9WORKING WITH THE LAND:WORKING WITH THE LAND:WORKING WITH THE LAND:WORKING WITH THE LAND:WORKING WITH THE LAND:

SITE DEVELOPMENTSITE DEVELOPMENTSITE DEVELOPMENTSITE DEVELOPMENTSITE DEVELOPMENTPROPOSALPROPOSALPROPOSALPROPOSALPROPOSAL

This chapter presents the design proposal for the Appala-chian slavery interpretive complex on the Greenfield site. Theproposed design synthesizes the components discussed inprevious chapters and gives them physical and programmaticform. These components are

• the interpretive program components (outdoor walksand indoor education center; Chapter 2)

• the Constructivist Design Approach (Chapter 4)• the participatory living history approach (Chapter 5)• the guiding design concepts and content elements

derivedfrom the historiographic research (Chapter 6)• site characteristics and history of Greenfield (Chapter 8)

The objective of this thesis is to explore the use of theConstructivist Design Approach in order to expand the tradi-tional role of the landscape in historical interpretation fromstatic backdrop to active interpretive tool. As such, the discus-sion of the design proposal is framed in terms of the specificdesign attitudes and design interventions identified in Chapter 4as constituting the Constructivist Design Approach (see sum-mary in the next column). It should be noted, however, thatalthough the attitudes and intervention are, for the most part,addressed individually in the following pages, they are in realityinterrelated and overlapping, and their separation—whilenecessary for discussion—is artificial. The first design attitude(Collaboration of Visitor and Site) exemplifies this. It is notdiscussed as a distinct element in this chapter because its notionof meaning as a result of the dialogue between visitor and site isimplicit in all the facets of the Constructivist Design Approachdiscussed.

The overall design proposal for the interpretive complex is

Design Attitudes

• Collaboration of Visitor and Site• Structured But Flexible Meaning• Physical Landscape Influences the

Internal Landscape

Design Interventions

• Dislocation From the External World- Marking of Thresholds- Opportunity for Reflection- Control of Views

• Dramatic Rhythm- Juxtaposition- Concurrence

• Personalized Communication- Path as Storyline

• Physical Interaction With the Site- Kinesthetic Engagement- Sensory Engagement- Sensitivity to Scale and Proportion- Sensitivity to Materials

CONSTRUCTIVIST DESIGN APPROACH

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presented in Figure 9.1. The remainder of this chapter breaksthe discussion of the design proposal into its major components:the indoor education center and the outdoor interpretive land-scape, as used in both the daytime walks and the nighttime tour.

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Figure 9.1. Proposed site plan for the Appalachian slavery interpretive complex. The interpretive grounds present a 19th century rural Appalachian landscapeorganized around a dirt loop road (the Great Valley Road to visitors). Costumed interpreters in such roles as tenant farmers, iron mine slaves, mounted slave

patrollers, overseers, and farmstead slaves carry out the appropriate activities while interacting with visitors. The crops (e.g., corn, hay, and barley) andlivestock (cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep) on the grounds were all found at 19th century Greenfield, according to historiographic research.

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EDUCATION CENTER

The goals of the education center are threefold: to educateindividuals about Appalachian slavery and the experiences ofslaves, to stimulate continued scholarly research on the natureof Appalachian slavery, and to provide a forum for informeddiscussion regarding the application of these historical under-standings to contemporary issues of social, economic, andpolitical equality within the region and beyond. Thus, theeducation center looks back to the region’s past not simply asan end in itself but as a means of encouraging better informeddecisions about the future at both the level of the individual andthat of local and regional policy.

The organization of the building that houses the educationcenter is designed to facilitate these goals of education andinformed discussion (Figure 9.2). The upper floor, whichprimarily supports the center’s goals regarding research andapplication, contains an Appalachian slavery archive and re-search facility as well as conference space. This level also offersa modest memorial space suitable for contemplation and reflec-tion. Temporaryexhibits focusingon various aspectsof Appalachianslavery or thehistory of theGreenfield site canalso be installed onthis floor.

The lowertwo floors of thebuilding are de-

voted to educating visitors about Appalachian slavery throughthe use of permanent, thematically based exhibits. The groundfloor presents an overview of slavery in Appalachia, includingthe experiences and multiple perspectives of slaves and theirowners and the effects of the mountain environment on thesystem of slavery that evolved in the region. The lower floor isdevoted to presenting the various strategies used by slaves toresist the status quo in the Mountain South and to forge a betterlife for themselves.

Whereas the interior environment of the education centeris designed to facilitate its educational goals, from the outside,the education center is designed to look at home in the 19th

century mountain landscape that the interpretive groundspresent. Built roughly on the site of the Dower House (seeHistorical Context, Chapter 8), the center has the externalappearance of a big house set within a mountain farmsteadcomplex (Figure 9.3).

Figure 9.3. Visitors’ view of the education center from the looproad. The center is based on the Federal style Dower Housebuilt on the site in the early 1800s.

Figure 9.2. Education center contents by floor.

The remainder of this section describes the educationcenter in terms of the Constructivist Design Approach. Thediscussion emphasizes the lower two floors, as they relate moredirectly to the historical interpretation program offered.

Structured But Flexible Meaning. From site selection andanalysis, to the development of interpretive program content, tothe establishment of guiding design concepts, the results of thehistoriographic research have provided the basic structure forthe design development of the interpretive complex. The designand content of the permanent exhibits is no exception to this.Exhibit content flows directly out of the critical understandingsabout Appalachian slavery revealed in the historiographicresearch, including the role of the mountain topography, geol-ogy, and climate in shaping the region’s economy and thus itsunique approach to slavery; the living conditions experienced bymountain slaves; and the role of the mountain environment instrategies of slave resistance. In this way, the historiographicresearch provide a cognitive structure for visitors’ experiencesin the exhibit space.

This structure is reinforced by establishing the sequence inwhich visitors travel through each exhibit room, and thus theorder in which they are exposed to the various facets of Appala-chian slavery. This sequencing facilitates visitor learning byallowing them to build on each new piece of information in acoherent fashion rather than creating gaps in their understand-ing that may or may not be filled in at later exhibits. Thus thestructure inherent in the exhibit space helps to ensure that theeducational goals identified through the historiographic researchare achieved.

Within this overall framework of historical understandings,however, the exhibit area is designed to encourage visitors to

derive their own conclusions and construct personally relevantmeanings. As in all museum experiences, visitors ultimatelycontrol how they take in the information presented to them.Although their path through the exhibit rooms is set, visitorscan vary their pace and attention level throughout, self-selectingto skip over parts of the exhibits that do not interest them or tolinger where they wish to learn more.

Beyond this—and more importantly in terms of thedesigner’s role in promoting flexibility in meaning-making—isthe manner in which information is presented. Whereas thecontent of the historical information presented provides theoverall structure for visitors’ understanding of Appalachianslavery, the way in which this content is presented can encour-age the construction of personally relevant meanings. Thepermanent exhibit area of the education center emphasizes thepresentation of multiple perspectives or voices on the issuesaddressed rather than presenting conclusions about them. Thisis achieved by emphasizing first-person historical accounts ofthose who experienced slavery over third-person explanationsoffered by later historians.

This emphasis on individual accounts allows for the pre-sentation of a wide variety of perspectives and experiencesregarding mountain slavery. For example, although writtenaccounts of some former slaves describe brutal physical punish-ments at the hands of their masters, others indicate their ownersrarely, if ever, resorted to physical punishment. Both are accu-rate representations of slaves’ experiences, and yet they seem atodds. Rather than resolving such apparent contradictions forvisitors by presenting only a consistent set of firsthand accountsor by instead emphasizing a third-person narrative that presentsonly one interpretation, the presentation of multiple perspec-tives allows visitors to draw their own conclusions—to resolve

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for themselves any contradictions in the material presented tothem in the way that most resonates with their personal experi-ences and life philosophies.

Physical Landscape Influences the Internal Landscape.One of the attitudes essential to the constructivist landscapearchitect is the ability to understand the physical environment asa means of influencing an individual’s internal state. The poten-tial of the outer landscape to influence the inner one is mostclearly seen in the ability of ritual spaces to prepare participantsfor the ritual experience. The constructivist designer uses thisunderstanding to structure physical space in a way that en-hances or facilitates experience. For the education center, thisimplies that it is not only the content of the exhibits but also thephysical configuration of the exhibit spaces themselves that canconvey understandings about mountain slavery.

The exhibit spaces on the lower two floors reflect in theirphysical structure important aspects of one of the guidingdesign concepts identified in Chapter 6: the tension betweencenter and periphery. This overarching theme derived from thehistoriographic research expresses the physical, social, eco-nomic, and political structure of slavery. In all these realms, thelanded gentry occupied the central, most powerful position insociety, while slaves were relegated to the peripheries. Yetwithin the system in which they operated, each was dependenton the other for their survival.

The exhibit spaces on the ground floor are organized in aset of concentric bands that reflect this basic dichotomy be-tween center and periphery (Figure 9.4) at the heart of thesystem of slavery. The center exhibit area interprets the livesand daily activities of those holding the power in the landscapeof Appalachian slavery—slave owners, brokers, and traders. In

contrast, the periphery contains the story of Appalachian sla-very from the perspective of the slaves themselves. Locatedbetween these two extremes are exhibits describing the othermembers of 19th century Appalachia who were, in effect, lost inthe middle ground to fend for themselves: free blacks, whitesubsistence farmers and tenant farmers, and white laborers.Although not directly a part of the master and slave dynamic,the economic and social status of this group was neverthelessdirectly impacted by the system of slavery operating aroundthem. Free blacks in Appalachia lived a precarious existence—ultimately at the discretion of whites—who could and often didforce them to leave the state or even sell them into slavery.White laborers were often passed over for jobs because of the

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Figure 9.4. Diagrammatic representation of the spatial organization of theground floor exhibit area, based on the guiding design concept of tensionbetween center and periphery.

availability of cheap slave labor, while poor farmers were unableto compete with the higher production rates and lower prices ofagricultural goods produced by slaves.

