In October 1850 enslaved men and women were forced to do the dangerous and difficult work in and around the fields owned by the slaver.

Enslaved women spent seven days bailing water out of the large canals and ten days leveling the tops of the canal banks.
Enslaved men were digging out canals, cutting wood and hauling it away after the enslaved women loaded it into wagons.

The harvesting of corn also started in October with enslaved women doing the majority of that forced labor.

Once fields were harvested, in the process of preparing the fields for winter months the enslaved men started the hard manual forced labor of plowing those fields, then the enslaved men and women would also begin making charcoal and spreading lime throughout the plantation.

Photographs top left-right: Somerset Place Plantation Historic Site.
Bottom: courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village.

Parts of narrative: Somerset Historic Site.