Belvoir, a striking and elegant brick historic manor house is known for its association with the colonial elite and the landed gentry, the wealthy and privileged in society. A marker proclaims its role in the Revolutionary War when General's Washington and Lafayette, encamped with their troops here on their way to win the battle of Yorktown. Others know it as the summer home to Francis Scott Key or as the manor country home to Dr. Upton Scott in the 18th century. But the most compelling story of Belvoir is about a young woman named Cinderella, who in the late 1840s, was enslaved here.
A renewed interest in her story, first discovered by Chris Haley, research director for the Maryland State Archives’ Legacy of Slavery program came to light when in 2015, archaeologists discovered the location of a massive stone slave barracks on the Belvoir property (watch the video below to see a digital, 3-D reconstruction of the barracks).
Cinderella was the wife of Abraham Brogden, a freedman who worked at another plantation nearby. In December 1848, when Abraham learned that Cinderella was to be sold out of the area to pay off a debt, the couple fled to Baltimore. Caught before the runaway-slave ad even hit the newspaper, Abraham was incarcerated for “enticing a slave to run away.” The story ends as tragically as it started. Cinderella was returned to enslavement at Belvoir while her husband began serving a three year sentence. Never to be reunited, sometime before Abraham's release from prison, Cinderella passed away from unknown causes.
Watch the video below to see a documentary on historic Belvoir, developed by Rockbridge Academy and ADG Creative (Produced by Steven Fischer. Narrated by Jan Orazem. Executive Producer, Jeff Antkowiak).