ADG Perspective

T H E U N D E R G R O U N D R A I L R O A D | P E R S P E C T I V E 5 9 The production scouted the few plantations that still remain in South Georgia and settled on Myrtle Grove in Richmond Hill, not because of its architecture, but because it had the perfect place to build the quarters. In so many depictions of plantation life, the slave cabins are next to the big house, but that is not often how it was. The slaves lied lse t ere te red te fields. t Myrtle Grove, we found an area that the owner claimed to have once housed the slave quarters. There was no indication of that but what was there was an amazing stand of ancient live oak trees next t an en field. sa it rigt aa. e designed the slave community's cabins to wind in and around these amazing trees. This was a functional choice since it's about thirty degrees cooler under their shade. It also gave a majesty to the place. n age. e giant s lding its residents lie anient anestrs. e resled t lant ttn in te adaent field. The quarters were laid out to depict all the functions of that life, from sleeping, to taking care of livestock, to the processing of sugarcane. There was a smokehouse, a smithy, a cook house all woven into the many residential cabins that were constructed. To seal the deal, the crew planted our own cotton and charted its growth. The cotton was both beautiful in its natural glory and horrifying for what it represented. It was always present in any slave cabin frame arguing with the innocent wisdom of the live oaks. De t te dget renfigring te st as delayed by over a month, nothing helped that essential set more than the extra amount of time the crew had to build and grow it. Robert Pyzocha, a riend and trsted rt Diretr sent mnts there focused on the texture of each board and planting of every stalk of cane and cotton. That time allowed us to create a truly layered reality. I asked Tom to look for the reclaimed wood of old barns and that, along with the rough sawn lumber that we aged ourselves, set a baseline for texture. The shacks were cobbled together using the old and the new. Building bent structures safely is harder than it looks and most of these needed to be seen both interior and exterior, so the framing had to be hidden. The ramshackle construction portrayed a sense of desperation, but it also created another odd kind of beauty. The beauty of survival. s slaed tgeter as te were, the cabins were survivors themselves. They stood proudly. They were homes, somehow built by these founding merians. D. & E. SLAVE CABIN INTERIORS, GEORGIA. EVERY BOARD IN EACH CABIN WAS CONSIDERED. SOME WERE RECLAIMED, SOME HAND-HEWN. EACH CABIN WAS DISTINCT AS WAS EACH RESIDENT. SET PHOTO. F. COTTON FIELDS PLANTED BY THE PRODUCTION RIGHT BEHIND THE QUARTERS. PRODUCTION STILL. D E G

• 0C1_ADG MAY-JUNE 2021