The Slave Quarters building retained its original first floor well into the 1960s. The brick pavers were added on top of a one-foot-thick concrete slab in the 1966 when the decision was made to interpret the room as a kitchen.

A false ceiling was removed in 2022 to reveal joists destroyed by water damage and termites as well as incompatible work from the 1970s. The two joists on each end of the room are the oldest and probably replaced original material during restoration work by the Cochrans in the early 1900s. The six joists in the middle are ca. 1900 boards from a historic building in Forth Worth.

Originally, access between the floors was through an interior ladder. A small square opening, just big enough for a person to climb through, was cut through the floorboards on the east side of the Slave Quarters building. To access the second story from the ground floor, and to save the already limited square footage, a simple ladder was placed near or built-in against the east interior wall so that one could move between floors. The exterior staircase was still present for access directly from the primary dwelling and the kitchen/work yard--enslavers would not have used the interior ladder.

The original dirt floor of the Slave Quarters building was about a foot lower than the present threshold. The original floor depth can be seen today in the excavated area around the set kettle. The current brick pavers were added during a restoration in 1966.

This view of the first-floor door opening during restoration in 2015 shows the layers of the original threshold and floor level and the 1966 brick pavers set in the concrete slab.

This structure in the northwest corner of the room is a set kettle; it is unknown when it was added to the building. A set kettle was used for heating and keeping warm large amounts of water, so it would have been a useful appliance for the US Army hospital, the Blind Asylum, or the Neill and Cochran families before a kitchen and plumbing were added to the main house in the 20th century. Restoration work in 2022 revealed the original set kettle depth and dimensions of the firebox opening.

The stones used for the Slave Quarters building are significantly smaller—even rougher and more irregular—than the rubble limestone used on the house which was finished to more closely resemble ashlar masonry laid in a regular pattern. Jagged limestone scraps were used to build the Slave Quarters building. Compared to the main house’s eighteen-inch-thick walls, the walls of the Slave Quarters are fourteen inches thick, leaving no room to cover up the cedar lintels above the doors and windows on the interior. On the exterior, the enslaved masons placed stones at various angles, laid inconsistent mortar joints, and inserted other types of rocks alongside the limestone to complete the shelter as quickly and inexpensively as possible.

It is possible that the interior limestone walls were originally whitewashed. In an attempt to recreate that finish, in the early 1970s, the restoration architect recommended that a coating called Cementico be applied to the walls. Composed of a gypsum base mixed with other materials that results in a cement-like finish when it hardens, this layer cannot be removed as it will damage the original limestone underneath.

Note here as well - you can see evidence of old whitewashing of the original stone.