Written by Dr. Arthur Fournier
The Beverly plantation on the Pocomoke River was initiated by Littleton Dennis circa 1760 and completed by his widow, Susanna Upshur Dennis around 1770. (1) Framing the stairs leading to the rear entry is a unique wrought iron arch adorned with curious symbols. The description of the arch in the 2012 Garden Tour brochure gives vague reference that the arch may have been forged by Haitian craftsmen. This piqued my interest as I have worked as a medical volunteer in Haiti for 20 years and in the process, become quite familiar with Haitian history, art and culture.
While the identity of the sculptor cannot be identified with certainty as being Haitian, careful study of the arch reveals that the artist that designed and forged it had a thorough knowledge of and reverence for ancient West African cosmology. This cosmology was preserved in Haitian culture through the centuries and is still present to this day in Haiti as part of the world
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| Figure 2. Veve of Legba |
view and value system known as Vodou. Court records and a family history indicate that the Dennis family conducted considerable commercial intercourse with the West Indies. (2) They may therefore have brought back slaves from the West Indies as skilled artisans to contribute to the construction of the plantation who were well-versed in the mysteries of Vodou. Vodou is a form of African spiritualism that survived among slaves in France's colony, St. Dominique, by syncretecly adopting a veneer of Catholicism. Catholic saints such as the Virgin Mary also represented African Saints – in the case of the Virgin, Erzilie, the goddess of love and family. (3, Figure 4)) The term Vodou is most likely derived as the Kreyol pronunciation of the French "vieux dieux" or old gods. Each of these old or African gods is represented by an abstract symbol called in Kreyol "veve". (See Figure 2, Wikipedia examples of veve) It is these veve that adorn the arch and also continue in Haitian Vodou art to this day (See Figure 1 & 3).
For example, the heart with a cross above it is a symbol of Erzilie-the heart for love and the cross for suffering. The serpentine curves represents Damballah, the snake god, the same symbolism embodied in the caduceus, our symbol for medicine. Large crosses stand for Legba, the guardian of the crossroads which represent the intersection of past and future, life and death. Even the arch itself is a symbol, depicting both a rainbow and the Milky Way. In Vodou cosmology, creation began with the mating of the feminine rainbow with the masculine snake god (the metaphors to human anatomy should require no elaboration).(4) The stars in the Milky Way represent the souls of departed ancestors.
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Figure 4. Cover of Dr. Arthur
Fournier's book. |
How did this African cosmology survive in Haiti and not among the enslaved in what is now the United States? Well, it did, to a certain extent, among the French settlements in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. It may also have persisted amongst the slaves of the Beverly plantation, as Maryland was the only Catholic colony among the original 13. As Alex Haley described so poignantly in "Roots", however, most African-Americans in what is now the United States were deprived of their cultural identity through progressive generations of enslavement. In Haiti, however the slaves successfully revolted against their French masters beginning in 1793. By 1804 Napoleon abandoned his attempt to reconquer Haiti, selling Louisiana to the United States to finance that misadventure. In the decades that followed, the United States and European powers isolated and ostracized Haiti, fearing the Haitians would export their revolution. This explains why Vodou exists in such a pure form in Haiti to this day. Which brings us back to the construction of the Beverly plantation and its arch – it had to be done before the Haitian revolution!
Sources:
1. Beverly, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form
2. The Dennises of Beverly and Their Kin (private printing, 1992)
3. Vodou Saints: Lessons on Life, Death and Ressurection From Haiti, Arthur M. Fournier,M.D.
4. The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis
My great-great grandmother was the matriarch of Beverly. I am now 71 years old and throughout my life my grandmother always spoke of her mother growing up at Beverly. My childhood dream was to live there next to my ancestors graves. I would genuinely love to meet my now living relatives.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting to read your post. I would love to start a conversation about Beverly and your Dennis family. I am currently involved to researching the whereabouts of Beverly's slave burial grounds, as well as other Dennis family business dealings. I can be reached at arthurshettle@gmail.com. My father is the current owner of Beverly. We have lived there since 1935, when we bought it from Samuel K Dennis.
