Investigating the James Swann Site - 2025

CCASM and other Monday volunteers are working with Esther Read to continue the investigation of the James Swann Site that is now owned by Charles County.  James Swann was a "free man of color" (believed to be Native American) that acquired land in Port Tobacco in 1840's and operated a tavern and oyster house in the village for almost twenty-five years. 

Check Public Archaeology Lab Days post for weekday schedule.

October 25 and 26 was another Public Archaeology Weekend at the Swann Site and the weather was great.  It was a little chilly but great for being outdoors.  Esther continued working on  a recently opened unit on the northwest of the area.  If you noticed the disconnect between this statement and the picture from June 29, that is because when more people are in lab than in the field (e.g. Aug 11 and Sept 29), the field information is included with the lab post.  

Linda, Elsie, and Carol were there both days to screen and look for artifacts, and there were lots of small artifacts.  On Sunday Linda found the "artifact of the day.  It was a decorated white tobacco pipe bowl with a Fleur-di-lei or a cross(?).

Looking for Artifacts

Decorated Pipe Bowl
Fragment

June 28 and 29 was to have been a Public Archaeology Weekend at the Swann Site, but the weather didn't cooperate.  It was too hot.  We left early on Saturday and Esther cancelled Sunday.  Saturday morning wasn't that bad.  Ned, Denise, Linda, and Carol joined Esther on Saturday June 28 at the Site and cleaned up the floors of several units to get a better idea of what was going on in the units.  Even though we weren't removing that much soil, we still found small fragments of ceramics and glass.

Cleaning up floors

Screening what was found

Thanks to Ned for sending additional photos.

June 9 we returned to the Swann Site after taking time off for the ASM Field Session at Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park.  We started cleaning up the floor in three units as we try to follow up on possible post holes for a building.  Denise, Carol, Cal, and Esther troweled in the shade of tent.  Cal indicated he may be joining us more often.  Linda, Malinda, Kathy, and  ChiChi screened in the shade of the trees.  Kathy had invited ChiCHi to visit with us, and ChiChi volunteered to help.  It's always interesting to meet new people and to introduce them to the site.

Those Troweling

Those Screening

Monday May 19 was a beautiful day to be in the field at the Swann Site.  We were even serenaded by a Orchard Oriole.  Esther continued excavating Unit 13.  Elsie, Claudia, Kathy, Carol, Linda (morning), and Claudia (afternoon) screened and looked for artifacts.  The artifacts today were similar to what we found last week, but there were also nails and possibly more flakes.

Monday May 12 was a great day to be in the field at the Swann Site.  Denise shaded by a canopy shoveled soil from the new unit while shaded by the tress Elsie, Kathy, Linda, Malinda, and Carol screened the soil.  Since this was in the plow zone, we found smaller fragments -- bricks, ceramics (various types), glass (olive green and clear), bifaces, flakes, and fire-cracked rocks.

End of Day-
Folding up Screen

Saturday May 3 was the first of two planned Public Archaeology Days at the Swann Site.  This coincided with the annual Port Tobacco Market Day held in front of the Port Tobacco Courthouse.  Esther Read, the archaeologist in charge, removed the bulkhead between several existing units and cleaned up the units by troweling.  Elsie and Denise got to screen the soil and to talk to visitors.  Four or five groups of visitors came over from Market Day for a tour of the site and to see what archaeologists do.  At the end of the day we covered the units with new black plastic to protect them until we can come again.
The Public Archaeology Day planned for May 4 was cancelled due to rain. 

Thanks to Denise and Elsie for the info.

Monday April 21 Denise, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol were in the field at the Swann Site with Esther.  Denise opened up a new unit, and at some point during the day everyone got a chance to help screening.  Carol did a profile drawing of the north wall of one of the units.  Kathy got to hold the stadia rod for Esther as Esther shot in the coordinates of the various units.

Finally a nice day so we could be in the field at the Swann Site.  Monday April 14 Elsie, Carol, and Malinda joined Esther to start cleaning up units that had been under black plastic since last fall.  We cleaned up walls in three units and lightly troweled another unit so it could be photographed.  We are getting ready for a Public Archaeology Weekend May 3-4.   In this area we are chasing post molds/holes for a possible early post-in-ground building.

 

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Investing the James Swann Site -2024
Investing the James Swann Site -2023

2025 ASM Fall Meeting

On Saturday October 14 the Charles County Archaeology Society of Maryland, a Chapter of ASM,  hosted the 2025 Archeological Society of Maryland Fall Meeting at the Maryland Veterans Museum at Patriot Park in Newburg, MD.  And CCASM members stepped up to put together a great meeting.

The Fall Meeting started with the Annual Archeological Society of Maryland(ASM) Business Meeting.  In addition to learning what ASM has been doing these past twelve months there were also reports highlighting what four of the seven chapters have been doing.

Gary Grant from the Western Maryland Chapter was awarded the 2025 William B. Mayre Award.  The William B. Marye Award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Maryland archeology.  Gary was presented the award earlier when he was volunteering for the PaleoDigger Project at the Barton Ste.

Two members - Julia Berg and Danielle Knight - were recognized for completing the Certified Archeological Technician (CAT) Program.  Julia was presented her certificate at the meeting. 

