Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland

August 4, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Days (Jul-Dec)

CCASM has been working with Charles County at the ongoing Public Archaeology Lab since 2015. The lab is for processing artifacts recovered from various archaeology initiatives in Charles County - including artifacts from investigations of sites on County properties, artifacts recovered from savage archaeology in the County, as well as artifacts recovered around the 1970's before the Port Tobacco Courthouse was reconstructed. Esther Read is the archaeologist in charge.

Location: Courthouse (2nd floor; use South Wing door) and Burch House (both inside and outside) in Historic Port Tobacco Village map

Next dates:
Note: (We try to post the latest schedule as soon as we get it - may not get until Monday morning.
            Being in the field depends on the weather - if it's not raining and not too hot or too cold.)

   Monday, Aug 10  (11am - 3pm) Burch House Lab
Monday, Aug 17  (11am - 3pm) TBD (Esther on vacation)
Monday, Aug 24  (11am - 3pm) TBD (Esther on vacation)
Monday, Aug 31  (11am - 3pm) Burch House Lab

Cat's Eye

On August 3 Linda, Claudia, Malinda, Caleb and his Grandma joined Esther at Burch House to process artifacts recently recovered form the Rich Hill area where the ghost cabin will be built. Linda took photos of several possible artifacts of the day but I chose one - these fragments from a dipped earthenware vessel with a multi-chambered slip decoration called Cat's Eye - as the artifact of the day.
Thanks to Linda for the info and the photos.

July 13 Claudia, Denise, Caleb, Linda, Kathy, and Malinda stayed cool inside at Burch House processing artifacts retrieved this past Saturday from the Rich Hill Ghost Structure Site while Elsie, Rich, and Esther worked outside at the site. These two ceramic artifacts were selected in the lab as the "artifact' of the day.

Thanks to Linda for the info and the photos.

Rich Hill Ghost Structure
ceramics

July 6 was a really hot day. So everyone was inside. Claudia, Denise, Evie, Linda, and Caleb washed or bagged artifacts at Burch House. A tray of ceramics that were collected from a unit/level at the Rich Hill Ghost Structure was chosen as the "artifact" of the day. Really an impressive amount of ceramics.
In the morning Esther and Elsie worked at the Courthouse creating pull slips and doing other paper work associated with Rich Hill artifacts that will be used in a CCASM display July 11 for Rich Hill's 250th Event. Esther had brought a display cube so the artifacts could be displayed securely.
In the afternoon everyone was at Burch House. Tim and Ben the dog had joined us for the day. Tim showed Linda and Elsie how to run a slide show on Linda's computer using the Rich Hill archaeology pictures that Elsie had collected and placed on a flash drive. This would be used at the July 11 event.

Thanks to Elsie for info and to Linda for photo.

July 27, 2026

Returning to Rich Hill - 2026

In 2021 a mid-nineteenth century Corn House was to be moved to Rich Hill, a historic property owned by Charles County, and we had to find an area away from the house where there were no artifacts. Rich Hill-2021 We found that area and the Corn House was moved. However, while looking for an area with no artifacts, we also found an area with artifacts - mostly nineteenth century. This appears to be the location of a cabin.

In 2025 Esther Read along with CCASM members and other volunteers returned to that site at Rich Hill to learn more about who might have occupied this cabin that was far from the main house but close to an old road. Rich Hill-2025 If none of the artifacts found date after 1865, the cabin could have been a slave cabin. If a number of artifacts found date after 1865 the cabin could have been used by formerly enslaved people but may also have previously been a slave cabin.

In 2026 the Historical Society of Charles County received a check from the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage for the building of the Ghost Structure at the Rich Hill Cabin Site. The Ghost Structure at Rich Hill is dedicated to interpreting and preserving the historic landscape, and to honoring the lives and enduring legacy of the enslaved men, women, and children who lived and labored on this property.

--------

On the weekend of July 25 and 26 the units at Rich Hill were finally done! Excavation is complete; paperwork is complete; photos and drawings are complete. This weekend's crew included Claudia, Linda, Denise, Jim Gibb, Tim Doyle, and an old dig buddy Gareth Lewis. Thanks to all that helped.
Thanks to Esther for this update

Working on another unit

On Monday July 20 Denise, Malinda, Rich, Caleb, Caleb's grandma Carol, and Philip joined Esther at Rich Hill. We finished excavating Unit 21. All that's left to do with that unit is the final trowel down, photos, and profiles, oh and that pesky paperwork. Now we turn to Units 18 and 19, which we partially excavated when the soil was like concrete.
Thanks to Esther for this update and the photo.

On Monday July 13 Rich and Elsie joined Esther at Rich Hill and helped her finish Unit 20 of the Ghost Structure Site. After Rich and and Elsie left, Esther worked on the feature at the base of the unit. The feature was a long trench with a post at one end of it - so it was actually two features. We thought we might have a post on Saturday because there was a lot of brick concentrated on the top of a small section of the trench. The trench itself was very shallow. Esther's thinking at this point is it was either a post and a drip line from a structure, or we could be looking at a garden fence known as a post and pale fence. These were common in the 18th and 19th century. A ditch was dug between the posts, then rails were spread horizontally between the posts, and the palings were attached vertically to the rails so that the ends went into the trench. It was primarily a way to keep animals out of the garden - or within the fenced in area. These features have been drawn, excavated, photographed, profiled, and Esther got soil samples for flotation - there was a lot of charcoal in the trench. Nothing is left in Unit 20 and now we turn to Units 19 and 21, which we partially excavated when the soil was like concrete.
Thanks to Esther for this update.

