“Primed with Flip and Toddy”

The commoditization and manufacture of rum has been a major industry in the Caribbean since the inception of the plantation as a means of amplified production to fill consumer needs. Still houses can be analysed to reflect the major economic processes active in the wider Atlantic theater. Betty’s Hope is a perfect example of the British microcosm of production, displaying themes which become archetypal within the socio-economic model of the British Caribbean and wider Atlantic world, during the historic period. These themes, exampled by the impact of that technology in the form of industrial steam manufacture, are dramatically displayed within the documentary survey and archaeology of the still house.

Food Provisioning at Betty’s Hope Plantation, 1780s–1850s

Throughout the colonial period, the occupants of the Betty’s Hope site relied a complex provisioning networks to obtain edible goods, tableware, and other necessities not only from the British Metropole and from local producers in Antigua but also from neighboring islands, including Guadeloupe, and from continental America. In this context, Betty’s Hope residents called upon food production and convivial hospitality were used to negotiate and stabilize their position within Antiguan society, both under slavery and after Emancipation (1834), under the particular constraints of absentee ownership and colonial trade regulations. The chapter combined the analysis of material cultural recovered at Betty’s Hope plantation with a close reading of correspondence relating to provisioning on the estate, to illustrate the enduring presence of informal trade, customary reciprocity, smuggling and illicit transactions on the estate throughout the nineteenth century.

Barbuda and the Provisioning of the Codrington Estates on Antigua

For most of the colonial period, the Codrington family had exclusive control over the island of Barbuda. Deploying the labor of enslaved African workers, they developed the island into an important source of food and other supplies to provision their sugar plantations on nearby Antigua. This chapter examines how Barbuda’s natural resources, built landscape, and labor system were all directed toward that purpose. In particular, it compares the Codringtons’ management strategies with those of Samuel Martin and William Byam, who sub-leased the island from 1746 to 1761. In addition, Anderson argues that enslaved people on Barbuda experienced a unique form of bondage geared toward herding and cultivation of food crops rather than sugar production. It also examines how the particular environmental conditions on Barbuda both offered opportunities and presented challenges for the people lived and worked there.

Reconstructing a History of Plantation Spaces at Betty’s Hope

Arguments have been made that the decline in Antigua’s sugar production was a byproduct of poor land management practices, depletion of soils, and outdated agricultural techniques and technology. Recent work at Betty’s Hope suggests that not all plantations were susceptible to poor decision-making and that some plantations may have superseded social-ecological constraints despite the sugar industry’s inevitable decline. This chapter by Cory Look focuses on key aspects of land-use and landscape change at Betty’s Hope, particularly during the eighteenth century, when the plantation experienced rapid growth and economic prosperity. Look discusses the impact on enslaved Africans through examination of changes to slave quarter spaces and provisioning grounds by managers of local resources. The analysis was possible through remote sensing and multiple surveys conducted over ten field seasons.

Afterword

The afterword chronicles the last days of Betty’s Hope plantation. The abolition of slavery in 1807 emboldened actions of stance and rebellion by the enslaved in the days leading up to emancipation on August 1, 1834. As Afro-Antiguans were freed, a new and uncertain future upended the old established order, displacing Afro-Antiguans who sought new opportunities. Others less fortunate remained on plantations as paid labor during acute labor shortages. This resulted in new forms of pseudo-peonage by plantation managers, and the influx of foreign workers. The declining market for Caribbean sugar finally forced consolidation on Antigua, as Betty’s Hope and other plantations sent their sugar to a central processing sugar factory, which closed its doors in the early 1970s.

Using UAVs to Manage Archaeological Heritage

This chapter explores the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) for the use of archaeological investigations and heritage management at the historic sugar plantation of Betty’s Hope, Antigua. While the acquisition of low flying aerial imagery, such as kite photography, has been common practice within archaeological research, recent software innovations coupling photogrammetry and UAV technologies are providing new tools for exploration. Two different approaches for UAV acquisition are explored in this chapter: the first for use within archaeological excavations and the second for use at studying the landscape. Both have particular implications for heritage management, as the use of structure from motion (SfM) methodology coupled with aerial imagery can be used to produce an accurate 3D surface model of the site that is akin to site scanners and LiDAR technology. The important differences and limitations to these technologies are discussed.

Chemical Sourcing of Afro-Antiguan Ware from Betty’s Hope Plantation

This chapter discusses Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) for Afro-Antiguan and industrial ceramics excavated at Betty’s Hope plantation. Chemical analysis of the ceramics from Betty’s Hope shows that the enslaved potters of the plantation had a high degree of agency with regard to the ceramic industry. Additionally, the potters had complete control over all aspects of the production from sourcing the clay to utilizing the ceramics. While the redwares examined mostly came from an external source and originally were thought to be industrial and related to sugar production, some of them were produced locally at Betty’s Hope. The locally produced redwares could be industrial but also could represent an effort to create a unique community identity.

Enslaved Life at Betty’s Hope

Chapter 10 investigates the life of enslaved Africans at Betty’s Hope who numbered in the hundreds for this large plantation. Excavations of the slaved quarters in 2014 and 2015 revealed information about slave housing, subsistence, and lifeways. The archaeology and archival records support a life under difficult conditions, with few options to exercise any agency. Yet evidence of agency is manifest in the recovery of hundreds of pieces of Afro-Antiguan wares, as well as ceramic game tokens, repurposed bottle glass, a musket ball converted into a fishing weight, and four cowrie shells probably used as a form of currency or talismans. The practice of Obeah is briefly discussed as an act of cultural resistance among those enslaved at Betty’s Hope.

The Landscape Legacies of Sugar and Rum

The environmental legacies of sugarcane cultivation at Betty’s Hope were created over a period of three hundred years and involved massive transformations to the landscape. In this chapter, erosion/productivity simulation is used to generate a baseline model of change over time and then historical records and geoarchaeological analysis of soils are used to evaluate the model. It is concluded that contemporary soil degradation at Betty’s Hope is a mosaic of effects including long-term sugarcane monocropping as well as the recent cessation of agriculture, which caused rapid destabilization of already vulnerable landscapes. Using an historical ecology framework, this research demonstrates the importance of long-term perspectives for understanding soil health.

A Scenic Route to Interpretation

Betty’s Hope is important and multifaceted in its historical and social significance related to the production and economy of sugar, the labor and life of enslaved Africans and their descendants, and the Codringtons, an influential family in the British Caribbean. However, tourism has long surpassed sugar as Antigua’s primary economic driver, such that today Betty’s Hope is a cultural heritage tourism site. An interpretive exhibition in the Visitors Center at Betty’s Hope and a smaller exhibit within the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda in St. Johns aid in the fulfilment of ethical responsibilities of those who steward the cultural heritage resources of both Betty’s Hope and Antigua. The recent renewal and installation of these exhibits constitute an important component of cultural heritage management. At the crossroads of best practices in museology and cultural heritage management, by way of accountability and accessibility, the final destination is interpretation, serving both local Antiguans and international travelers while fulfilling stewardship responsibilities, particularly in view of contested historical narratives of a colonial past.