George Gilmore was born enslaved ca. February 1810 at Montpelier plantation, the home of James & Dolly Madison. He married Polly,an enslaved seamstress, ca. 1850. Together they would have 8 children, 5 of whom lived into adulthood. George was a carpenter and saddlemaker as well as a farmer. By 1870 he was residing on & farming the land on which he would build this cabin.
Gilmore House
The cabin is constructed of squared logs which were taken from the derelict huts of a Confederate army winter camp located less than half a mile from the cabin’s site.
Main Room – Fireplace & Dining Area
George Gilmore was neither a share nor tenant farmer, he rented the land he farmed & built his house on from Dr. James A. Madison, the newphew who inherited Montpelier from James Madison. In 1901 Dr. Madison sold the farmstead to George Gilmore.
Main Room – Bedroom Area
The house is the only known restored freedman’s farmstead home. Local records note that Mr. Gilmore could read & write. He apparently had a decent income from his carpentry & saddle work. Polly was also working as a seamstress, there were significant numbers of pins, needles, buttons, etc. found under the cabin.
Loft Area – Children’s Sleeping Pallet
The cabin must have been quite a busy place with 8 children in the family. The practices of the era would have had the children sharing pallets at night, then folding them during the day.
Kitchen Garden Behind the House
The Gilmore family were subsistance farmers. George improved the land he lived on by planting an orchard, digging a all season well, and maintaining a hogpen. The Gilmore family owned the land George bought until the late 1930’s. George & Polly’s decendants still live in the area.
Late Summer Kitchen Garden
The garden was winding down when I visited the Gilmore house. It is now open on a regular schedule thanks to a grant which funded site research and maintenance. It’s owned maintained by the Montpelier Foundation. There is no admission fee for this site.
Hogpen & Hogs Near the Kitchen Garden
The Confederate Winter Camp has been partially reconstructed by a local reenactment/living history unit. They man the site several weekend a year.
Re-created Confederate Winter Camp Huts
Civil War winter huts were small and housed 6 to 8 men each. Their small size made heating them easier. The roofs were generally canvas tent material over poles. Their exact size and construction technique varied somewhat but the camps were laid out in the same way as a summer non-campaign camp.
Winter Hut Rear
This is a hut at the head of a company street for the company officers. Officer’s huts were not necessarily bigger than enlisted huts but they did tend to be of the best construction.
Winter Hut Front Entry
This hut has a standard military wedge tent end as a door entry.
Winter Hut Interior
These huts are about 12x16 feet. The soldiers would have regularly repaired the mud & straw clinking in the log walls. The huts usually had a fireplace of some kind in the back hut wall. This hut also has a rough plank floor that has been covered in straw.
Thank you Montpelier & whoever funded the research & restoration of this cabin. It was well worth the effort.
