The western part of Virginia which became West Virginia was settled in two directions, north to south from Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey and from east to west from eastern Virginia and North Carolina. The earliest arrival of enslaved people was in the counties of the Shenandoah Valley, where prominent Virginia families built houses and plantations. The earliest recorded slave presence was about 1748 in Hampshire County on the estate of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, which included 150 enslaved people.Maxwell, Hu, History of Hampshire County, West Virginia, pg. 397 By the early 19th century, slavery had spread to the Ohio River up to the northern panhandle.
The beginning of slavery
Early settlers of property tended to recreate the familiar structures of eastern Virginia, building Georgian and Federal homes on large estates. The counties of the eastern panhandle, especially Jefferson and Berkeley, were the most reminiscent of eastern Virginia. Many prominent families, such as the Washingtons, Fairfaxes, and Lees, had properties here. In 1817 Col. John Fairfax of Preston County began the construction of his mansion, Fairfax Manor, with the aid of his sons and 30 enslaved people. The old log homes on the estate, formerly the residences of Col. Fairfax and his family, became the slave quarters.Morton, Oren F., A History of Preston County, West Virginia, Vol. 2, pg. 634 In 1836 David Gibson began construction of Sycamore Dale in Romney, Hampshire County, with the aid of 100 enslaved people.
News of Ebenezer Zane's settlement near present-day Wheeling and the prospect of cheap and fertile land drew new settlers from as far away as New England. They would sometimes purchase enslaved people in Maryland and northern Virginia on their way to the Kanawha and Ohio River valleys. Large clearing of lands began after 1790. New settlers also moved into these areas from eastern Virginia and North Carolina.Ambler, Charles H., Sectionalism in Virginia, 1778–1861, 1910, pg. 45 In the early 19th century new settlers on their way to the Missouri territory would pass through the Kanawha Valley to the Ohio River and often remained there, attracted by the low cost of land and money made by leasing the people they enslaved to the local saltmakers.Ambler, Sectionalism, pg. 109
In 1800 Harman Blennerhassett built a large Palladian home on Belpre Island, now called Blennerhassett Island, on the Ohio River near Parkersburg.Sullivan, Ken (ed.), The West Virginia Encyclopedia, 2006, pgs. 65–66. Similar structures and accompanying slaves soon spread along the Ohio River up to the northern panhandle.Chambers, S. Allen, Jr., Buildings of West Virginia, 2004 pg. 272 In 1814 Zadok Cramer wrote of his travels on the Ohio River in the Western Gleaner: Buildings of WV, pg. 234There is a plain contrast between the different sides of the river, arising from slavery being forbid on one, and tolerated on the other ... On the Virginia side, there were some good houses at remote distances from each other but accompanied by the negro quarters. On the other side neat cottages and comfortable cabins were to be seen at every little remove along the river ...Wheeling was the largest city in western Virginia and the fourth largest city in Virginia, poised northward between Ohio and Pennsylvania. The number of enslaved people in the northern panhandle was comparatively small, reaching 247 in the 4 counties by 1850. One of West Virginia's northernmost plantations was Shepherd Hall, a Federal house built in 1798 by Moses Shepherd, Buildings of WV, pg 370 which had slave quarters, its own mill and tannery. In her visit to the United States in 1829, Frances Trollope found in Wheeling "all that sedulous attention which in this country distinguishes a slave state".Trollope, Frances, Domestic Manners of the Americans, 1927, pgs. 153–54 The Wheeling newspapers criticized the activities of Ohio humane societies and their support for runaway slaves.Ambler, Sectionalism, pg. 1110 The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, until purchased by Republican Archibald Campbell in 1856, routinely printed articles defending slavery and attacking abolitionism.Henwood, Dawn, Slaveries 'in the Borders', Rebecca Harding Davis's 'Life in the Iron Mills' in Its Southern Context, The Mississippi Quarterly, Fall 1999 After his acquisition of the paper, Campbell printed moderate attacks on slavery, keeping just short of breaking Virginia's laws restricting abolition propaganda. Wheeling's most noted writer of the period, Rebecca Harding Davis, explained Wheeling's unusual position-"We occupied the place of Hawthorne's unfortunate man who saw both sides."Davis, Rebecca Harding, Bits of Gossip, 1904, pg. 109.