Deletebest,
Arthur
My name is Alexis Beverly. Do you owe my family reparations?
DeleteMy great-great grandmother was the matriarch of Beverly. I am now 71 years old and throughout my life my grandmother always spoke of her mother growing up at Beverly. My childhood dream was to live there next to my ancestors graves. I would genuinely love to meet my now living relatives.
ReplyDeleteGood day, Deborah Elizabeth:
ReplyDeleteI am researching family in the same area.I just saw a document from the ADE(TheAssociation for Documentary Editing) that you might want to Google...look for Dreanna Belden,”The Papers of Littleton Dennis Teackle”...good luck as this is difficult research...during what years was your grandmother matriarch? Juliette
I think my great grandfather (last name Bailey) use to work on Beverly Plantation.
ReplyDeleteHi Zachary, I am researching the location of the slave burial ground of Beverly Plantation. I was given a map 30 years ago by an old timer who has since died. I have poked around this area but it is so overgrown I would need some professionals to come in with sensing equipment. I am super interested in any info you might have about your Bailey ancestor. My family bought Beverly from the Dennises in 1936.
DeleteHi Zachary, I have since learned that your Bailey relative must have been Frank Bailey, descended from Beverly slaves. I would love to start a chat with you with regards to the history of your family and their connections to Beverly. You can reach out to me at arthurshettle@gmail.com. We are the current owners of Beverly (since 1935).
ReplyDeleteConsidering selling a parcel along Colona Road and stumbled upon this article while looking for comps. I live in the Philadelphia area, now, but grew up in Salisbury. However, mother grew-up on Colona Road and my great grandmother lived VERY close to Beverly Mansion. I can remember going there, when I was very young. I don't recall exactly why we were there, but my mother made it seem as though we had been invited. She also implied that the invitation was a relatively regular occurrence (I could be wrong, I was very young). All I remember is sitting on a porch, exchanging pleasantries and talking about common things like the weather. This would have been somewhere in the early 70's, like 71 or 72 (I am 57 now). My mother's maiden name is Dennis and her younger sister (who is the only surviving sibling) used to say that their name was Dennis because they were descendant of slaves that dwelt on the plantation. Don't know how true that is, but it DOES follow reason. Anyway, the memory of being there is very faint and I couldn't appreciate it as a young child, but I have always wanted to go back there and visit as an adult, so that I can truly appreciate its historic value. I don't get down that way much, anymore. Only when some one dies and is buried at Saint James church, which is down the road from the Mansion. In addition, after selling this property, I will have no reason to visit the Saint James area at all, other than to show my 11-year-old where his grandmother grew up and visit the graveyard at St James church. I really enjoyed the article. Enjoyed the comments too (even the one about reparations [pipe dream, at this point]). It brought back a distant but pleasant memory.
ReplyDeleteHave to make another comment. After leaving my last comment, I continued to read about Beverly and remembered something worth commenting about. It is amazing how things that you have forgotten will come back to you, when you begin to talk about them. My great great (not sure how many "greats") uncle is Richard Long. Richard long was born at Beverly and his parents were formerly enslaved persons, at the plantation. He lived to be approximately 107 years old and died in 1971 (which is right around when I said I was at the Mansion, as a child). That may have been the reason why my mother and I were at the Mansion, because like I said, she told me that we had been invited. I can remember being at Uncle Richards funeral and just like my visit to the mansion, it is a very old and faint memory (I would have been five). I can remember my family being very upset and feeling disrespected because the newspaper refused to print his actual age. He had been born at the plantation and there were no legal records of his birth. Instead of printing the age which was reported by the family, the newspaper chose to make-up an age that they felt was more reasonable. He is buried in the cemetery at St James Church, on Colona Road, right down the road from the mansion. He was blind at the time of his death but the family said he was still sharp. I have a great aunt, who is still living and remembers him well. She is 100years old herself. She lives up here, in Philadelphia, but still owns a piece of property which is a short walk from the lane which runs back to the mansion. Her maiden name is Agnes Reynolds, Daughter of Sally.
ReplyDelete