The tension between center and periphery—master andslave—is physically reinforced through the control (i.e., restric-tion) of physical access and views from the periphery into thecenter. As visitors enter the education center, they see an opencentral space directly before them. Rather than proceedingthrough an entry hall into this central space as would be ex-pected, however, visitors are channeled around the periphery ofthe building. They are allowed only limited views to the centralspace, which serve to reinforce their separation from it. Onlywhen they have passed through the two outer rings of exhibitsare they allowed access to the center space.

In structure and function, the exhibit space is similar to thecircumambulating path identified by architect Thomas Barrie(1996) as a common organizational scheme in ritual space(Figure 9.5; see Chapter 4, Characteristics of Ritual Space). Inthis configuration, people are moved around a central spacewhile direct access to it is restricted. This structuring of thepath and the spatial relationshipbetween center and edge it producesserve to emphasize the dichotomy ofsacred and profane space and theauthority or sacredness of the center.As ritualized behavior, the physicalact of circumambulation creates anunderstanding of the figurative rela-tionship between the sacred and theprofane and of the individuals placewithin that system.

In the same way, the physical

structure of the exhibitspace on the lowerfloor also helps tocommunicate impor-tant understandingsabout one of theconsequences of thetension betweencenter and periphery:slaves’ ability tosubvert these periph-eries, to exploit theedges to which theywere relegated, inorder to survive andprosper to the extentpossible. Throughtheir exploitation of edges (both as literal, physical edges andfigurative ones), slaves remapped the physical, social, andeconomic territories of their bondage and in both subtle andovert ways resisted the identity imposed upon them by thenorms of the slave society in which they lived. Whereas theexhibit space on the ground level is organized as a circumambu-lating path, the exhibits on the lower floor are organized as aseries of exhibit rooms branching off from a central hallway(Figure 9.6). The main hall describes the legal, social, political,and economic restrictions placed on slaves—the status quo—inAppalachia, while the adjoining exhibit rooms present thestrategies slaves used to circumvent these prohibitions. Theseexhibit rooms represent both the physical territories and thefigurative domains that lay just beyond the authority of thedominant class—from the unpatrolled peripheries of plantations

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Figure 9.5. Circumam-bulating ritual path.(after Barrie, 1996)

Figure 9.6. Diagramatic representationof the spatial organization of lowerfloor, emphasizing the subversive use ofperipheries.

or towns where runawayscould hide to the forma-tion of undergroundeconomies that floutedlaws against doing busi-ness with slaves. Al-though the institution ofslavery developed whatappeared to be a secure

system of checks to keep bondsmen in their subservient role,slaves consistently found ways to subvert the order imposed onthem.

The spatial configuration of the exhibits on the lower flooremphasizes this fact through the way it leads visitors throughthe space. It presents visitors with a very different kinestheticexperience, in terms of path, from that on the ground floor. Onthe ground level, visitors circumambulate from one exhibitroom to the next in a sequence of experiences (Figure 9.7) thatreinforces the dichotomy between center and periphery. On thelower floor, however, this fluid transition between rooms isreplaced by the experience of continually orienting to anddiverging from themain path, as visi-tors repeatedly leavethe central hall toenter the exhibitrooms and thenreturn to the mainhall (Figure 9.8).Thus, in their physi-cal movementthrough the space,

visitors replicate slaves’ subversion of the established normsand ground rules of slavery in order to survive. In this way,important understandings about Appalachian slavery can becommunicated simply by requiring visitors to move through thespace and physically relate to it in a particular way.

Dislocation From the External World. As the first destina-tion of visitors within the interpretive complex, the entry to theeducation center marks the first and perhaps most importantopportunity to let visitors know that their experiences withinthe complex will be quite different from what they know in themodern world. Because the participatory living history interpre-tive method requires a high level of involvement from visitors,the entry into the education center must prepare them to partici-pate in the foreign environment they will encounter in theinterpretive complex—that of 19th century Appalachia. In thisway, the entry sequence to the education center serves as whatritual theorist Catherine Bell (1997) refers to as a framingexperience—one that “set[s] up an interpretive frameworkwithin which to understand . . . subsequent or simultaneous actsor messages” (p. 74). In essence, it helps familiarize visitorswith the ground rules of the world they are about to enter.

This process begins when visitors leave their cars in thecomplex’s parking lot in the northeast corner of the site (seeFigure 9.1). Rather than directly entering the education centerafter a short walk from their cars, visitors embark on a jour-ney—a ritual procession—that takes them away from themodern world and begins to acclimatize them to the antebellumAppalachian landscape. At the entry to the parking lot, visitorsare directed to leave their cars in the lot and walk to the nearbyordinary, or tavern, similar to the ones that once lined the GreatValley Road, in order to wait for the wagon that will take them

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Figure 9.7. Visitors on the groundfloor experience path as a linearsequence from one exhibit room tothe next.

Figure 9.8. Visitors on the lower floorexperience path as a sequence ofdivergences from the main path followed bya reorientation to it.

to the education center. In addition to providing both an out-door porch and indoor seating for waiting, the ordinary alsooffers restrooms, sells light refreshments, and houses the onlygift shop on the site, which primarily carries educational itemsfor adults and children related to slavery and its legacy. Acostumed interpreter, the ordinary’s proprietor, is also on handto welcome visitors as travelers down the Great Valley Road.

From the ordinary, visitors are then picked up by 19th-century-style horse-drawn wagons driven by costumed inter-preters and proceed down the dirt road that forms a loopthrough the interpretive grounds. This road is presented tovisitors as the Great Valley Road, which historically ran near thecurrent route of Route 220 past Greenfield. Visitors ridethrough a rural mountain landscape of crop fields and forestsuntil they reach the education center—the big house in anAppalachian farm complex (Figure 9.3). This elongated proces-sion from parking lot to education center helps to preparevisitors for their experiences in the complex by exposing themto a physical environment like the one they will find on theinterpretive grounds as well as helping them become accus-tomed to interacting with costumed interpreters.

The opening procession also frames visitors’ experiencesby preventing the visual and audio intrusion of the modernworld onto the site. Although the dirt road leading to theeducation center runs close to Route 220, views to the road arescreened by both the natural topography (the dirt road is belowthe elevation of the highway) and forest vegetation. Sometraffic noise will be audible (see Figure 8.7, traffic noise analy-sis), but the sound of the wagon will mask some of this. Addi-tionally, as a novel sound to visitors, the wagon will tend todraw visitors’ attention away from the car noise, which is nowstandard sensory input for most modern Americans.

The education center itself also serves as a framing experi-ence for participation in the daytime walks or nighttime tour.Through the exhibits in the education center, visitors learnabout the landscape and types of characters they will encounteron the interpretive grounds, as well as the dangers faced byrunaway slaves in this environment and their tactics for mini-mizing their risks. In effect, visitors will take the understandingsthey derive from the exhibits and put them to the test in theinterpretive landscape.

Finally, the opportunity for reflection—to make sense ofand begin to integrate the experiences at the interpretive com-plex into everyday life—plays a critical role in impressing onvisitors the uniqueness and importance of their experiences.Given that the goals of the education center discussed in theintroduction to this section emphasize informed discussion andthe application of understandings developed in the interpretivecomplex to contemporary issues, the provision of a space andtime for reflection becomes all the more essential. Two suchopportunities are provided in the interpretive complex. First, thewagon trip back to the ordinary offers visitors a moment toreflect privately or to talk with the other visitors that may beaccompanying them in the wagon. The interpreter driving thewagon also offers visitors the opportunity to ask any questionsthat arose from their experiences. In addition, a modest, inti-mate memorial space is offered on the upper floor of the educa-tion center. Because daytime visitors do not otherwise go to theupper floor, this memorial space may be used primarily byparticipants in the nighttime tour, who are escorted to the spaceat the conclusion of their tour.

By serving as a frame through which visitors’ subsequentexperiences can be interpreted and then providing a opportunityfor deeper reflection on the understandings they have con-

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structed, the education center facilitates both the constructionof new understandings of slavery and their integration intovisitors’ everyday lives.

Personalized Communication. In the realm of historicinterpretation, the Constructivist Design Approach emphasizescommunicating program content in a way that emphasizes thehumanity of historical figures. It takes the disembodied voicesof the past and reanimates them in flesh and blood—as mothers,sons, sisters, and wives. In this way, visitors are encouraged toconnect with historical figures. As visitors begin to see some-thing of themselves or their own life circumstances in thesehistorical figures, they are more likely to construct highlypersonalize, empathetic understandings of them.

For this reason, theexhibits in the educationcenter rely heavily on first-person accounts to tell thestory of Appalachian slavery.Although some third-personexplanations are necessary,the vast majority of exhibitspace is devoted to present-ing the experiences of slaves,masters, and others in theirown words. A variety ofsources for such accountsexist, including the personalcorrespondence and journalsof slave owners and brokers,newspaper articles from theperiod, written accounts of

interviews with former slavesrecorded in the 1920s and 1930sthrough the Federal Writers’Project, and runaway slave narra-tives recorded in a variety ofsources including William Still’sUnderground Railroad Records.

The humanizing of thehistorical record is further en-hanced by an emphasis on humanimages in the exhibits, both in theform of period photographs anddrawings as well as videotapedperformances of personal ac-counts by contemporary actors.Figure 9.9 shows an example ofan exhibit from the NationalHolocaust Museum that makesstrong use of enlarged photo-graphs of individuals. Here,visitors are confronted by a life-size image of two Nazi SAtroopers and their muzzled attack dog—an image that commu-nicates more at a glance than the text beside it. The fact that thefigures are full-sized only increases their impact. In a similarway, life-sized images of slaves and the other inhabitants of themountain antebellum landscape will serve as anchors for exhibittext in the education center.

An additional strategy for humanizing the interpretation isthe installation in exhibit space of monitors on which actorsread excerpts of personal narratives. Figure 9.10 shows anexample of the use of period film footage from the HolocaustMuseum. Actors would be filmed in close-ups so that they

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Figure 9.10. Close-upsused on monitors at theHolocaust Museum.(Weinberg & Elieli, 1995)

Figure 9.9. Life-size images usedin Holocaust Museum exhibit.(Weinberg & Elieli, 1995)

appear to be at human scale. Like the use of still images, videofootage can be used to breathe life and realism into what wouldotherwise be lifeless words on a display board. In this way,visitors are encouraged to see historical figures as real peopleand to construct understandings of their experiences that reso-nate with personal meaning.

