Wessyngton Plantation: A Family's Road to Freedom

Overview

In 1796, Joseph Washington, a distant relative of our first president, purchased sixty acres in Middle Tennessee for tobacco farming. Eventually covering 13,000 acres, Wessyngton Plantation would thrive off the blood, sweat and tears of hundreds of African Americans. Unlike other plantations only two slaves were ever sold from Wessyngton, resulting in several generations of enslaved family members living and laboring together.