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Smith, Melissa M.

Historic Preservation Program

2013

M.S.

Journey's End, the Turner family homestead, is located in Grafton, Vermont and was settled in 1873 by Alexander Turner, a former slave and union soldier. The property offers a rare glimpse into the experiences of African Americans in Vermont, particularly those who fled the South after the Civil War and migrated to New England in search of a better life. The site is incredibly important as a historical place devoted to the often overlooked and underrepresented histories of minority communities in Vermont, but is also unique due to the extensive oral histories associated with the site. Daisy Turner, Alexander Turner's daughter, chronicled her father's history and the history of the homestead through story telling. This in combination with family photographs of the property, documentary evidence, and an architectural analysis of Birchdale Camp, the only surviving structure at Journey's End, serves as the basis for a study of the property and the activities associated with life on a late nineteenth/early twentieth century Vermont farmstead.