Dramatic Rhythm. The presentation of a variety of per-sonal, sometimes contradictory, accounts also demands atten-tion to the rhythm in which these accounts are presented.Rather than grouping similar accounts of slavery together, thejuxtaposition of contradictory understandings of slavery wouldhelp impress on visitors the variability of experiences and wouldwork against any sense that the education center is presentingone reading or interpretation of history. Again, the juxtapositionof elements in the exhibit space would maximize the individual’sability to construct his or her own conclusions and understand-ings from the information presented.

Sensitivity to the dramatic rhythm of the exhibits also callsfor special attention to the transitions between the variousexhibit rooms. The exhibits are presented thematically ratherthan chronologically. For example, along the periphery of thebuilding, exhibits conveying slavery from the perspective of theslave will be grouped according to the various implications ofAppalachia’s unique form of slavery on slaves of the region,such as the type of work they performed (both working for theirmasters and as leased slaves), the types of living conditions theyendured, and the effects of the high rate of slave trading onslave family units. As with the Holocaust Museum, the provi-sion of brief transition areas between each exhibit room allowsvisitors to reflect on the information they have just learned andconstruct more thoughtful understandings.

Physical Interaction With the Site. Previously in thissection, the ability of the structure of space and path to deepenvisitors’ understandings of the tension between center andperiphery in Appalachian slavery was discussed. Yet it is not thestructure of the exhibit space itself that offers the greatestpotential for the construction of meaning but the way in whichvisitors are invited to physically engage with the site, throughtheir movement and their senses as well as their body’s relation-ship to the volume of space around it. This physical interactionwith the site encourages understandings rooted not only in themind but also in the body.

For example, on the ground floor of the education center,the peripheral spaces that exhibit material on slaves’ experi-ences are smaller and more cramped in terms of the scale of thespaces relative to the human body as compared to the centerexhibit space. Materials used to construct the outer ring ofexhibits are simply produced, roughly finished materials such ashand-hewn wood beams, stone, concrete, or unpainted steel.The marks of their manufacture, whether from the carpenter’stool or the concrete forms, are left visible. In other words, thehuman labor required to construct these spaces are evident inthe materials.

In contrast, the center exhibits devoted to those who heldthe power in the Appalachian slave society are marked by richermaterials and refined details. Ornate wood trims and architec-tural details typical of the period finish the exhibits. Instead ofthe bare concrete floor found in the periphery, woven rugscover the floors in the exhibits devoted to those who held thepower and wealth. These center exhibits are also characterizedby an open, airy quality that contrasts sharply with the tighterproportions of the circumference. In addition, the transition intothe center exhibits requires visitors to ascend to a slightly raised

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platform. In this way, the sensation of leg muscles ascendingworks with the visible material changes to signal to visitors thatthey are passing into a different realm. This type of kinestheticengagement could also be used to provide visitors with a morevisceral understanding of slaves experiences. For example, theexhibits depicting the sale of coffle slaves throughout Appala-chia could lead visitors onto a raised platform like the auctionblocks on which slaves were sometimes placed. Ideally, thisplatform would form a three-dimensional extension of a life-sized photo or period rendering of such a sale. In this way,visitors would find themselves in the position of slaves.

Visitors are also encouraged to gain a deeper understand-ing of slaves’ experiences through direct physical contact withexhibit items. Whereas most museums enclose their artifactsbehind a protective wall of glass, whenever possible the educa-

tion center eliminates these barriers between visitors and his-torical objects. In many cases, this requires the use of authenti-cally reproduced replicas of fragile articles such as the types ofshirts or shoes given to slaves rather than originals that couldeasily be damaged from excessive handling. Replicas of thetools and implements used by slaves in their work are providedfor visitors to try out. Reproductions of the iron shackles usedin many slave coffles are also available, so that visitors can feeltheir weight and their tightness around their wrists or legs.Thus, the physical design of the exhibit spaces, in terms ofmaterial choices, scale and proportion, kinesthetic interaction,as well as direct physical contact with exhibit objects, canprovide visitors with increased opportunities to constructpersonalized meanings from their tour of the education centerexhibit space.

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Self-Guided Daytime Walks

The self-guided walks begin at the slave cabin behind theeducation center. Visitors are directed there after completingthe tour of the indoor exhibits. The objective of the daytimewalks is to help visitors experience firsthand strategies thatrunaway slaves employed to move through the landscape. It is amoment of ritual performance—when visitors adopt the role ofrunaway slaves and understanding comes through the body aswell as through the mind. Visitors operationalize the informa-tion they have learned throughout the exhibits, including spe-cific strategies used by runaway slaves in making their waythrough the landscape.

The daytime walks use a set of field guides that give eachvisitor or group of visitors a scenario they will follow for theduration of the walk. In each case, the scenarios allow visitorsto experience one of the many reasons slaves ran away. Forexample, they may be running away to join a spouse or parentwho has been sold to a distant town, or they may have heardrumors of their own impending sale to the Deep South anddecided to instead take their chances on the run. Field guidesalso review some of the key facts that visitors learned in theexhibits and will need in the field to avoid capture: “If you tryto cross a creek at a toll bridge, the toll collectors may demandto see your free papers”; and “Fellow slaves you see on yourjourney may be unsympathetic to your situation, or they may

THE INTERPRETIVE GROUNDS

The interpretive grounds provide visitors with the oppor-tunity—through the daytime walks and nighttime tour—tofurther develop the understandings gained in the educationcenter regarding runaways’ strategies for moving through thelandscape by physically performing them. Rather than just abackdrop for their performance, however, the constructivistlandscape of the interpretive grounds plays an active role in it.Through a constructivist approach to design, the landscapepresents visitors with obstacles and subsequent opportunitiesfor building understandings of the experiences of mountainslaves.

As a brief introduction, the design proposal for the inter-pretive complex’s grounds creates a 19th century rural Appala-chian landscape (see Figure 9.1). This landscape is animated bythe costumed interpreters playing roles and engaged in activitiesappropriate to the time as well as by the visitors who interactwith the interpreters as well as the landscape.

Although specific functions have been assigned to eachstructure on the grounds in terms of interpretive program, it isimportant to note that these functions can be reassigned asneeded to facilitate the daytime walks and night tour or simplyto vary the interpretive program periodically in order to betterserve repeat visitors. For example, the tenant farmer and thefree black farmsteads could be switched, or the blacksmith’scabin could become that of a free black. Although the barns onthe grounds serve their expressed function of housing livestockand feed, they are intended (in concealed portions) to alsoaccommodate modern mowers and other equipment needed tomaintain the grounds.

The following sections detail the design of the interpretivegrounds as it relates specifically to the daytime self-guidedwalks and the nighttime tour.

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offer you information that could greatly increase your chancesof completing your journey successfully”; and “If you arecaught, you will likely face brutal physical punishment, saledown south to a cotton or sugar plantation, or perhaps evendeath, so you have little to loose by trying to run if your captorslet their guard down. Be ready to take advantage of theirlapses.” The field guide can be modified as needed to maximizevisitors’ interaction with the landscape and interpreters. Forexample, if visitors consistently avoid taking the risk of interact-ing with interpreters because they are scared of being caught,the field guides could be reworded to encourage more contact,perhaps by naming certain locations, such as the iron mine, atwhich assistance can be found.

Before beginning their walks, visitors are also given veststo wear. These vests signal to the interpreters that visitors wantto interact with them. Interpreters who spot visitors in vests willtreat them as potential runaway slaves. Visitors can removetheir vests in order to be “invisible” to interpreters.

As they head out for their walk, visitors are instructed touse the complex’s loop road (the Great Valley Road) as theirinstrument of navigation and that their ultimate goal (in additionto avoiding capture) is to find the small cabin belonging to afree black who will help them on the next leg of their journey.They will know the cabin by a quilt hung over the cabin’s fencedisplaying a pattern often known by slaves to signify asafehouse. In reality, this interpreter will talk to them abouttheir experiences on the walk and direct them back to theeducation center where they can visit the memorial space on theupper floor or take a wagon back to the ordinary.

The remainder of this section describes the daytime walksin terms of the specific attitudes and approaches of theConstructivist Design Approach.

seek out certain landscape conditions more than others.The flexibility of the day walks also helps accommodate

the various types of groups visiting the complex. For example,adult visitors embarking on a daytime walk with young childrenwill likely have a very different experience from those travelingalone or in couples—not only in terms of the length of timespent on the walk, the route taken, and the rate of travel, butalso in terms of the tenor of their experience and the set ofmeanings generated. A self-guided tour gives visitors thefreedom to chart their own course through the landscape inorder to construct a more personally meaningful experience.This visitor autonomy is further enhanced by the use of thevests, which visitors can take off when they prefer not tointeract with the interpreters.

Yet in order for meaningful experiences to be constructed,this flexibility must exist within a structured framework. With-out it, the rich potential of the walks to lead to meaningfulunderstandings about how runaway slaves moved through thelandscape could quickly dissolve into chaos and confusion. On a

Structured But Flexible Meaning. The self-guided daytimewalks are designed to be the most flexible of the three programelements offered in terms of allowing visitors to individuallyconstruct their own experiences and understandings. Thesewalks have no set route through the interpretive landscape. Inthis way, visitors are encouraged to actively collaborate withtheir environment by responding to its features and spatialconditions with no restrictions other than the attitudes, experi-ences, and tendencies they bring to the interpretive center andthe meanings they have personally constructed from the educa-tion center exhibits. For example, based on their prior experi-ences and interests, visitors can choose to interact to greaterdegrees with interpreter characters they find compelling or may

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practical level, with no set route through the landscape tofollow, visitors could easily become lost—or simply becomeafraid they are lost—on the 120-acre interpretive grounds.More importantly, the ability of the walks to directly supportthe educational goals of the interpretive complex could bejeopardized if visitors feel they do not have enough guidance orfeedback about how they are moving through the landscape.This could easily cause visitors to become frustrated or boredand lead them to quit the walks prematurely.

