The Friends of Maxwell Hall recently received a grant titled "Maxwell Hall: Discovering and Raising New Voices: Phase I". The goal is to learn more about the African/African American experience at Maxwell Hall.
The first half of the project is archival and landscape research headed by Esther Read. The second half is a community outreach headed by Cathy Thompson to locate descendants of those who lived and worked at Maxwell Hall in an effort to tell a more complete story and to build relationships with the community.
CCASM members will be providing volunteer hours (counted as $29.95/hr in-kind match) for the archaeological part of the grant working with Esther Read as the Project Investigator.
Locations: Maxwell Hall Park Equestrian Area and Maxwell Hall
Hughesville, MD (but near Benedict,MD) map
Esther Read submitted the interim archaeology report to Maryland Historical Trust in May and is waiting for approval for archaeological investigations.
Thursday, May 4, CCASM members Elsie, Pat, and Ned joined Esther at the Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park. We found the remnants of the other tenant house today in the woods near the collapsed roof on the beach. We also found two bottles. One a Hiram Walker and Sons Limited of Walkersville, Canada whiskey flask. The other a Sprite soda bottle with Isle Royale National Park printed on the base, produced 1966 to 1978 by the Coca Cola Co. for the National Parks. This bottle was made by Owens Illinois Glass.
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| On the Pautuxent |
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| Whiskey Flask |
Thanks to Esther for the info and to Pat and Ned for the photos.
Monday, March 20, CCASM members Ned, Denise, Elsie, Mary, Peggy, and Carol joined Esther and volunteer Malinda to walk the woods in Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park starting at a location that may have been the site of Mount Arundell. We were looking for evidence of possible outbuildings and graveyards that historical records indicated were associate with the house. Recently Frank Robinson, a local landowner and historian, had walked with Esther through the Park and talked about the area history of which he was aware. Mount Arundell was burned by the British in 1814.
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| Flagging Area of Interest |
Thanks to Claudia and Ned for the photos and to Ned and Elsie for the info.
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After being away for several months Esther and CCASM members Elsie, Ned, and Carol returned to Maxwell Hall on Monday February 13 to try to look for other locations where there might have been slave quarters. Since often all that is left of slave quarters and outbuildings is nails, we decided to "metal detect". Ned provided two metal detectors. It was the first time for Elsie and Carol to use one. We started out learning to use the detectors next to a barn that had lots of nails and so many chances to find metal. Then we moved to a site Esther had identified as a possible location, but we only found one nail. So the search continues.
Monday November 15 CCASM members Denise, Elsie, Ned, and Carol volunteering with Esther continued excavating in the back yard. Additional STPs were dug and additional work was done on the "shell" unit to remove the shell feature. It appears that the shells are a garden feature - shells that were added around a planting in an effort to recreate a colonial garden.
Saturday, November 12 The
Friends of Maxwell Hall had a special event for the project. Community members with a family
connection to the Benedict area were able to share their stories about the African American experience in the area and also were able to participate in public archaeology.
CCASM members Elsie, Mary, and Ned were joined by Tiara to volunteer with Esther. Note that we had to use brushes and wooden tools to excavate the "shell" unit.
Thanks to Ned for the info and photos.
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| Not sure what Else found, but she flagged it. |
Wednesday October 26 Ned and Elsie joined Esther to walk part of a soybean field in Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park. We had been waiting for the soybeans to be harvested before we could do a controlled surface collection of the field. We found a large area of lithic scatter (flakes, broken points, ...) that we documented, but there is still a lot of area to cover.
Thanks to Ned for the info and photo.
Monday October 18 we moved from the Equestrian Park to the House. Esther with the help of Elsie, Ned, Mary, and Carol started putting in STPs on the side and in the back yard (the side away from the River) of Maxwell Hall. This was in preparation for an event to promote gathering more information for the grant, The event would include a public archaeology component, and we were looking for a possible feature to excavate on that day. And we found one--a possible midden with lots of oysters. Twelve STPs were dug.
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| Working on first STPs |
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| Mary with STP that came down on a feature |
On Monday August 29 we tried to continue investigating the Pautuxent River shoreline on the property behind Maxwell Hall that is adjacent to the Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park. It was supposed to be low tide (0.7ft at 10:23am). Mary, Linda, and Carol had walked the shoreline back in March 2021. However, when Mary, Elsie, Linda, Denise, Ned, Carol, and Esther arrived at the River's edge, there was no walkable shoreline. So we had to regroup. Actually most of us left after lunch, but Ned and Esther investigated a wooded area in the Equestrian Park
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| Deciding what to do next |
On Monday August 1 we finally got to go into the field to investigate the Pautuxent River shoreline at Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park. It wasn't raining. It wasn't too hot. And low tide was around noon. Denise, Joe, Peggy, Linda, Mary, Elsie, and Ned joined Esther Read to walk the beach to about 1/4 mile up and about 1/4 mile down from the beach access road. Some wore boots. Others old shoes. Most walked the beach, but Ned wore long pants and walked closer to the bank in the tall abrasive grass. We located one historic site and three probably indigenous shell middens, and Esther documented the sites with GPS. It was a great day.
Thanks to Ned for the info and photos.
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