Wheeling became a major regional hub for hiring or selling enslaved people to the local salt industry and to markets in the lower south.Dunaway, The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003, pgs. 21–22 Weekly slave auctions were held there and also in Charleston. When enslaved people were part of an estate, auctions were usually held at the county courthouse.Haymond, Henry, History of Harrison County, 1910, pg. 302 In 1835 a large auction was held in Charlestown, Jefferson County. One male slave sold for $1200, a woman and four children for $1950,Bushong, Millard K., A History of Jefferson County, West Virginia, 1719–1940 the modern equivalent of $30,000 and $49,000 respectively. Although slave owners were a minority in West Virginia, they owned a higher proportion of land and wealth and often held public office in the county and state, where they could adapt public policy to their interests.Dunaway, The African-American Family ... , pg. 10
Occupations
By 1860 the use of slave labor in West Virginia was about 48% in agriculture, 16% in commerce, 21% in industry and 15% in mixed occupations.Wilma A. Dunaway, Slavery and Emancipation in the Mountain South; Sources, Evidence and Methods, Virginia Tech, Online Archives, Table 3.1, Part B
Agriculture Farming in West Virginia produced about twice as much grain and livestock than was needed for subsistence, with one in ten farm workers being a slave.Dunaway, Slavery in the American Mountain South, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003, pgs. 50–51 Women worked in the fields along with the men, sometimes acting as drovers, supervisors and performing general maintenance, such as cutting fence rails. Rather than depending on overseers, tasks would be assigned for daily or weekly completion.Dunaway, Slavery ..., pg.55 Most enslaved people engaged in agriculture were to be found on farms with less than 10 slaves, where the owners often worked in the fields as well. In wealthier households enslaved people would be used for domestic duties and as servants.Haymond, Henry, History of Harrison County, 1910, pg. 301
Extraction and industry Salt was one of the first exports from West Virginia. By 1828 sixty-five wells along the Kanawha River produced 787,000 bushels of salt per year, and by 1835 the industry used the labor of nearly 3,000 men, mostly enslaved people. Much of Charleston's growth was a result of this resource. By 1852 a yearly fleet of 400 flatboats moved three million bushels of salt to markets south and midwest. The growth of the salt industry also resulted in exploitation of lumber, coal and gas resources, with increased use of slave labor. By 1860, however, salt production was in decline, with only 14 wells located in the counties of Kanawha, Mason, Marion and Mercer. Kanawha County wells used 63% of all male and 29% of all female enslaved people in the county. Slaves could be hired for half the cost of free workers, and required less supervision.Dunaway, Slavery ... , pgs. 117–119 Living conditions for the enslaved people were unsanitary, and outbreaks of cholera often occurred. In 1844 one hundred enslaved people died over a three-month period from cholera.Dunaway, The African-American Family ... , pgs. 93–94 The actual number of enslaved people in the Kanwaha Valley exceeded the stated census numbers due to the shifting population of hired slaves in the salt industry.Stealey, John E., III, Slavery in the Kanawha Salt Industry", pg. 51, from Appalachians and Race: The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation, ed. John C. Inscoe, Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2005
Coal was used to fuel the salt furnaces of the Kanawha Valley, and by 1860 twenty-five companies were engaged in coal mining in West Virginia, the largest being the Winifrede Mining and Manufacturing Company. These companies advertised for hired slaves at $120 to $200 a year. Women and children were also employed in the mines. Approximately 2000 enslaved people were employed in coal mining. A system of slides, tramways and rail moved the coal to barges for export to Louisville, Cincinnati and the lower south.Dunaway, Slavery ... , pgs. 130–131
By 1860 West Virginia had 14 iron plantations. These facilities often occupied from one-quarter to one-third of the land in their home counties, averaging about . Slave labor made up about 75% of the work force.Dunaway, Slavery ... , pgs. 125–126
Recreation The mineral springs of southern West Virginia were favored destinations of vacationing southern society and drew visitors from as far away as Louisiana and the Gulf States. Presidents of the United States, Supreme Court justices, and politicians such as John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster met and socialized here. Periodicals such as Debow's Review urged southerners to take advantage of their highlands for their recreation instead of the annual migrations north. Richmond slave exchanges recruited workers for the resorts and springs. The "Old White" at White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County valued its holdings at $100,000 in real estate and $56,000 in enslaved people. At the Old White one traveller wrote of three enslaved people who played at the nightly dances, using a fiddle, tambourine, and the skull of an ass.Dunaway, Slavery ... , 80–83 Another visitor described her view behind the scenes at the Old White thus: "In the various departments we found admirable system, healthy, likely slaves all employed; yet evidently not overworked or oppressed—a corps of subordinates having their duties so arranged, that they relieved each other in quick succession whenever the work was severe. Whether the perfection of the management arises from perseverance in method, or efficient servants, the result is certainly admirable."Windle, Mary Jane, Life at the White Sulphur Springs, or, Pictures of a Pleasant Summer, Lippincott, 1857, pg. 32 Sweet Springs in Monroe County had buildings designed by William B. Phillips, who had assisted Thomas Jefferson in the building of the University of Virginia. Frame structures were provided for enslaved people and livery. It was one of the oldest resorts in West Virginia, the first hotel having been built there in 1792.Cohen, Stan, Historic Springs of the Virginias, 1983, pg. 154 The hotel was forbidden from selling strong drink to any freedman or slave.Morton, Oren Frederic, A History of Monroe County, West Virginia, Staunton, VA, 1916, pg. 189 Other popular resorts and spas during the era of slavery were Salt Sulphur Springs, Red Sulphur Springs, Shannondale Springs, Berkeley Springs, Blue Sulphur Springs, and Capon Springs.
Transportation and commerce