2022 Port Tobacco Market Day

On a hotter than normal Saturday and after having been rained out on a previous Saturday, the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco's Thirteenth Annual Market Day was held May 21 in Historic Port Tobacco Village.  As on all the previous Market Days CCASM had a tent at the event.  There were local craft vendors, the garden club plant sale, a white elephant sale, and tables for various "history-related" nonprofits.  And what would a market day outside a courthouse be without musicians?  There was even an area where you could get vaccinated. 

Market Day is always a great day for sharing information (both ways) about archaeology. 

CCASM put out its display highlighting some of the history of  Port Tobacco including some of the results from archaeology done at Port Tobacco around 2008.  We also had information relating to CCASM and Maryland Archaeology Month (even if it is no longer April).  A visit to the CCASM tent would not be complete without there being some activity.  Most years at Market Day our activity is washing artifacts.  This year the artifacts were glass fragments recovered from Port Tobacco Area B Feature 1 during the excavations done prior to the reconstruction of the Courthouse.

Start of day, waiting and washing

No longer waiting, but still washing

Thanks to Elsie, Linda, Peggy, and Carol for representing CCASM at the event.

Considering the Celestial Landscape (and new Board Members)

Patricia Samford

At the May 12 CCASM Zoom meeting Dr. Patricia Samford indicated what oral traditions and historical documents have revealed about ways enslaved individuals relied upon visual cues, especially celestial ones like the Big Dipper, for making their way through the landscape toward the north. 

She also discussed evidence from caches at six archaeological sites in Maryland that suggest the heavens, especially stars, had a special significance to enslaved individuals.  The first example was a cache of artifacts discovered in Charles County at the Hawksmoor Plantation, also know as Johnsontown, under a set of steps leading into the planter’s house from the kitchen.  The designs on one coin and two buttons included multiple five-pointed stars.  There were examples from other caches of astericks (possible representing six-pointed stars) on various objects.

Patricia Samford has been the Director of Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM) for the past fifteen years.

Patricia reminded us that every year JPPM has a Public Archeology Program to give volunteers the opportunity to see what it is like to be an archaeologist and excavate an actual site.  This year they are investigating the Mellon Field that dates 1660-1680.  Volunteers can come for an hour and a day on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays during May through the first week in June. 

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The CCASM Annual Business Meeting followed Tricia's talk.  In addition to reports by the officers, Denise provided the election results for the Officers and Board (June 2022 - May 2024): president- Carol Cowherd, vice president- Patricia Vazquez, secretary- Doug Zabel, treasurer- Elsie Picyk, additional board members- Mike Creveling and Peggy Knoernschild.  

A snapshot of some of those at the meetings -

 Attendance: 12 people

We would like to thank James Gibb for hosting the Zoom meeting. 

Fireldwork in Port Tobacco

Esther Read suggested we start investigating a small piece of wooded land in Port Tobacco that was next to a dropoff.  It was uncertain what would have been at that location, and there was no documentation of previous investigations on the site. 

So on Monday May 9 instead of having lab we gathered our equipment and went to the site.  After clearing off the fallen branches and debris that had been thrown on the site, we put in three STPs that we back-filled before we left.   We mostly found brick, mortar, and slate.  Of course, this is just the beginning.  There will need to be other STPs dug, but the artifacts recovered need to be processed and additional historical research is needed.

Volunteers included Malinda along with CCASM members Denise, Kathy, Linda, Ned, Peggy, and Carol.

CCASM Trip with Dr. Julia King

What better way to spend a beautiful spring day than to take a trip with Dr. Julia King.  On Saturday April 30, 2022 CCASM members Elsie, Mary, Pat, and Carol accompanied Julia King on a trip to three sites in the Northern Neck of Virginia.  Julie and her crew had done archaeological excavations at two of the sites - Leedstown and Fones Cliff.  Julie shared what the excavations had told about the sites while also telling some of the history.  Both sites are on the Rappahannock River, but Leedstown where you can launch a small boat has been occupied for over a thousand years, while at Fones Cliff fewer diagnostic American Indian artifacts were found.  The Rappahannock Tribe was there way before John Smith mapped the river. Artifacts indicating early colonial occupations were also found at both sites with a town and a church being at Leedstown.  All this as we walked the land. 

Mary, Elsie, Pat, and Julie
on the Leedstown shore

Brick floor with herringbone pattern
along with other eroding handmade bricks

Looking out over the Rappahannock from Fones Cliffs

After a really nice lunch at the Prince Street Cafe in Tappahannock, VA, we traveled to Menokin National Historic Landmark.  This site includes a small museum., a Remembrance Structure, and the ruins of Menokin-the home of Francis Lighthouse Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  The house is being restored in a unique manner.  Have you heard of the Glass House Project ?  Well, that is Menokin.  Parts of the missing exterior of the original will be replaced with architectural glass. Also inside the structure, glass will provide a catwalk and a transparent floor.  They have a way to go, but it is an interesting site.

Sam McKelvey answering our questions
about Menokin  (Carol, Elsie, Mary, Julie)

Menokin-Work In Progress

CCASM would like to thank Julie King for offering to do this.  It was really a great day.  Also we would like to thank Mary for driving.  Her SUV allowed us to ride together and continue our conversations as she drove to sites.
 
(Photos by Carol and Pat)