Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1184216
as living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry and bedroom. There were only four walls (some slave quarters did have a wall between the eating area and the sleeping area). After the set was dressed, I stepped inside and immediately broke down. Sure, I'm a sensitive person. But stepping into that dressed slave cabin brought on a swell of emotion and empathy. The slave quarters were designed and constructed so the walls could be wild in some sections. The final design meant the quarters were built like a regular set with double-sided walls. Then split logs were applied to the surface and the paint and plaster crew applied "chinking" between the logs. This is a real technique still used today. Chinking helps bind the logs in a log cabin structure. Chinking also makes a log cabin free of drafts, and helps to keep water and small critters out. I fully expected heavy rains and winds to sometimes cause challenges for working crews and sets at the location. The exterior sets had to be constructed to withstand small tornadoes and heavy rains. After one particularly intense thunderstorm, which caused flooding and prevented the crew from reaching one of the main filming locations (the location on the Brodess Plantation where Harriet and her family lived), we were finally able to return to the set and assess the damage. The slave quarters and the house that served as the Brodess Family House were all intact, suffering only the very slightest amount of damage. From that moment forward, we began wondering if Harriet was watching over us. The major set pieces were the Brodess Plantation, where the first group of slave quarters was built, the Philadelphia Wharf setting, the downtown Philadelphia location, Thompson's Mill (the place A C D B E