To address both of these potential problems, several levelsof structure or organization are built into the interpretivelandscape. In terms of wayfinding, the dirt loop road becomesthe primary organizing element for the walk. As they are giventheir field guides, visitors are told by the interpreter in the slavecabin that they must follow this road—the Great Road—ontheir journey, for it leads north to freedom. This navigationalstrategy is consistent with what they have learned in the educa-tion center about how runaways moved through the landscape.On a practical level, it also keeps them from heading out intothe large forested areas in the western and northern portions ofthe site where they might become lost or wander out of theinterpretive complex. (Also note that a contemporary-styleboundary fence runs through the wooded areas to keep anyvisitors that do stray far from the road from leaving the inter-pretive grounds.) Visitors are assured before they set out thatthe road will lead them back to the education center or theordinary, so as long as they follow the road, they cannot getlost.

Orienting visitors to the road also keeps them closer to theinterpretive stations, which are located adjacent to the road (seeFigure 9.11). Not only does this proximity to interpreted areasof the grounds expose visitors to daily activities of slaves in

rural Appalachia such as harvesting or plowing methods as wellas livestock practices, but it also allows them to interact withinterpreters who convey important understandings about theattitudes of mountain slaves and the other inhabitants of thislandscape. For example, slave patrollers mounted on horsebackcontinually circulate on the road in teams of two, stopping attimes to question interpreters costumed as slaves or to conferwith those playing white farmers or overseers. Visitors in theroles of slaves will have to respond to the sound or sight of theapproaching horses by taking cover or they too will be stoppedand questioned by the patrols. In other places, visitors maychoose to approach interpreters playing slaves. For example,those who stop at the blacksmith’s cabin (see Figure 9.1) learnabout slaves who became skilled tradesmen and sometimesenjoyed greater freedoms and a higher quality of life thanunskilled slaves. Visitors may also receive some assistance fromsuch an interpreter, such as a warning about an unfriendly cabinup ahead, the location of a crop field where they could findfood, or even a set of forged free papers that the visitor coulduse if stopped by a slave patrol.

Finally, using the road as the organizational backbone ofthe daytime walks offers the opportunity to provide visitorswith constant feedback regarding their success in movingthrough the landscape as runaway slaves. As long as visitors aretraveling undetected with the road in sight, they know they aresuccessfully navigating through the landscape. As they areforced to divert from the road to avoid being spotted and thenmust work to reorient themselves to it, they also achieve asense of accomplishment and reaffirmation of their actions.With visitors staying close to the road, it becomes possible todesign into the landscape along the road a series of obstaclesthat provide them with such opportunities to test their under-

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Figure 9.11. Costumed interpreters play a vital role in the ability of the interpretive grounds to present Appalachian slavery as an animated, living landscape.Interpreters assume roles designed to educate visitors about mountain slavery and perform activities appropriate to their characters. Some interpreters remain

in one location throughout the day (stationary posts), whereas others move throughout the grounds (circulating posts) and interact with visitors and otherinterpreters as appropriate for their role. In the interpretive program presented in this figure, a minimum of 26 costumed interpreters are required, although

40 would be more desirable in terms of encouraging a high level of visitor interaction with interpreters.

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standings of effective ways of traveling. For example, on thefirst leg of their journey, visitors are instructed by the interpreterin the slave cabin to head left along the forest edge behind theeducation center until they spot the road. As they approach theroad, however, they see the horse barn and enclosed pasture aswell as interpreters in the roles of a slave and master stationedthere (Figure 9.12, point A). In order to avoid being spotted bythese individuals, visitors must divert from the road (in thiscase, by using the hillside as a visual barrier; point B) until theycan safely reestablish a visual link to the road (point C). Ifvisitors fail to divert from the road, they will be spotted by theinterpreters at the horse barn and pursued. In this way, the useof the road as a structuring device allows for the creation of aseries of challenges for visitors (in addition to the overall goalof reaching the free black’s cabin) that serves as a frameworkupon which their own experiences and understandings can beconstructed.

The verbal directive given to visitors to follow the road isnot the only means of providing them with feedback. Theinterpretive landscape is also designed to present visitors withobstacles and opportunities for feedback through the placementof built structures and landscape features as well as by theplacement of costumed interpreters. In this way, the design ofthe landscape and its features becomes a secondary level oforganization or structure for the daytime walk experience. As inthe above example of the first leg of visitors’ walk, the use andplacement of structures (the horse barn) and interpreters (slaveand master) along the road provide the mechanisms to intro-duce an obstacle for visitors, while the adjacent topography andvegetation are designed to offer the means of overcoming it.

Visitors are also discouraged from straying too far fromthe loop road by the design of landscape features. For example,

because of the proximity to the site boundary and the potentialfor unwanted views north to adjacent housing developments, itwas seen as important to prevent visitors from traveling in thewooded area north of the town complex (visitors divertingnorth around the town complex would also miss the free blackcabin that is the goal of their journey). In order to achieve this,as visitors travel north along the hedgerows adjacent to theroad at the approach the town, the forest edge along the north-ern boundary of the site has been pulled back from the looproad in order to leave an expanse of open space between thehedgerow and the forest that is too large to risk traveling across(Figure 9.13). As an additional deterrent, the toll collector atthe bridge has a clear view of any visitor attempting to cross the

Figure 9.12. Placement of the horse barn along the loop road givesvisitors the opportunity to learn how runaways used topography as ascreen. In order to avoid being seen from the horse barn, visitors mustdivert from the road (A) and cross the gap in the tree cover at a lowerelevation (B) before finally reorienting themselves to the road (C).

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open space. If a stronger deterrent is needed, a mounted slavepatrol could also be stationed at the bridge. With the possibilityof circling around the town to the north to pick up the roadprecluded by the landscape features and interpreter placement,visitors will head south along the vegetated stream corridor tofind a crossing in order to circle around the town to the south.Thus, although it is unlikely that any two visitors will followexactly the same route through the landscape, the introductionof the road as an orientating device and the careful design of thelandscape adjacent to it limit the possible routes of visitors.

Although it would be philosophically inconsistent for thedesigner of a constructivist site to seek to overtly control orseverely restrict the movement or experiences of the site’susers, as the above discussion indicates, the limitations put onvisitors’ ability to roam freely through the interpretive groundsprovides a necessary framework for their experience. Althoughit was important in the daytime walks to offer visitors a highdegree of autonomy in terms of determining their route throughthe landscape in order to maximize their ability to constructtheir own experiences and understandings, the structure pro-vided by the loop road and the design of the adjacent landscapeallow the walks to be more effectively tailored to facilitating theeducational goals of the complex. In addition to reassuringvisitors that they could not become lost on the grounds, theunderlying structure also encourages visitors to engage morefully in the experience by providing them with ongoing feedbackabout their strategies for moving through the landscape andhelping to ensure that visitors experience the types of landscapeand situational conditions that they learned about in the educa-tion center. Ultimately, the structure built into the daytimewalks is used not to restrict individuals’ ability to constructpersonal meanings from their experience but to enhance it.

Physical Landscape Influences the Internal Landscape.As in the education center, the structural organization of theinterpretive grounds is used to facilitate visitors’ experiences inways that reinforce key understandings. Like the indoor spaces,the grounds are structured according to the guiding designconcept of tension between center and periphery and the exploi-tation of edges. Whereas the concept is used on the ground

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Figure 9.13. Although the day walks have no set route, the design of thelandscape and placement of interpreters helps to guide visitors. Here, thelarge expanse of open space created by pulling the forest edge away fromthe bridge, combined with a interpreter on the bridge with unobstructedviews, forces visitors to backtrack and find an alternative creek crossing.This causes them to cross in an area with a view to the free black farmfor which they are searching.

floor of theeducationcenter toconvey a senseof superiorityand subordina-tion, in thelandscape, it isused to en-couragevisitors tomove throughthe landscapeas runawayslaves did. For runaways, the tension between center and edgemeant physically traveling at the margins of white territories—farmsteads, towns, roads—in order to take advantage of thegreater ease of finding food, shelter, and other assistance whilestill remaining out of sight. It meant moving through the land-scape in a manner that kept them at the outer edges of theterritories surveilled by slave owners and overseers, slavetraders and patrollers, and anyone else who might see fit to turnthem in. In terms of the design of the interpretive grounds, thismeant setting up surveilled territories, hereafter referred to asspheres or zones of surveillance, along the loop road in theform of farmsteads, a town, an iron mining complex, individualbarns and sheds, and even merely the presence of interpreters(Figure 9.14). Each sphere of surveillance extends out into thelandscape as far as an interpreter at these stations can see. Theroad takes visitors into and out of these various spheres. Likethe runaways they learned about in the education center, visitorsmust learn to look at the landscape and analyze their path

through it in terms of these spheres of surveillance—or riskdiscovery and capture.

To further encourage visitors to view the landscape interms of zones of surveillance and their margins, these zones ofsurveillance are pierced or fragmented by the introduction ofedges, in the form of vertical screens such as vegetation, build-ings, and landforms (i.e., topography) that can block views fromthese centers of observation. They represent the types of edgesthat historiographic research revealed runaways often exploitedfor their survival.

Dislocation From the External World. A physical thresh-old marks the transition between two spaces or territories. On acognitive level, the exhibit area of the education center func-tions as a threshold for the daytime walks: It prepares visitorsto put aside their 21st century identities and adopt the role ofrunaway slaves in the landscape. The ground floor exhibitsprovide visitors with an overview of the landscape of Appala-chian slavery—the characters and their assigned roles (slaves,masters, patrollers, etc.) and their relationship to each othersocially and economically, as well as the typical settings inwhich they were found. Essentially, these exhibits familiarizevisitors with the landscape they will find on the interpretivegrounds. As they encounter various costumed interpretersduring their walk, they will already have some understanding oftheir place in the landscape of mountain slavery, so that thedecisions they make on the walk will come from an informedunderstanding rather than trial and error.

