A photo from the early 1900s of the Tuleyries mansion.
W. Antonio Austin, a Ph.D. student at Howard University and a 2021 summer intern at Blandy, gave a talk called "Remembering the Enslaved at the Tuleyries" as part of a public program at Blandy in February. The Tuley family and their relations were prominent families in the Frederick and Clarke County, Virginia areas. Though part of their notoriety comes from the construction of the Tuleyries mansion in the early 1830s, it was also a site of enslavement for generations of African-descended people whose labor assisted the family in maintaining their wealth. The mansion stands just west of Blandy.
Antonio was the first intern dedicated to the research of the enslaved people on the Tuleyries Plantation, part of which is now Blandy Experimental Farm and The State Arboretum of Virginia. Within his research, he has been able to identify the names of those enslaved and information about their experiences during slavery and after emancipation.
Co-sponsored by the Clarke County Historical Association (clarkehistory.org), the presentation traced this family's relationship to individuals they once enslaved while bringing back into the historical narrative of the individuals.
Austin was joined by Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy, an avid genealogist for over 30 years. Murphy works for the University of Virginia as the Descendant Project Researcher, seeking descendants of the enslaved laborers who helped build the university.
A video recording of the talk can be found on Blandy's Youtube channel.