Rice University Archaeology Project includes local community in Texas plantation study

Rice University and the Texas Historical Society are conducting an archaeology project at the Varner-Hogg Plantation in Brazoria County, Texas, to document the lives of enslaved and incarcerated people who worked the land.

The project uses a community-oriented approach where local residents observe excavations, ask questions, and share personal knowledge with archaeologists and students. This method aims to make archaeological knowledge accessible and to foster a broader understanding of the site’s history beyond the work of researchers.

The plantation's history includes periods of intense forced labor. During the nineteenth century, the Patton family expanded the estate using the labor of over 100 enslaved people who built the plantation house and various agricultural structures. After the Patton family sold the property in 1869, subsequent owners used incarcerated labor until state investigators ended the practice in 1875 due to the cruelty of the treatment. Previous efforts to preserve the site primarily focused on the lives of white owners.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Ima Hogg restored the property as a historic site but chose to omit the history of slavery from her interpretive plans. The current project by Rice University seeks to shift this focus toward the experiences of the enslaved and incarcerated populations to create a more inclusive historical record.