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University of Mary Washington Gary Melcher Horseshoe Staircase

(Circa 1850)

Our scope of work was to document, demolish, repair, and reconstruct the Horseshoe Staircase at Gari Melchers Home and Studio. The ca. 1850 staircase is a distinctive architectural feature and a powerful example of the work carried out by enslaved black people at Belmont for enslaver Joseph Burwell Ficklen in the decades before emancipation.

Documentation and Methodology PDF

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