In the spring of 2023, an archaeological team led by Molly Morgan, Nick Bourgeois, and Reece Black conducted excavations at Varner-Hogg Plantation, in the part of the site where quarters existed and housed enslaved people and convict laborers in the mid-to-late 19th century. Students and interns identified a few items of particular interest in expanding our understanding of the types of activities that took place here. Excavators identified a copper alloy buckle, likely a shoe buckle. Items of personal adornment such as this one hint at expressions of identity, consumer market access, and fashion. Researchers also found fragments of a writing slate, indicating that learning took place here. Lastly, the finding of a harmonica reed fragment allows us to attribute recreational activities such as the use of instruments to make music, supporting interpretations of a social life in the quarters. These finds expand our image of captive labor at this site beyond that of the trauma, violence, and exploitation that was a part of these institutions, to also include activities like dressing in the fashion of the time, teaching and learning the practice of writing, and making music.