Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail
Site #3
The Sherburne House
at Strawbery Banke
The white Sherburnes built this steep roofed house in two phases c. 1695 and c. 1702, when this neighborhood was new. Its owner, Joseph, was a mariner, merchant and farmer. He lived here with his family and two slaves who are listed in a 1744 estate inventory as "one Negro man [pounds] 200, one ditto woman [pounds] 50." The man probably worked for Joseph at sea, on the dock, in his store, and on Joseph's outlying farmland. The woman probably worked for Joseph's wife Mary at food preparation, cleaning, textile production, and gardening. White Yankees typically assigned their enslaved people to sleeping space in attics, cellars, and back ells. The black Sherburnes probably slept in the attic of this cellar-less house.Now you can buy the whole BLACK HERITAGE GUIDE
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