Whereas the ground floor exhibits acquaint visitors withthe visible landscape of mountain slavery, the exhibits on thelower level provide visitors with an understanding of a morefurtive aspect of slavery—that of slave resistance. These exhib-

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Figure 9.14. Spheres or zones of surveillancealong loop road.

its equip visitors with information about specific strategies usedby runaways to move through the landscape successfully, suchas following roads from the cover of adjacent woods and hidingin unattended barns or other farm structures. They also acquaintvisitors with common obstacles that runaways (as well as otherslaves) had to overcome, such as needing a pass from theirmaster to travel or finding ways to cross rivers and creeks.

In this way, their tour through the education center pre-pares visitors for their walk through the interpretive grounds.To be successful, they must draw on the facts as well as theconceptual understandings they learned inside. Without theexhibit tour as a frame, the visitors’ experiences in the land-scape would have a severely limited impact in terms of helpingthem construct understandings of Appalachian slavery and theexperiences and behavioral strategies of runaway slaves.

Dramatic Rhythm: Juxtaposition. In simplest terms, therhythm of the daytime walks oscillates between opposite states:exposure versus concealment, orientation to the road versusdiversion from it, safety versus danger. Essentially, the daytimewalks provide the dramatic juxtaposition of moments of controlversus chaos for visitors. This is made possible by the zones ofsurveillance set up in relationship to the road, which requirevisitors to skirt in and out of these zones as they follow theroad. Visitors experience moments of relief and safety followedby moments of apprehension and potential danger. For example,as visitors follow the road north past the mountain plantationlocated at the center of the interpretive grounds (Figure 9.15),they use a hedgerow lining the east side of the road for cover.This thin line of trees and brush, however, is broken in spots,leaving them visible from the road and potentially from thefarmstead. Although each visitor will take a slightly different

path through thelandscape andexperience thewalk differently,the overall struc-ture introducedinto the walkthrough the use ofthe road fornavigation and theplacement ofinterpreters andstructures ensurethat most visitorswill encounter asimilar oscillationbetween safetyand danger,control and chaos,albeit in differentareas on theinterpretive grounds and at different levels of intensity.

This juxtaposition provides the dramatic tension that helpssustain visitors’ interest in the walk and reinforce their learning.Each episode of chaos and danger provides valuable feedbackto each visitor about their strategies for moving through thelandscape. The period of relative safety and control immediatelyfollowing each moment of danger gives visitors time to reflecton how and why their tactics failed—as well as what might havebeen their fate were they truly runaway slaves.

This juxtaposition of moments of safety and danger alsoserves to heighten visitors’ experiences of each. For example, as

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Figure 9.15. Visitors experience analternating rhythm of exposure andconcealment as they travel along the brokenhedgerow.

they emerge from the cover of the forest into wide-open pas-ture, the sense of exposure they feel is heightened by its con-trast with the previous sense of enclosure. In this way, juxtapo-sitions of opposing spatial conditions can also enhance visitors’understandings of the importance of various landscape featuresand conditions to runaways. Through this juxtaposition, visitorsbegin to look at and evaluate the landscape like a runaway slaverather than a 21st century visitor.

Personalized Communication. Whereas the educationcenter emphasizes learning about Appalachian slavery primarilythrough the words and images of past individuals, the daytimewalks take a different but equally personal level of communicat-ing with visitors. By adopting the role of a runaway slave andinteracting with interpreters while in this role, each visitorexperiences firsthand—physically and psychologically—what itmeans to move through the landscape as a runaway slave andhow this contrasts with their own everyday relationship to thelandscape. In this way, the daytime walks seek to increasevisitor identification with the experiences of runaway slaves andto increase their appreciation for the obstacles they overcame.No matter how deeply visitors identify with the individualsportrayed in the education center, they are still separated fromtheir experiences by time and space. On the interpretivegrounds, however, visitors become the slaves and experiencedirectly some of the emotions and situations that they learnedabout in the education center.

In order to enhance the sense of personal identificationvisitors feel with the roles they adopt, the scenarios they receiveat the start of their walk are tailored to each visitor or visitorgroup. For example, a family of four (mother, father, and twochildren) can be given a scenario in which enslaved parents

decide to flee north with their children when they hear that theirmaster is planning to sell the children away. The parents in thisgroup could readily understand the decision of their slavecounterparts to flee rather than loose their children. The flexibil-ity necessary for creating these tailored scenarios is possiblewith the use of a computerized database of scenarios that canbe selected on the spot and printed as inserts to the field guide.This could be done before visitors leave the education centerfor the slave quarters to begin their walk.

This personalization of the runaway scenarios visitors aregiven helps to increase their ability to identify with them. Visi-tors will more easily be able to immerse themselves in roles thatthey also play in their everyday life—parent, spouse, etc. Thisuse of personalized scenarios also encourages visitors to drawupon their own prior experiences and attitudes during theirwalk. For example, the mother of this family of four may, uponreading the scenario, call upon memories of a time when shebriefly lost one of her children at a mall or supermarket. In thisway, visitors are encouraged to blend their own personal experi-ences with the raw materials provided by the interpretivecomplex in a collaborative process of constructing meaning.

Physical Interaction With the Site. The objective of thedaytime walks is to encourage visitors to become a part of thelandscape of Appalachian slavery as it exists on the interpretivegrounds—to interact with it directly rather than merely observeit. The value of this level of immersion lies in the depth andbreadth of meanings that can be constructed from such a rich,immersive experience. This type of interaction with the siterequires that the designer consider in depth the ways the humanbody and all its faculties interact with the site. It also requiresthat the designer actively create opportunities through which

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the site can engage individuals bodily and psychologically. It is aprocess of grounding the individual in the site through theengagement of his or her senses, including a kinesthetic aware-ness and spatial relationship to the environment. The remainderof this section on the daytime walks discusses specific ways inwhich physical elements of the interpretive landscape aremanipulated to encourage visitors’ interaction with their physi-cal environment and thus heighten their immersion in the inter-pretive experience.

Sensitivity to Materials. The interpretive grounds aredesigned to create a realistic 19th century Appalachian rurallandscape not only in terms of the elements incorporated andtheir placement in a manner sensitive to antebellum practices,but also in terms of the materials from which these elements arebuilt and the construction methods used. For example, hand-split rails are used to construct snake fences around crops andpastures in the tradi-tional style of the region(Figure 9.16). The slavecabins and other smallhomes on the site arealso built using con-struction methods,building styles, andmaterials common to theantebellum mountainregion (Figure 9.17).This authenticity interms of the materialsand construction meth-ods helps to create a

landscape markedly differentfrom the modern environ-ments to which visitors areaccustomed. As they travelthrough the landscape asslaves, there is nothing inthere environment to remindthem of the 21st centuryworld. This, in turn, deepenstheir immersion into the 19th

century landscape of slavery.

Sensory Engagement. One of the advantages of a land-scape animated by interpreters, visitors, and livestock is that itprovides a sensory feast that helps to strengthen the engage-ment of visitors in the experience. The interpretive grounds arenot only visually rich but also offer a constant selection ofsounds, smells, and sensations. For example, at both of the tollbridges, visitors must find their own way across the creeks. Inthe process, many will get their feet wet, a common (and inwinter months dangerous) condition for runaway slaves.

The sensory richness of the interpretive grounds alsoenhances the fear of discovery that the daytime walks empha-size as critical to the understanding of runaways’ experience inthe landscape. The spheres of surveillance that visitors move inand out of throughout their walk are not only defined throughvisual contact with interpreters or structures that could containinterpreters but also through the other senses. For example,walkers may smell campfires or the smoke from nearby cabinchimneys before they actually see them. Likewise, the sound ofhorses’ hooves will serve to warn visitors of approaching slavepatrols. In this way, visitors learn to rely on all their senses, not

Figure 9.16. Traditional snake fence atBooker T. Washington NationalMonument. Rail ends rest on fieldstones rather than posts, makingrepositioning easier.

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Figure 9.17. Example of a squarelog structure similar in style to19th century Appalachia.

merely sight, to successfully navigate through the landscape.This, in turn, deepens their immersion in the experience andincreases the opportunity for the construction of meaning.

Kinesthetic Engagement. The daytime walks are designedto maximize the kinesthetic involvement of the visitor in theinterpretive experience. After reading and hearing about thedifficulties of the journey from excerpts of runaway slavenarratives in the education center, the daytime walks givevisitors the opportunity to feel those hardships in their ownbodies. In essence, visitors commit the experiences of runawaysto both cognitive memory and muscle memory. Visitors stumbleover the uneven ground as they cut through forest patches orskirt along hedgerows. They feel their muscles strain as theyhurry up and down hills or flee from approaching patrollers.When they pause to rest or hide from an interpreter, they willfeel the pounding of their heart in their chest and the sound oftheir own rapid breathing.

Performance theory has highlighted the central role of thebody moving in space in terms of the power and efficacy ofritual (see Chapter 4, Ritual Theory). It is as much through thephysical movement of the body through ritual space as throughcommunication of concepts and values that the primary functionof ritual is achieved—the altering of the understandings andperspectives of participants. In the same fashion, the physicalengagement of the body in the daytime walks is intended tocreate a new state of awareness and empathetic appreciation forthe experiences of runaway slaves in visitors.

Sensitivity to Scale and Proportion. Purposeful manipula-tion of spatial conditions in terms of scale and proportion is alsoa key factor in immersing visitors and creating the opportunity

for the generation of understandings regarding runaways’relationship to the landscape. In the interpretive landscape,much of this revolves around the sense of exposure or enclosureprovided by the physical environment. The interpretive land-scape provides a variety of spatial conditions frequently encoun-tered by runaway slaves in the region and described in theirnarratives.

Visitors travel through environments marked by varyingdegrees of enclosure and exposure, transparency and opacity.Conditions range from enclosure, such as traveling throughforested patches or mature corn fields, or hiding inside build-ings; to vertical screens between themselves and a road orbuilding, such as a hedgerow; to exposure, such as bare pastureland or fields with crops less than three feet high (Figure 9.18).

