The Lacy Hotel Site: Gender Ideologies and Domestic Activities in a 19th Century Boardinghouse Context

• Main Author: scharffenberg, melissa
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2011
• Subjects: Historical archaeology; Boardinghouse; Nineteenth-century; Civil War; Gender; Domestic actions; Marxist-Feminist Theory; Anthropology
• Online Access: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/53; http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=anthro_theses

The Lacy Hotel was a part of the "Great Locomotive Chase", a significant historical event in Kennesaw, Georgia during the Civil War (AD 1861-1864), yet little is known of this site. The Lacy Hotel was a boardinghouse that operated for roughly six years until General William Tecumseh Sherman burned it in 1864. This research utilizes historical records along with archaeological fieldwork in order to provide a more detailed analysis of daily life within the Lacy household. Dominant ideologies influence the roles of women concerning their activities and choices of consumption within the household. Although the results show that the boardinghouse is not a typical household, the social dynamics and consumption are still constrained by the culture and ideology of the time period. In conclusion, this research offers a case study about the role of women on the eve of turmoil and contends that the boardinghouse is emblematic of broader changes within the rural South during the 19th century.