Learn about nail-making at Monticello. Use the additional resources to further explore the work of enslaved boys in the nailery. Guiding Questions:   1. What was life like for members of the enslaved community at Monticello? 2. What kind of work did members of the enslaved community do?

Watch the video to learn how many nails an enslaved boy could make in a day. 

These long pieces of iron are called nail rods. To make a nail, these nail rods were heated up  and beat into smaller pieces, chipped off, and then hammered into a point. 

A digital reconstruction of the nailery at Monticello is seen here. The nailery was where nails were made 

In 1794, Thomas Jefferson added a nailmaking operation to the blacksmith shop on Mulberry Row at Monticello. He hoped that the nailery would provide a source of cash income to supplement his income from Monticello's agricultural production.  At any given time, about 14 enslaved boys age 10 - 21 were working daily in the nailery. Work in the nailery would have been hot, noisy, and difficult. Thomas Jefferson kept track of how many nails each enslaved worker made each day. 

Most of the enslaved who began their working lives in the nailery became tradesmen. Moses Hern and Joseph Fossett became blacksmiths; Lewis and Shepherd were carpenters; Barnaby Gillette was a cooper; James Hubbard a charcoal burner; Wormley Hughes a gardener; and Burwell Colbert was Monticello's butler as well as a painter and glazier.

Nails made in the nailery at Monticello could have been used for building projects on the plantation or sold to make money for Thomas Jefferson. 

Watch the video to learn about a conflict between the enslaved boys making nails. 

Standards for The Nailery