Piscataway
point

Saturday June 20 Esther and Rich finished digging unit 20 down to subsoil. The soil is hard - as it is everywhere in the county due to the lack of rain - but we're down almost a foot at the base of the Plow Zone in unit 20. We have to put a small 2x2 ft unit into the corner to finish out the subsoil level. We're still working on units 21 and 22. Unit 18 is almost down to the subsoil. Esther is still trying to figure out exactly where Unit 19 should go - it will be over the door post location.
Claudia and Elsie along with Aaliyah and Trevan from Advanced Agricultural General Contracting screened. There were lots of ceramics, a couple of nails - including rosehead ones, glass, fire cracked rock and a Piscataway projectile point (Late Archaic/Early Woodland). The point was chosen as the artifact of the day.

Advanced Architectural General Contracting, the contractor for the ghost cabin, provided mid-morning snacks and lunch. Rich Hill docents Mike and Jane visited us at lunch, and we had another set of visitors in the afternoon.
Thanks to Elsie and Esther for the info and to Esther for the photo.

April 27 Esther was at Rich Hill to dig small units for the Ghost House footers. The dig went well. We opened two units but did not finish. We'll be going back, not sure of the dates yet. We have through the end of July to get this done. Thanks to Ned for mowing around the units. Melinda and Claudia helped with the set up and ran the screens. We have three new volunteers who came out to help.
Thanks to Esther for the info.
(Note: Rich Hill still has poison ivy, and the roots may show up in the screens. Claudia and Melinda were the only ones willing to possibly get poison ivy, and they did.)

July 16, 2026

Living History at Rich Hill

Rich Hill

Saturday July 11 was a 250th Celebration at Historic Rich Hill in Bel Alton, MD. CCASM and various local historic sites and organizations had tables at the event. But there was a lot more - demonstration by the First Maryland Regiment of the Continental Line, performances by the Port Tobacco Players, and of course, tours of Rich Hill.

Elsie, Denise, Ned, and Linda were at the CCASM table that included a "slide show" of us working in the field over the years at Rich Hill and a nice display of artifacts that had been recovered during those investigations.

CCASM Table

Rich Hill Artifacts

Esther Read, Charles County Archaeologist, was at the site of the Rich Hill Ghost Structure. Tim, Ned, Malinda, and Kathy helped as Esther continued to excavate a unit where a footer for the structure will be. Visitors were able to stop by to see and hear what was happening.

Investigating
Ghost Structure Site

Doing What Volunteers
Do - Screening

Visitors at Site

Thanks to Ned and Elsie for the info and to Ned, Linda, Elsie, and Mike for the photos.

July 2, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun)

Here is what we were doing the second quarter of 2026.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Mulberry Grove artifacts

On June 29 Elsie and Linda stayed cool in Burch House. Linda sorted and bagged artifacts from Swann and Mulberry grove while Elsie washed artifacts from Swann. The screen shows some of the artifacts recovered from Mulberry Grove. Esther indicated that finding the Rhenish stoneware and the yellow ceramic floor tiles may mean we have found the original 18th century kitchen.
Rich, Denise, Caleb, Claudia and Esther braved the humidity at the Swann site. Claudia and Denise screened while Rich dug and Caleb alternatively assisted Rich or Claudia and Denise. Esther worked on still another plow scar and did some documentation paper work.
After lunch Rich and Claudia went to Rich Hill to cover the units with plastic with the hopes of keeping some of the moisture from recent rains in the units.

Thanks to Elsie for info and photo.

On June 15 Linda, Claudia, and Kathy were in the Lab at Burch House sorting and bagging artifacts from Rich Hill and from the Swann site. I think the drying screens are empty again. These two sherds with an interesting design were chosen for the artifact of the day. They were recovered from Rich Hill and appear to be from the same vessel.
Meanwhile upstairs at the Courthouse Lab Esther and Elsie selected Rich Hill artifacts to be used in a CCASM display at a Rich Hill event in July.

Thanks to Elsie for info and to Linda for photo.

June 8 - in field at Swan site - no info

On June 1 most of us were in the field at the Swann Site. Esther excavated yet another plow scar. Rich continued digging out the unit we had opened last time we were there. Claudia, Elsie, and Mimi mostly screened. Caleb assisted Rich digging but also did some screening and some work on the plow scar. Because of a bad shoulder Linda processed artifacts at Burch House. She chose this brick corner fragment as the artifact of the day.

The volunteers

Brick fragment

Thanks to Elsie for info and to Linda and Esther for photos.

May 18 - in field Mulberry Grove - no info.

