall House and Slave quarters serve as a invaluable asset, serving as an example of a New England household which, “had six more slaves than any other household in the town [Medford]- twelve in all in 1754.”[6]   A unique circumstance from which historian Alexandra A. Chan concluded that the Royall House and Slave Quarter, in the case of New England slavery, serves as a litmus test from which she concluded that, “it was more likely that a Massachusetts slave would skilled in trades of the evolving marketplace than a Deep South slave would.”[7]

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[1] The Royall House and Slave Quarters, “About Us: Mission.” The Royall House Association, http://www.royallhouse.org/ (accessed October 6, 2015).

[2]  The Royall House and Slave Quarters, “The Isaac Royall House,” signs for self-guided tour of grounds, Medford Historical Society, 1991.

[3] The Royall House and Slave Quarters, “Learn: The Royalls.” The Royall House Association, http://www.royallhouse.org/ (accessed October 6, 2015).

[4]Janet Halley, “My Isaac Royall Legacy.” 24 Harvard. BlackLetter Law Journal. (2008): 117-131, http://heinonline.org (accessed October 6, 2015), 120.

[5] The Royall House and Slave Quarters, “The Property/The Royalls.” The Royall House Association, http://www.royallhouse.org/ (accessed October 6, 2015).

[6] Halley, “My Isaac Royall Legacy,” 119.

[7] Ibid., 123.