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Orlando Brown House

  • Uncovering the story of Harry Mordecai, Bricklayer and Plasterer at Liberty Hall Historic Site

    By Sharon Cox

    Mordecai blog Sharon Cox image 1Orlando Brown House exterior, photograph by Hilly Dobner, 2019.

    My first introduction to Mordecai’s work at the Orlando Brown House was a report of Jacqueline Ridley’s tour of Liberty Hall. Jacqueline is a descendant of Mordecai. Harry Mordecai had been known as a free African American plasterer who was thought to have plastered the Old State Capitol and the Orlando Brown House. Curator Kate Hesseldenz was able to provide Jacqueline with a copy of Orlando Brown’s record of paying Mordecai for some of the plasterwork at Orlando’s house and Orlando’s letter to his father about the construction progress.