Hearing About Forts, Traitor, and Traders in Charles County

Julia King

At the November 3 CCAS meeting, Dr. Julia King topic was "Forts, Traitor, and Traders".  "The Forts and the Traders" refers to closing in on the Zekiah Fort, which was used by the Piscataway Indians in the late 1600s.   Dr. King reviewed the historical records that pointed to certain locations in the Zekiah Swamp where the Zekiah Fort might have been.  Then she showed the results of the shovel test pits done by her and her students from St. Mary's College and how these results might or might not indicate the location of the Fort.

"The Traitor" refers to discovering the site belonging to Maryland Governor Josias Fendall, who was a hero to some and a traitor to others. Again Dr. King indicated how the historical documents pointed to the property belonging to Josias Fendall and subsequently owned by William Digges.  The resulting archaeology done by her and her students this summer indicated they had probably found the site of Josias Fendall's house and later William Digges' house.

Question and Answer Time

Julia King is a Professor of Anthropology at Saint Mary's College of Maryland.  We always enjoys hearing her talk about Charles County archaeology.

Here are some additional pictures taken by JoAnn Queen, a photojournalism student who was at the meeting.