You are standing in front of a graphic panel titled “House History: Second and Third Floors.” To your left is the staircase leading upstairs. Please note that the staircase and upper floors are closed to visitors. To your right is a graphic panel titled “SERC’s Campus and the Surrounding Area: Today.” Behind you is a doorway leading to section four of the exhibition: A New Nation.

The panel in front of you includes text and five images.

The main text reads:

HOUSE HISTORY
Second and Third Floors

What’s upstairs?
This grand stairway led to the bedrooms and private spaces on the second and third floors. These rooms are not open to the public. In keeping with their private nature, they have lower ceilings and less decorative details. The family used these stairs. Enslaved people and servants used the smaller 1735 staircase in the kitchen.

An image at the top of the panel shows a wallpaper pattern with cartoons of farmers, farm animals, and farm buildings. The caption reads: While rehabilitating the house, staff uncovered this 1930s-era wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom.

The remaining images are headlined “House History Clues”:

A photo of a large open French window and a black-and-white photo of an elderly woman standing on a porch outside the back of the house under a balcony. The caption reads: In the 1900s, the second floor had a rear veranda with a commanding view of the surrounding land.

A photo of writing on the wall and a black-and-white photo of Jonathan Sellman. The caption reads: Jonathan Sellman (pictured as an adult) signed his name on the wall of an upstairs bedroom at the age of 14, around 1904. He also marked his height: five feet five-and-a-half inches. This and other markings indicate who lived here in the past.