Rhenish salt glazed stoneware
(penny for size reference)

To coincide with the Maryland House and Garden Tours on Saturday May 16 Esther had been asked to investigate a small area at historic Mulberry Grove. Elsie, Melinda, Kathy, Linda, Doug, Denise, Claudia joined Esther to put in 4' X 4' unit next to where the homeowner had found 'blue & white ceramics'. The owners thought it was a privy site, but the soil was like concrete. Denise, Esther, Elsie, and Doug took turns trying to shovel, making very slow progress. Claudia frequently sprayed down the unit with water but that still didn't help much. When not shoveling most of us joined Linda & Malinda with screening. At first we were finding mostly modern artifacts. We eventually stopped skim shoveling, and Linda, Elsie, and Esther troweled,. Sometimes we had to use a brick hammer to break up the soil. Since there was no observable differences in soil color or texture, Esther decided to determine the strata by arbitrary depths as opposed to looking for soil changes. We took half of the unit down through a second strata and began to find much older artifacts - Rhenish salt glazed stoneware, whiteware, two ceramic floor tiles, plus some prehistoric artifacts. We chose the Rhenish sherd as the artifact of the day. Most of the oldest material was found embedded in the northern wall. On Monday we will probably put in a small unit extending one foot to two feet from the north wall of the original unit.

We were digging right next to the visitor parking area and interacted with many visitors.

Trying to trowel unit
(water sprayer in foreground)

Looks like screeners are
having more fun

Thanks to Elsie for info and Esther for photos.

Blue Flow Rim

Due to the weather we could not be in the field on May 11. Linda, Denise, Elsie, Evie, Claudia, and Rich were at Burch House with Esther. Everybody was in different rooms doing different tasks but we did choose this flow blue rim as the artifact of the day. It had been recovered during the recent excavations at the Rich Hill.
Thanks to Claudia for the photo and the info.

April 20 while Esther was away, Linda showed Denise, Elsie, Claudia, and Carol the possible activities she would be using at the "CCASM" talk she is giving at the Library this coming Saturday and next Thursday. We had thought one would be more for children and one would be more for teens and adults, but the library advertised both for children. Then Linda reviewed the new annual Photo contest that SRPT is having. Linda has been quite busy. Then after lunch it was back to cataloging 1970s PT artifacts. Elsie and Denise worked on miscellaneous while Carol and Linda worked on pearlware.

April 13 was an interesting day at Burch House. Outside Linda, Malinda, and Elsie created a flower garden behind Burch House in an area that had been cleared of weeds. They laid down cardboard, covered that with soil, and scattered lots of different types of flower seeds in a relatively small area. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Inside Carol and Esther looked at nails recovered from behind Stagg Hall and verified that most of the nails had been machine cut - somewhat of a surprise.

The April 6 Lab day was part clean up day and a little bit of lab work at Burch House. The inside of Burch House was in a little bit of disarray after the "Rich Hill" furniture that was being stored at Burch House was finally able to be moved to Rick Hill. Linda, Denise, Elsie, Claudia, Evie, Kathy, Malinda, and Carol were there to help - rearranging the remaining furniture, dusting, and sweeping up (a lot of stink bugs). Elsie and Claudia went outside to weed the area near the road. Linda, Denise, and Evie inventoried the bags and other supplies and did miscellaneous other things. Kathy, Malinda, and Carol started combining and processing three screens for FS23 from Swann Site.

May 13, 2026

2026 Annual Business/Potluck Meeting, New Officers plus Talk and Tour of Rich Hill

CCASM held its annual meeting with a Potluck supper on Saturday May 9 outside at Historic Rich Hill.

We sat under a shade tree near the rail fence. Linda brought a table for the food. Ned brought four card tables and twelve chairs. There were nine of us: Mike, Linda and Doug, Denise and Joe, Elsie, Claudia, Peggy, and Ned.

Elsie "volunteered" to be in charge of the annual business meeting and read the President's Report. Of course, she also gave the treasurer's report. Linda provided the minutes for the last meeting (and took minutes for this meeting). Ned read a presentation to Carol, the retiring CCASM president.

The business meeting was first followed by the meal. The food was great. After eating while we were sitting outside, Mike Mazzeo gave a preliminary talk about the rehabilitation of Historic Rich Hill. He gave a great talk when we were inside.

Michael J. Mazzeo, Jr. is the Vice-President of the Historical Society of Charles County and Chair of the Friends of Rich Hill.

-------

Elections for CCASM Officers and Members at Large are every two years, and this was an election year. Peggy, who was on the Elections Committee, gave the results at the meeting.
The officers for the next two years starting on June 1 2026 are

President - Ned Edelen
Vice-President - TBD
Secretary - Linda Talley
Treasurer - Elsie Picyk
Members at Large - Denise Chelsedine, Carol Cowherd

Thank to Ned for the info and photos

Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc

August 4, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Days (Jul-Dec)

July 27, 2026

Returning to Rich Hill - 2026

July 16, 2026

Living History at Rich Hill

July 2, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun)

May 13, 2026

2026 Annual Business/Potluck Meeting, New Officers plus Talk and Tour of Rich Hill

WHATs HAPPENING

REFERENCES

Calendar

Activities

Blog Archive

Labels