Burch House - Charles County Holiday Trail

The third Charles County Holiday Trail was held this past weekend (December 12-13).  One of the houses on the Trail was the Burch House in the historic Port Tobacco Village.  CCASM members hosted visitors to the Burch House.  There was a display highlighting the archaeology done at Burch House prior to the recent bathroom addition, and a display case with artifacts recovered from the 2010 Burch House excavation and from the recent Stagg Hall excavation.  And, of course, there was the Burch House itself, parts of which date back to the mid-eighteenth century.

Barbara represented CCASM at Burch House on Saturday.  Peggy and Carol represented CCASM on Sunday.  

2015 Public Archaeology Lab Days

CCASM worked with Charles County at the Public Archaeology Lab Days that were held at Burch House in Port Tobacco Village.  Esther Read was the archaeologist in charge.  Here are the various projects that were worked on.

December 14 Elsie, Peggy, and Carol washed artifacts recovered from Stagg Hall.  There were a number of artifacts that we haven't been seeing.  At right are two stones with triangles incised on the flat side.  Could they have fallen out of sleeve buttons?  The stones are shown in the drying tray above a piece of lead printers type to give some indication of their small size.

Monday December 7 Esther and Carol added artifacts to the display case at Burch House as well as helped get the Burch House ready for the Charles County Holiday Trail this coming weekend.  The buildings at Port Tobacco will be open 12pm-4pm.

On November 16 it was just Elsie and Carol.  They washed artifacts from one stratum of the new unit that had been opened the previous Saturday at Stagg Hall.  Artifacts included lots of nails and glass as well as porcelain, tin-glazed ceramics, and a marble.  On the left is one of the finds of the day.  It is part of a seventeenth century buckle.  (Sorry, I forgot to include a ruler.  The fragment was approximately two inches wide.)  There was also one piece of Mockley, a Middle Woodland Period ceramic.
  

November 9 Elsie, Cathy, and Carol continued washing the Stagg Hall artifacts while Esther worked on the Rich Hill artifacts.  The Stagg Hall artifacts contained a lot of nails, many with a minimum amount of rust.  This could indicate the nails had been in a fire.  During lunch Cathy shared some of her historical research "finds" relating to Thomas Ridgate and John Barnes.

Monday November 2 Elsie, Rich, Cathy, and Carol started washing the artifacts that were recovered the previous Saturday in front of Stagg Hall.  Artifacts included flakes, points, tin-glazed ceramics, whiteware, pearlware, mocha ware, stone ware, lots of cut nails, and three pieces of print type.  This doesn't include everything but does indicate the artifacts date from many time periods. 

Elsie, Sheila, Rich, and Carol continued inventorying the Port Tobacco boxes of artifacts on Monday October 26.  So far we have completed eighteen of the sixty boxes.  The lab next Monday also should include washing artifacts recovered from Stagg Hall during the upcoming Halloween event.  

Monday October 19 Elsie, Carol, and Esther started inventorying the Port Tobacco boxes of artifacts.  There are sixty boxes.  Esther came up with a plan, and we were able to finish five boxes.  Work is to continue next Monday. 

Monday July 20 three CCASM members - Elsie, Julie, and Carol - continued working with Esther on the artifacts from Rich Hill and Pomonkey North.  The day was made more interesting by all the visitors that stopped by.  This led to conversations and updates about other historical, archaeological, and environmental activities happening in the county.

June 15 four people participated in the Public Archaeology Lab.  This included one CCASM member as well as two archaeology students.  Most of the time was spent sorting and bagging artifacts recovered from Rich Hill as well as labelling the artifacts recovered from Pomonkey North.  Always nice to meet new people and learn more about identifying artifacts.

Monday May 11 at least ten people participated in the first Public Archaeology Lab Day at Burch House.  This included five CCASM members-- Jim, Sarah, Julie Lindsey, and Carol.  Most of the time was spent washing artifacts recovered from Rich Hill this past April during the Lincoln 150 Event, but there were also conversations related to previous archaeology done at Burch House and about archaeology in general.

Archaeology of Maryland's Shoreline Settings

Matthew McKnight
and Troy Nowak

At the December 10 CCASM meeting Matt McKnight and Troy Nowak started out by describing the three Offices in the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) that deal with different aspects of archaeology and what each Office did.

However, the main part of the talk was about a shoreline case study and two underwater archaeological surveys.  One survey was to verify the location of reported sites along three tributaries of the Wicomico River dividing Charles and St Mary's counties.  This was based on what could be seen from the water.  The other was a more extensive survey of Janes Island on the Eastern Shore that was funded by Hurricane Sandy funds from the National Park Service.  It's not often we get to hear about underwater archaeology.

Matthew McKnight is a Research Archaeologist at MHT, and Troy Nowak is an Assistant Underwater Archaeologist at the MHT.  Although Matt and Troy worked together on these surveys, they are actually in different MHT Offices.

Attendance: 13