Looking for Graves at Rich Hill - Update

On Monday March 22 Linda, Denise, Elsie, and Carol along with Esther Read were back in the field at Rich Hill.  Again it was a great day to be outside and to socially distance with each other.   Although it wasn't what we had planned to do, we checked out another part of the property looking for the lost eighteenth century grave of Dr Gustavus Brown, Sr.  Then Elsie came upon some periwinkle (vinca major) - a lot of periwinkle.  In the past periwinkle was planted on graves to provide a ground cover.  So finding periwinkle often indicates the presence of graves.  Even if this does not turn out to be the location of Dr. Brown's grave, it is almost certainly the location of other graves.  Although we searched for depressions or possible stones marking graves, we didn't find anything this time.

Looking for graveyard

Periwinkle at site

Looking for indication
of graves in areas with periwinkle

Update: On May 16 Esther returned to the area with Heather Roche and her cadaver dogs.  Elsie and Mike helped aerate the soil.  All three of the cadaver dogs alerted to the same spots.  It appears that this is a cemetery! 

Digging St. Clement's Manor and Award of Special Certificate

Julia King

At the May 13 CCASM Zoom meeting Julia King told about archaeology relating to the search for Thomas Gerard's manor house that was located near the mouth of the Wicomico River. Thomas Gerard was a colorful figure in 17th-century Maryland and one of the wealthiest men in early Maryland. 

The story starts with homeowners in 2000 finding seventeenth century artifacts followed by limited investigations by St. Mary's students as well as a geophysical survey. The story is continuing with more investigations planned this year by St. Mary's students.  Currently they think the manor may be under a twenty-first century horse barn.  Here a composite photo of some of the artifacts*.

Dr. Julia King is a Professor of Anthropology at St. Mary's College of Maryland

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The CCASM Annual Business Meeting followed Julie's talk.  

At the Business Meeting in grateful appreciation for his support of Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc. Dr. James G. Gibb was granted a Life Membership in CCASM. 

James Gibb

A snapshot of those at the meetings -

Attendance: 13

 

*Note: I forgot to take photos during the presentation.  So the artifacts shown are from Julia King's and Scott Strickland's presentation on St Clements Manor given to St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners in 2019.