For the most part, the greater the enclosure, the less visiblevisitors will be and the greater their sense of safety. However,the level of transparency or opacity characteristic of theseenvironments will also affect their visibility and therefor affecthow they move through the environments. In general, the landitself, when used as a screen, offers the greatest opacity. Inother words, in some places visitors must use the hilly terrain totheir advantage to keep themselves hidden from the road,structures, or interpreters. Vegetation offers varying levels of

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Figure 9.18. Degrees of spatial enclosure and exposure experienced onwalks.

transparency, both in terms of the changing seasons and theanatomy of the different types of vegetation found on the site.Hedgerows, which typically consist of trees a few rows deepwith dense, woody undergrowth will provide a great deal ofopacity, especially during the growing season. Likewise, forestedges on the site, which contain understory trees and shrubbygrowth, will effectively screen views into the forest, thus keep-ing visitors traveling within the forest hidden from the nearbyroad and populated areas. However, because the interiors of theforests on the site have little undergrowth, visitors travelingthrough the forest will be visible to any interpreters who arealso in the forest. This is a critical consideration for visitorstraveling near the road at the western edge of the site. Up tothis point, visitors have been able to use the forest interiors asopaque screens between themselves and the road runningoutside of the forest. But as visitors follow the road into thewestern woods, they must modify these previously developedstrategies in order to remain hidden. Visitors will need to usethe rolling topography in this forest for cover.

Lastly, some vertical elements on the site, such as thesnake fences, are highly transparent. The snake fences not onlyoffer no protection from discovery but they can also presentadditional dangers. At two locations on the grounds, the road isbordered on both sides by snake fences. In this case, if visitorsneeded to quickly leave the road in order to avoid detection byan oncoming traveler, their flight would be slowed by thepresence of the fences.

The spatial conditions visitors encounter become a toolfor emphasizing the importance of recognizing the zones ofsurveillance. In this way, the visitor’s spatial relationship to hisenvironment becomes an important teaching tool in helping himsee the landscape from the perspective of a runaway.

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Guided Nighttime Tour

The guided nighttime tour offers the highest level ofimmersion in the runaway slave experience. With a preset routethrough the landscape, it is more structured than the self-guidedday walks, but rather than lessening the immersion in the expe-rience, this structure allows more intense and focused interac-tion with costumed interpreters and the landscape itself.

The nighttime tours take place after sunset, when theinterpretive complex is closed to other visitors. It is structuredso that more than one tour group (each consisting of eight toten visitors) can operate concurrently, on different areas of thegrounds. The tour is structured in three phases: a 20-minuteguided tour of the education center exhibits that preparesvisitors for the rest of the tour, a 60-minute guided journeythrough the interpretive grounds as runaway slaves, and a 20-minute debriefing session in the education center.

As in the daytime programs, participants are taken bywagon to the education center, where they are met by a staffmember who provides a tour through the exhibits, with anemphasis on lessons visitors will need in order to complete theoutdoor portion of the tour successfully. Throughout this partof the tour, the guide also carefully briefs visitors on the groundrules for the outdoor tour. Specifically, the guide stresses thatonce outside, visitors must adopt the role of runaway slaves.They will be treated as slaves by the costumed interpreters theymeet and will be expected to react as slaves. Some of thecharacters visitors meet will be hostile, but none will physicallyharm them. The guide also emphasizes that their best hope ofreaching safety on the tour is to stay together as a group,helping the slower members as necessary. They are remindedthat runaways who were left behind and recaptured often faced

physical torture, sale to the Deep South, or even death. Theguide also emphasizes to visitors that the 1½-mile outdoor touris physically strenuous, as well as emotionally intense, and thatthey must be prepared to move quickly, stay in character, andfocus on their journey. Visitors who have doubts about theirability to physically keep up with the group are asked to staybehind in the visitor center (and are refunded their money).Children under the age of fifteen are not permitted on the tour.

Visitors are then led to the slave cabin behind the educa-tion center, where their tour begins. In the slave cabin, visitorsmeet the three slaves who live there—a married couple (Samand Callie) and Sam’s mother. Sam and Callie accompanyvisitors through the rest of the outdoor tour. In addition to theireducational value in providing visitors with additional insightsabout the lives of mountain slaves, the couple also keeps thetour group on the correct route and on schedule. It is importantto note that participants are not aware that a preset route existsfor their journey or that part of the couple’s task is to keepthem on the right course and on schedule. Because it is impor-tant that visitors do not feel led through the tour but instead aremaking decisions about how to travel through the landscape,the two interpreters accompanying them must steer the groupthrough more subtle means. For example, if the group needs tomove more quickly, Callie may say that she just heard a noise orsaw a lantern and that someone may be tracking them. Thesetwo interpreters must be able to respond spontaneously to thereactions of the group and provide plausible reasons for whythe group should or should not move through the landscape in aparticular manner.

The outdoor tour consists of a circuit through the land-scape punctuated by brief pauses at interpreter stations (Figure9.19). At each station, the runaways meet costumed interpreters

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who either try to capture them or assist them. In addition toproviding visitors with an understanding of some of the otherinhabitants of the landscape of Appalachian slavery, the interac-tion with interpreters at each station heightens participants’immersion in the experience. Visitors encounter an absenteeslave temporarily hiding in the woods, a white tenant farmerwho sees capturing the runaways as a way to bolster his posi-tion with his planter landlord, a leased slave working at one ofthe many iron mines in the region, a mounted slave patrol eagerto make an example of any runaways, and a free black. Theoutdoor tour concludes when the slave patrol catches up to therunaways as they prepare to spend the daylight hours hiding in abarn. After the initial scare of being “caught,” participants areinformed by the patrollers that the tour is over and are escortedback to the education center.

Back inside the education center, visitors are taken up tothe memorial space on the third floor, where they are givenrefreshments and are invited to talk about their experiences onthe tour as well as ask questions of the staff leading the discus-sion. If necessary, a counselor can also participate in thesediscussions.

The remainder of this section describes the nighttime tourin terms of the specific attitudes and approaches of theConstructivist Design Approach.

Structured But Flexible Meaning. Strictly speaking, thenighttime tour is more structured than the daytime walks, givenits set route and use of interpreters as guides. In part, theobjective of this additional structure is to ensure that visitorshave the opportunity to experience and construct meaningsfrom the full range of interpretation offered at the complex.Whereas visitors on daytime walks, for example, may bypass

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Figure 9.19. The route of the nighttime tour through the interpretive landscape is shown in blue. Tour groups stop at each of the numbered stations shown.Some stops involve interactions with costumed interpreters other than Sam and Callie, while others are merely pauses during which the group discusses their

options for moving through the landscape. These pauses are also used to give visitors a moment to catch their breath during the most physically strenuousstretches of the tour (especially Stations 2 and 9) as well as allow any participants who have fallen behind to catch up with the group.

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the iron mine or another interpretive post because of the routethey take, participants in the nighttime tours are certain toengage with all the interpreters, from fellow slaves to slavepatrollers. In this way, the additional structure of the night tourhelps ensure the educational objectives of the interpretivecomplex are addressed.

Like the daytime walks, the night tour is also organized inreference to the dirt loop road, which is presented to visitors asthe Great Valley Road. However, the nighttime tour is lessdependent on the road as a structuring device because of thepresence of the interpreters traveling with each group. Ironi-cally, while the necessity of following the loop road tends torestrict visitors’ route selection in the daytime walks, it actuallyincreases participants’ sense of control in determining their ownroute in the night tour. If groups were not trying to follow theroad, participants would be forced to merely follow the guidesblindly through an enigmatic landscape, with no particularunderstanding of why any given route was chosen. Because ofthe necessity of following the road, however, participants areable to judge for themselves the appropriateness of their courseand contribute to discussions within the group about which wayto go.

This last point suggests that, just as in the daytime walks,the structure of the night tour ultimately enhances rather thanrestricts participants’ opportunities to create more meaningfulexperiences. As visitors make suggestions about directions inwhich to travel or tactics to adopt, the interpreter guides givesubtle feedback about their decisions. Within the context of thetour, Sam and Callie, like the participants, are unfamiliar withmost of the territory covered, yet they do have years of experi-ence as slaves to draw upon in the decision-making process.This allows them to influence participants’ decisions while

strengthening the latter’s perception that their own contribu-tions to the group play an important role in the unfoldingnarrative of their journey.

Dislocation From the External World. Because of the highlevel of immersion in the runaway slave experience that thenighttime tour hopes to create, achieving a sense of separationand distance from the modern world in which visitors arerooted is especially critical. To the greatest extent possible, tourparticipants must forget about the everyday world for the 60minutes they are journeying across the interpretive grounds asrunaway slaves.

To help accomplish this objective, the guided tour of theeducation center serves as a framing experience that distancesvisitors from the modern world and prepares them to adopttheir identities as runaway slaves. The specially focused tourfamiliarizes visitors with the 19th century landscape and thetypes of people they will likely encounter there. It also familiar-izes them with the strategies runaways used to successfullynavigate through the landscape, as well as the types of obstaclesthey typically encountered. The guide impresses on visitors thatonce outside, they will need to call upon the information learnedin the exhibits for their survival.

In addition to providing this cognitive framework, how-ever, the exhibit tour also encourages visitors to begin toidentify with the slaves—to put aside their modern-day identi-ties and begin to see the world from their perspective. Insteadof a detached third-person account of the experiences of slaves,the guide presents the tour in second person: “Many of yourfellow slaves have found ways of using the landscape to avoidthe slave patrols,” or “Like you, most runaways are unfamiliarwith land they fled through.”

This process of transitioning from the modern world intothe role of slaves culminates at the completion of the exhibittour, when the guide collects from all participants any itemsthey carry that connect them to their 21st century identities. Cellphones, wallets, purses, car keys—all symbols of security andcontrol in the modern world—are checked with the guide andleft behind before exiting the education center. The guidereminds participants that most runaways left with only theclothes on their backs. Visitors are then told that they, like thethree slaves they are about to meet, belong to Henry Bowyer,the owner of this mountain farmstead. From this point on,participants are treated like slaves until they return to theeducation center.

The opportunity for reflection is also an important elementof any constructivist site. Devoting time and physical space forindividuals to reflect on their experience allows them to engagemore deliberately in the process of constructing personalizedmeanings. In the case of the nighttime tour, an opportunity forreflection allows participants to begin to integrate and reconciletheir experiences on the tour with their everyday life. At thecompletion of the outdoor tour, participants are led back to theeducation center—this time to the small memorial space on thethird floor. Rather than austere, this room is comfortable andintimate, and light refreshments are offered to encourage par-ticipants to relax. After their possessions are returned to them, astaff member (and counselor if needed), encourages participantsto talk about their experiences and the understandings theyderived from them. This period for reflection helps to ensurethat the tour experience, which occurred in this dislocated spaceof the interpretive center, will not remain separate from theworld of daily activities but can successfully cross over to makean impact on people’s daily lives.

