Mack, John, and Andrew from Rogers Building Corporation recently pulled out an interesting floor joist from the Slave Quarters. Not only was this piece of lumber in excellent condition, but it also has mortise joints carved into the side. Originally we believed the mortises were carved in the wrong direction and the board was just repurposed. However, through more investigating the carpenters noticed that the mortises line up perfectly with missing bricks in the wall. This has led them to hypothesize that the original artisans used the mortise joints and the missing bricks to put beams up to be used as scaffolding so they could work on the higher parts of the walls. These artisans, mostly slaves, were truly innovators.
