"Every year millions of tourists visit historic sites throughout the world. In the American South, these sites encompass diverse cultural landscapes, such as plantations. In many cases, visitors do not receive representative pictures of early lives. Rather, they encounter sanitized versions of the past that are acceptable to conventional views of slavery and that avoid conflict and expressions of deep emotion. Therefore, one of the primary goals of this research is to create a model for interpretative programs targeting plantation sites. Through an analysis of current programs and archival information, this model addresses the expressions of race, social class, and identity in the cultural landscape. ...This research on James Madison's Montpelier, George Washington's Mount Vernon, and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and Poplar Forest attempts to remedy these shortcomings while providing a model to be used for the interpretative programming at plantations throughout the South... "--Abstract, page xix.

The study of the John Whitesides Plantation site (38CH1471), a late-eighteenth century site south of Rifle Range Road near the Isle of Palms connector.