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Personalized Communication. The nighttime tour operatesby personalizing the experiences of runaway slaves for partici-pants. By adopting the role of runaways and undertaking thechallenge of moving through the interpretive landscape as such,participants’ learning shifts from third person to first person.Instead of asking, “What did runaways do?”, the questionbecomes, “What should I do?”. Through the outdoor tour, theexperiences of slaves learned about in the education centerbecome entwined with each individual’s own experience ofmoving through the landscape as a runaway slave. In this way,participants have the opportunity to develop a unique under-standing of the experiences of runaways and slavery—one thatarises from a collaboration between their personal understand-ings and prior experiences and the raw material provided by theinterpretive complex itself.

The process of personalization is enhanced by the use of apreestablished storyline on the tour. The path through theoutdoor landscape represents not just a physical journey butalso an unfolding storyline. The use of a storyline has twopurposes: to serve as a vehicle for the communication of criticalunderstandings about slavery revealed in the historiographicresearch and to serve as mechanism by which participants canpersonalize and internalize these understandings.

For example, when participants are brought to the slavecabin in back of the education center and meet Sam and Callie(husband and wife) and Sam’s elderly mother, the three cos-tumed interpreters treat the tour participants as familiar fellowslaves. The trio is engaged in an animated discussion. MasterBoywer has just died, leaving his slaves to an uncertain fate.The newly married Sam and Callie worry about being perma-nently separated and try to decide whether they should runaway. This first station on the outdoor tour confronts partici-

pants with one of the common reasons slaves chose to runaway: the death of a master. Such an event typically laid barethe helplessness of slaves in controlling their own fate, as theywere often sold off to pay the debts of their late master or weredivided among the surviving relatives. At such times, the risk ofbeing sold south or of slave families being permanently sepa-rated was high. In the discussion that ensues, Sam and Calliedecide they would rather flee than risk separation. Tour partici-pants will go with the couple, but Sam’s mother, too feeble tomake the trip, stays behind. Although participants learned in theexhibit tour of the upheaval that the death of a master couldcause in a slave’s life, the outdoor tour makes it come alive.They feel the anguish of Sam and Callie as they contemplatenever seeing each other again, and Sam’s sadness as he saysgood-bye to his mother for the last time, never to know herfate. On the grounds, the comfortable distance between histori-cal figures and modern-day observers dissolves as participantsbecome personally engaged with the storyline and characters ofthe tour.

Physical Landscape Influences the Internal Landscape.Like the daytime walks, the nighttime tour is structured toprovide participants with experiences that will help them under-stand how runaway slaves saw the landscape and how theymoved through it. Since the same landscape is used in thenighttime tour and the daytime walks, the basic strategies formoving through the landscape are the same: tour groups mustskirt the margins of surveilled areas created through the place-ment of structures and interpreters in the landscape. Just as inthe daytime walks, visitors appropriate hedgerows, forests, andtopographic conditions as visual screens as they navigatethrough dangerous territory.

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However, because the night tour follows a predeterminedroute through the landscape, the opportunity existed to fine-tune the landscape along this route in terms of its ability toprovide visitors with important understandings about runaway’sexperiences. In light of this opportunity, five definitive experi-ences of the runaway slave were selected with the objective ofdesigning the landscape along the path to evoke these sensa-tions. The experiences, identified through the historiographicresearch, are fear of discovery, physical exhaustion, disorienta-tion, exposure to the elements, and appropriation of landscapefeatures. The task, then, was to determine how the landscapeitself could be used to evoke these experiences for visitors—inother words, how the characteristics of the physical landscapecould influence the internal landscape of nighttime tour partici-pants.

Physical Interaction With the Site. Each of the five experi-ences were translated into corresponding physical landscapecharacteristics that could be manipulated during the designprocess. In order to determine the appropriate landscape char-acteristics for each experience, not only the physical features ofthe landscape had to be considered but also the interplay be-tween individuals and these landscape features. In other words,how the landscape characteristics engaged visitors senses,affected their perception of their own bodies moving throughspace, and their reaction to the spatial conditions through whichthey traveled. The list of characteristics for each experiencecame from a variety of sources: walking the tour route on thesite to determine how its existing features could be incorporatedinto the tour experience; the qualitative research study of theFollow the North Star program, which explored the role of thephysical landscape in the interpretive program and identified

several landscape features and characteristics that were criticalin shaping visitor experience; and a brief review of publishedresearch regarding the physical environment’s effect on theinternal states of individuals. The five experiences and theircorresponding landscape characteristics are listed below, fol-lowed by a brief explanation of each.:

1. Fear of Discovery• spheres of surveillance

2. Disorientation• physical obstruction of view to the road

(vegetation or topography)• lighting level

3. Physical Exhaustion• steepness of slopes• roughness of terrain• rate of travel

4. Exposure to the Elements• wet or muddy terrain• rain• wind• fog• extremes of temperature

5. Appropriation of Landscape Features• using visual screens for hiding

(topography, vegetation)• using the road for navigation• finding a way across a creek

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1. Fear of Discovery. This is the virtually constant fearrunaways felt that they would be seen by someone as theytraveled through the landscape. As discussed in the daytimewalks section of this chapter, spheres of surveillance defined bysight lines through the landscape as well as auditory range areused to make visitors conscious of the potential that they will bediscovered.

2. Disorientation. The sense of confusion and disorienta-tion that accompanied travel through unfamiliar territory wasalso a common theme in the historiographic research. In orderto understand how the landscape can promote a sense of disori-entation, the processes through which individuals orient them-selves in space must be understood. Numerous studies bydesigners, geographers, psychologists, and others have focusedon the human process of orientation and wayfinding. Althoughno consensus exists among researchers regarding the exactprocesses by which humans orient themselves and navigatethrough the landscape, landscape architects Appleyard, Lynch,and Myer (1964) provide a useful working definition of orienta-tion as the process of “locating [a landscape’s] principle fea-tures and discovering one’s own position in relation to it” (p.16). The importance of landmarks in the act of orientation isdirectly applicable to the walks on the interpretive grounds,where the loop road, which visitors are told to follow north,essentially functions as the sole recognizable, meaningfullandmark for visitors in their journey. Thus, as visitors loosevisual contact with the road for extended periods of time, theyare more likely to feel disoriented.

The loss of visual connection with the road comes fromseveral landscape sources, such as intervening hills or vegeta-tion. On the nighttime tour, views of the road will also often be

obscured by darkness. Aside from the tenant farmer and ironmine stations, at which campfires burn, illumination of the roaddepends solely on moonlight and starlight. Visibility of the roadwill be further affected by cloud cover and the phases of themoon. Because of low light levels, visitors will need to bephysically closer to the road to see it.

3. Physical Exhaustion. The runaway slave narratives alsoreveal that the physical demands of fugitives’ journey not onlyexhausted them physically but also severely tested their psycho-logical will to continue. Although the nighttime tour cannotpush participants even close to the level of physical and emo-tional exhaustion experienced by runaways, it can provide aphysically demanding course that gives participants a sense ofthe exhaustion felt by runaways. Consequently, one of thedesign objectives of the night tour was to choreograph partici-pants’ kinesthetic interaction with the landscape in a way thatprovided higher levels of physical exertion.

Although each individual’s level of exhaustion will beaffected by his or her own physical condition, in terms of theelements under the designer’s control, three characteristics wereidentified as affecting the level of exhaustion: the steepness ofthe slopes participants travel up and down, the rate of travel,and the roughness of the terrain encountered. Interviews withFollow the North Star participants revealed that these threecharacteristics played a profound role in shaping their under-standing of what the journey north was like for many runaways.

4. Exposure to the Elements. Runaways were exposed to amyriad of weather and environmental conditions that endan-gered their ability to complete their journey and sometimes evenendangered their lives. Although—unlike runaways—most tour

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participants will be appropriately attired in hiking boots orsneakers, rain gear, or coats, they will nevertheless be exposedto the elements for an hour, with no opportunity to changeclothes or dry off. Although the tours will be canceled ifweather conditions are deemed too dangerous, the tour will goon in light rainfall or snowfall, muddy or foggy conditions, andin both hot and cold weather, as such conditions did not stopmost runaways. Although the interpretive complex has nocontrol over the weather, the tour route is structured to forceparticipants to ford two streams on their own. The creeks areshallow, but finding a way across them will most certainly resultin wet feet, a major problem for runaways traveling through themountain region in the winter months.

5. Appropriation of Landscape Features. Although run-aways usually found the odds stacked against them in theirjourneys, they also developed subtle strategies for movingthrough the landscape that helped increase their chances ofsuccess. Thus, the lack of control of their own destiny theygenerally felt throughout their journey was punctuated bymoments in which they asserted some control over their envi-ronment and hence their own fate. These strategies, as they arecalled upon on the interpretive grounds, are the use of visualscreens, such as vegetation and landforms, to conceal them-selves; use of the road as a navigational guide; and the ability tofind alternative routes around environmental obstacles—in thiscase, finding their own stream crossings when the bridges areblocked by toll collectors.

Dramatic Rhythms. With a set of landscape characteristicsestablished for each of the five runaway experiences, the nextstep was to determine how these landscape characteristics could

be arranged along the tour route to most effectively evoke thecorresponding experiences for tour participants. This part of thedesign process can be compared to the composition of a musi-cal score. Just as a composer works with whole notes andquarter notes, allegro and adagio tempos to create the desiredrhythm of a musical piece, the landscape architect works withthe arrangement of landscape features to evoke a desired effect.In the case of the night tour, the dramatic rhythm for each ofthe five runaway experiences had to be established through themanipulation of the landscape characteristics along the tourpath. For some experiences, juxtaposing landscape characteris-tics would accentuate their effect—alternating views of the roadwith obstructions of this view would make moments of disori-entation more palpable—while for others, the concurrence oflandscape characteristics would enhance the experience—thelayering of steep slopes, rough terrain, and a fast rate of travelto increase participants’ exhaustion levels.

