Reconstructing the Lives of People Buried at the St. Peter Street Cemetery

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Most people buried at St. Peter Street appeared to have been buried below ground in unmarked graves, usually in simple cypress coffins. Bodies were most likely washed after death and wrapped in a simple linen shroud to be buried. This means that, when items were included with bodies, they probably held special significance for the individuals, their families, or others around them. In an Atlantic world in which the lived experience of Africans, Native Americans, and European settlers overlapped and were interwoven in ways that often defied easy categorizations, such items may give a better glimpse into how identities were negotiated in Colonial-era society.

Two individuals in particular stood out because of the assemblages of objects with which they were interred. This section tells their stories through those objects; considered with the analyses of their skeletal remains, these give us important insights into the everyday experiences that made them who they were in their lives.