This is an automated transcription. Mount Vernon cannot guarantee the accuracy or quality of the transcription. If you would like to provide a better transcription you can submit one at: http://www.mountvernon.org/video/send-us-your-transcription/ I'm just mccloud I'm an assistant curator in the historic preservation and collections department here at Mount Vernon we're standing in one of the bunk rooms at the greenhouse slave quarters which with the main housing for enslaved workers on Mansion House Farm this structure was originally completed in 1792 and it consists of a central two-story greenhouse with one story wings on either side that functioned as housing for displaced workers Washington really designed this as a two faced structure so you have the elegant greenhouse opening up into the ornamental garden and then you have these wings on either side that serve a very utilitarian purpose and you really can't tell the function of these wings right here in the garden looking at the greenhouse this structure was built by enslaved carpenters and bricklayers and Washington was probably inspired by military barracks when he ordered them to construct these banks which were deficient way to house a large number of people in a small space this is different from the typical housing foreign state workers on the outlying farms where there were a smaller wooden cabins that has one or two families by contrast in this building there were four bunk rooms 34 men and 14 women and children and they were probably about 10 to 20 people who lived in each case must the slaves who lives in this building works either in the house or at skilled trades such as carpentry bricklaying fitting or gardening the reason that washington probably chose this structure housing with that most of these workers were men who were either single or had family is on one of washington's outlying farms several miles away these men with live here during the week and visit their family on Sunday which was their only day off so for example now who is that blacks met here I Mansion House Farm with married to Lucy who is a field worker on don't run farm and she lived there with their two children so that would have been able to visit only one day a week in this space agency examples of artifacts that enslaved people would have and used such as a reproduction livery suit which is the outfit that male house slaves would have worn and cooking implements that and save fuel used to cook their own meals over the open heart and save people are also permitted to have their own personal garden plots where they grew vegetables and they hunted and trapped while the animals to supplement their weekly rations of cornmeal and salted fish