Descendants of slaves removed from Africa to clear swamps for a North Carolina plantation are holding a reunion at the site, with some spending the night in a reconstructed slave cabin.
About 40 descendants of two slaves named Kofi and Sally planned to gather Saturday at the Somerset Place State Historic Site, a former plantation in Creswell in eastern North Carolina. Six family members are among a group staying overnight on the grounds.
Somerset site manager Karen Hayes says Kofi and Sally were brought to Creswell from the coast of west Africa along with 78 other enslaved people, arriving in 1786. Their early work included digging a 6-mile-long canal, draining the land and clearing it of trees.
She says no slave descendants have ever spent the night there.