To more effectively design for the desired experiences,scores were developed for each runaway experience. Just as amusical score symbolically represents in written form an audi-tory event, the scores used to help design the nighttime tourrepresent on paper various aspects of the tour experience. Thescores present in diagrammatic notation the tour route and thedistribution of the landscape characteristics along this route foreach experience. Through the use of these scores, it becamepossible to understand the rhythm of each experience as itwould be encountered along the tour route and to modify thatrhythm as necessary to provide visitors with a potentially morepowerful experience. The remainder of this section presents thescores used for each of the desired experiences and brieflydescribes how they were used to make specific design interven-tions.

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1. Fear of Discovery. Fear of being discovered on thejourney was created through use of the spheres of surveillance.The route of the night tour skirts around the edges of thesezones, changing direction and course as necessary to remainjust at the margin of surveilled territory. As Figure 9.20 sug-gests, a considerable portion of the tour route (the light grayband) is encroached upon by surveilled areas, but there are alsobrief respites in between the spheres when participants arerelatively safe from detection. These alternating moments ofdanger and safety amplify the experience of each for partici-pants. It creates a dramatic rhythm of suspense and anticipationas visitors must constantly readjust to their changing situation.

As the score shows, at the start of the tour (lower rightcorner of the figure), as participants run north from the slavehouse, they experience a long stretch of path with no potentialsurveillance. This was intentionally orchestrated to allowparticipants to transition into the tour without an immediatethreat of dis-covery con-fronting them.After this initialperiod, the fearof discoveryescalates to astaccato alter-nation of statesas they travel inand out ofsurveillancezones along thesouthern edgeof the route.

Figure 9.20. Spheres of surveillance score. Thepath taken by visitors is shown in light gray,while the zones of surveillance are shown indark gray.

Again, at the western edge, they experience the relative relief ofbeing in a remote, unseen location, only to have the potentialfor discovery escalate again as they travel along the northernportions of the route. The final, southbound, stretch of theroute lengthens the time between spheres, and helps calmparticipants in preparation for the end of the tour. This overallrhythm helps build tension and momentum, and helps make thetransition from one state to the next more pronounced.

2. Disorientation. As Figure 9.21 shows, the periods oftime when participants can see and therefore orient themselvesto the road (light gray) and when they cannot (dark gray) arelong. Rather than the quick juxtapositions seen in the previousscore, visitors travel for prolonged periods in sight of the road,and then must search for the road for equally long periods. Thisslower tempo in terms of the dramatic rhythm of this experienceallows for a more profound experience of disorientation. Ratherthan loosing sight of the road for a brief moment, participantshave the sense of wandering in the countryside for prolongedperiods. This also provides opportunities for Sam and Callie,the two interpreters leading each group, to engage visitors is

discussions aboutwhich way thegroup should head.This gives partici-pants further oppor-tunities to thinkthrough and employsome of the strate-gies they learnedabout in the inter-pretive center. It

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also increases visitors’ sense that they are playing an active rolein determining the course of the group, rather than merely beingled through the landscape by Sam and Callie. In this way, theslower rhythm of disorientation that visitors experience helps toimmerse them more deeply into their roles as runaway slaves.

3. Physical Exhaustion. Unlike the previous two experi-ences, which rely on the juxtaposition of landscape characteris-tics to create the desired impact, the experience of physicalexhaustion depends heavily on the concurrence or layering ofcharacteristics. Like the musical composer who layers differentmusical instruments into his composition to achieve a richereffect, the experience of exhaustion relies on the layering ofsteep slopes, rough terrain, and a fast rate of travel. In order tounderstand the combined effect of each of the landscape charac-teristics, the individual scores for each characteristic wereoverlain to form a composite score for physical exhaustion(Figure 9.22). In each individual score, the areas of the tourroute that require greater exertion (i.e., steeper slopes, rougherterrain, and faster rates of travel) are assigned darker shades ofgray. The inter-preter stations, atwhich visitors arestationary forextended periodsof time and thus donot exert them-selves to anydegree, are shadedred in the scores.Like a cymbalclash in a sym-

Figure 9.21. Score of physical obstructionsto views of the road. Areas in which viewsare blocked are shown in dark gray.

Figure 9.22. The composite score forexhaustion. Interpreter stations areindicated in red.

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phony, the interpreter stations were considered to be in suchstark contrast to the rest of the tour experience that they re-quired special notation in the scores. As the overall dark colorof this composite score indicates, the tour route is relativelydemanding. This is especially true on the initial leg of the tour(between Stations 1 and 3), where steep slopes, fast travel, andrough terrain are purposefully layered to encourage people tofocus on the physical sensations of their own body as a way ofheightening their initial immersion in the tour experience andalso to make visitors aware of the demanding nature of the tour(any participants who feel after this first leg that they cannotcontinue have the option of remaining at Station 3 with theabsentee slave, who will return them to the education centeronce the rest of the group has continued on).

Although the experience of physical exhaustion dependsheavily on the layering of the three landscape characteristics,juxtaposition also plays an important role. The red interpreterstations serve as moments of contrast for tour participants, asthey no longer have to worry about their footing or keeping uptheir quick rate of travel. In terms of the overall rhythm of thetour, then, these stations play an important role in drawingparticipants’ attention to their level of exertion. On a morepractical level, the interpreter stations also provide a brief butnecessary rest on the demanding route to help ensure thatparticipants are able to complete the tour. Because of thestrenuousness of the tour indicated in the composite score,several additional stations were added to the original tour(Stations 2, 9, and 11 on Figure 9.19). These new stations arepositioned after particularly demanding stretches of the route(as indicated by the darkest gray) to allow participants a briefrest.

4. Exposure to the Elements. Because manipulation of thelandscape would have little effect on Exposure to the Elementsand because weather conditions would vary considerable amongtours, this experience was not scored.

5. Appropriation of Landscape Features. Participants’ actsof appropriating landscape features to assist their journeyrepresent moments when runaways felt some sense of controlover their environment as well as their fate. These moments,however, were fleeting. The score for this experience (Figure9.23) shows that participants’ use of visual screens (thick blackbands) tend to be juxtaposed with moments of exposure in aquick staccato fashion that helps to convey a sense of thebrevity of these moments of control. In contrast, participantsexperience longer periods of control (thin arrows) in terms oftheir ability toappropriatethe road as anavigationaldevice. Find-ing waysacross thecreeks (threedots) arehighlights interms ofparticipants’sense ofmastery oftheir environ-ment.

Figure 9.23. Appropriation of landscapefeatures score. This score combines threelandscape conditions: the three dots indicatefinding creek crossings, the arrows indicate theuse of the road as a navigational aid, and thethick black bands indicate the use landscapefeatures as visual screens to avoid detection.

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ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING

The education center, daytime walks, and nighttime tourrepresent the major emphases of the interpretive complex.However, to supplement the permanent interpretive programsand to best take advantage of the unique educational opportuni-ties that the complex offers, a series of temporary programs andfeatures could also be offered to shed light on other aspects ofthe Appalachian landscape of slavery and its legacy for futuregenerations. For example, the upper floor of the educationcenter would house temporary exhibits on various themes, suchas the role of religion in slave life, the experiences of free blacksin the region, how emancipation affected farming and manufac-turing practices in the region, or the efforts made in the regionto educate former slaves and their children.

In addition, the interpretive landscape itself offers numer-ous opportunities for special programs. For example, when thecorn or other crops are ready to be harvested in the fields, thepublic could be invited to witness antebellum harvesting prac-tices, with the work being done by costumed interpreters.Similar programs could be offered for other activities typicallyperformed by slaves in Appalachia. A guided walk offeredduring the holiday season would highlight the different ways

Appalachians celebrated Christmas, from slaves, to poor whites,to wealthy farmers and entrepreneurs.

The interpretive complex also holds great potential foraugmenting classroom instruction for school children. All of thetours or walks could be easily modified to address the needs ofschool groups. In addition, with a growing body of historicalresearch on the experiences and living conditions of enslavedchildren in Appalachia, exhibits, tours, and supporting class-room materials could be developed that focus on this aspect ofslavery. Indoor exhibits would emphasize a hands-on approachto interpretation. For example, children would be encouraged tofeel or even put on the rough hemp shirts that slave childrenwore even during the mountain winters or sample the types offoods that slave children were traditionally fed. In the interpre-tive grounds they could learn about the chores slaves too youngfor hard labor were given, such as feeding the livestock ormending fences.

Finally, as an extension of the goals of the complex tosupport further scholarship on Appalachian slavery and itslegacy, a yearly conference could be held with published confer-ence proceedings. In time, the complex could also support itsown scholarly journal. Such special programs would furthertake advantage of the unique opportunities the Appalachianslavery interpretive center can provide.

This chapter has described the basic plan for the design ofthe Appalachian slavery interpretive complex. But true to theConstructivist Design Approach, this plan represents the begin-ning of the design process, rather than its end.

The collaboration characteristic of a constructivist sitebegins well before the gates to the complex officially open tovisitors. It is also a critical part of the design process itself andencompasses a wide array of experts, stakeholder groups, andlocal community members. The design of the interpretivegrounds and education center exhibits as well as the refinementof programmatic elements requires the collaboration of a widearray of individuals, including historians specializing in Appala-chian slavery, architectural historians, agriculturalists, educa-

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THE NEXT STEP IN THE DESIGN PROCESS tors, psychologists, members of the local Fincastle HistoricalSociety, the local chapter of the NAACP as well as otherinterested African-American groups, and interested members ofthe local community. All of these groups can make importantcontributions to the quality of the interpretive experienceoffered at the site.

One of the most important aspects of the collaborativedesign process is the running of test groups through the daytimewalks and nighttime tour before the complex is open to thegeneral public. These volunteer groups provide valuable feed-back about the design of these experiences, from the level ofphysical exertion required to the effectiveness of the road as anorganizing principle. The test groups can be asked specificallyfor feedback about the effectiveness of the use of the landscapefeatures and the dramatic rhythm they create as outlined in thescoring for the nighttime walk.