War of 1812 at Nottingham

Mike Lucas

At the December 13 CCASM meeting Mike Lucas spoke about the Archaeology Project being done at Nottingham and how it relates to the War of 1812.  In the 18th and 19th Century Nottingham was a small village on the Patuxent River.  During the summer of 1814 the British spent the night at Nottingham on their way to Washington.  They also left behind a rear guard.  Mike showed slides of objects left behind by the British and found by the project.  He also showed us the results from shovel test pits that indicated where some of the houses in the village had been.  And he also shared some of the information gathered about local slaves that joined the British during the War.

This multi-year project was started by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in October 2011.  There are plans to continue the work in 2013.   Mike Lucas is with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Prince George's County.  If you are interested in the project, you can contact Mike at Michael.Lucas@pgparks.com

Joshua Eller gave an update on the reconnaissance he and Rich Gorski did on a site near the Maryland Welcome Center.  Several members also provided historic information and photos they had gathered about the area.  Joshua will be preparing a MHT Site Form for this site to meet one of the requirements for ASM's Certified Archaeological Technician (CAT) program.  Several of CCASM members are in the CAT program, and three members have completed the program.

Also we had a raffle for an ASM sweatshirt.  The money will eventually be used for CCASM to acquire a projector.  (We have a long way to go.).  George won the sweatshirt that his wife Elsie is holding up in the photo. 

Attendance: 18

Finishing STPs at Native American Site

On December 2 CCASM members finished digging/screening STPs at the Native American Site near Bryans Road.  Yea! 

The day started out foggy but it turned out to be really nice.  We had enough people to have three crews.  CCASM members helping were Jim, Annetta, Rich, Steve, Barbara, Josh, Peggy, and Carol.  Scott Lawrence stopped by to help some and also to tell us about an interesting site he will be starting soon.  Although Jim had to leave at 2pm, Rich, Steve, and Carol were able to stay and finish the final six STPs. 

Now we just need to finish washing and cataloging the artifacts so Jim Gibb will be able to identify possible locations for excavation units.

Following are pictures from work done in September.
For more pictures and notes of work done on the site, see posting Investigating Native American Site

September 30 was another beautiful day for digging.  We had two crews and finished STPs for two additional transects on the northern part of the site.  One person even traveled from Gaithersburg to help.  CCASM members helping were Jim, Fran, Peggy, Steve, Josh, and Carol.  We still will need another day or two to finish the STPs.

Sunday (September 23) was a beautiful day to be outside, the first really nice day we have been in the field, and we finished the STPs for the southern part of the site.  We had two crews (Jim, Barbara R, Rich, and Carol).