A Piece of Senegal in Florida

I visited Janis this weekend, and her surprise to me was a little bit of Senegalese history during our visit to the Kingsley Plantation. This historical site is located in the Timucuan Preserve, which is near Jacksonville. Zephaniah Kingsley settled there in the early 1800s and bought his wife, a Senegalese girl named Anta Majigeen Jaay (or Ndiaye). Kingsley freed her and she was active in the plantation management; later she even acquired her own land and slaves. The slave huts are still left, arranged in a semi-circle around the plantation house. The tour guide informed us this was supposed to be representative of villages in West Africa, though neither Janis or I had seen a village arranged in this fashion. Viola claims she has seen Senegalese villages in the north arranged in a circle.

I hadn't realized until Janis pointed it out, but there are a lot of similarities between Florida and Senegal, which, understandably, made Senegal seem less exotic for her. The weather, soil, termites, topography, and vegetation are especially similar to the Sine Saloum Delta Region. But who knew there was a piece of Senegal in Florida's history?

Remnants of a slave hut, tabby construction

Another slave hut

View of the Fort George River