And there was one other Special Recognition -  the Patricia Seitz Teacher of the Year Award.  Sarah Mason and Julie Berg received the award.  Just one of their projects this year was a multi-day archaeology workshop designed by and for Maryland K-12 educators.  

At any ASM Meeting it's always fun to catch up with others from around the state and hear what they are doing.  But the highlight of the meetings are the talks.

• 
  2025 Frederick M Stiner Memorial Address
  The Plantation of Michael Swift on the Patuxent River: 
  Ground-truthing the Teague’s Point Site, Charles County, Maryland
      Dr. Matthew D. McKnight, Chief Archaeologist for Maryland Historical Trust
   
  
  
• ASM Ethics and Conduct in Action
  Moderator: Valerie Hall, ASM President     
  Panelists: Brent Chippendale, Jim Gibb, and Julia Berg  (ASM Ethics Committee Members)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Westwood: An Ancient Native American Site on the Banks of a Relict Creek    
  James G Gibb, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  From Slave Labor to Free Labor:
  The Archaeology of Post-Emancipation Charles County      
      Julia A King, St. Mary's College of Maryland
  
  
   
  
  
• 
  An Archaeological Retrospective: A View From 47 years
  
      Esther Doyle Read, County Archaeologist, Charles County

The Museum was open, and attendees were able to tour the various rooms.  One of the Museum Ambassadors for the Day gave us a interesting history of the Museum as well as his involvement.

Here are the nine of the twelve CCASM members at the meeting.

Denise, Carol, Evie, Claudia, Peggy, Jim, Elsie, Ned, Linda
(not pictured - Doug, Mike, Charlotte)

Attendance: 41

2025 Public Archeology Lab Days (July- Sept)

CCASM has been working with Charles County at the ongoing Public Archaeology Lab since 2015.  The lab is for processing artifacts recovered from various archaeology initiatives in Charles County -  including artifacts from investigations of sites on County properties, artifacts recovered from savage archaeology in the County, as well as artifacts recovered around the 1970's before the Port Tobacco Courthouse was reconstructed.  Esther Read is the archaeologist in charge.

Here is what we were doing during the third quarter of 2025
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Monday September 29 Claudia, Linda, Evie, Carol, and Malinda worked in the lab at Burch House processing artifacts recovered from Elsmere.  We bagged the dry artifacts that the school children had washed (four times) and started to wash the other artifacts.  So far there are twenty-nine bags (one per STP).  Meanwhile Elsie, Denise, and Kathy were in the field at the Swann Site opening up a new unit to the northwest of the current units.  Esther got to show Joel Binkley, Charles County Planning Supervisor, all  that we have been doing in Port Tobacco, and we got to tell him what repairs are needed on Burch House.

Monday September 22 Linda, Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Ned, Kathy, and Malinda along with Esther worked with second graders to introduce them to archaeology.   There was one group in the morning and another in the afternoon.  Both groups were from Billingsley Elementary School. 
 
On week days in the Fall 2025 (Sept 15 - Oct 22) and in the Spring 2026 (Mar 2 - Apr 13) second graders from the various Charles County Schools are coming  to visit the One-room School House and Stagg Hall but also to get an introduction to archaeology.  Each group tends to include  around twenty children.  We have only been helping on Mondays, our regular lab day, when we are not scheduled to be in the field.  Esther has provided the activities and the script for docents at Stagg Hall to provide the archaeology introduction on the other days.

Monday August 11 Claudia, Linda, Peggy, and Carol were at Burch House and finished the sorting and bagging of all the remaining Swann Site artifacts recovered to date.  Denise, Malinda, and Kathy were in the field.  The base of two Swann Site units were troweled to better see any features.  This did produce five additional artifacts.

Monday August 4 was a short day in the Lab.  After Denise, Claudia, and Carol finished sorting and bagging the artifacts from the four trays of artifacts recovered from the same Swann Site provenience, we all decided to stop for the day.  Another tray had a small number of artifacts from several Swann Site provieneces that Malinda bagged and sorted, and Linda washed most of the remaining artifacts - not that much left.

Monday July 28 was another day in the lab at Burch House.  Everyone (Elsie, Denise, Claudia, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol) worked on sorting artifacts from four trays of artifacts recovered from the same provenience.  The tray highlighted last week was just one of those trays.  So each person worked on a different type of artifact - glass or ceramics or lithics or nails or brick or ...  We almost got everything sorted and bagged, and we plan to finish up next week. 

Tray of washed Swann Site artifacts

 
Monday July 21 we had seven people working at Burch House on Swann Site artifacts either washing or sorting and bagging.  It's been a while since we've had that many.  Jack joined Elsie, Denise, Linda, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol as we worked on the artifacts.  Since it's was Jack's first time, Linda gave him a tour of Burch House and worked with him as he washed Swann Site artifacts.  We decided to choose that tray of washed artifacts as the "artifact' of the day.  The tray includes a wide variety of artifacts - fragments of bricks, oyster shells, ceramics (decorated and plain), bottle glass, window glass, a tooth. and even a tobacco pipe stem.  If you blow up the image, you may see more.

Pipe Bowl Fragment

Monday July 14 we were back in the Lab at Burch House.  Denise, Claudia, and later Linda continued to wash, sort, and bag artifacts recovered from the Swann Site.  Linda also spent time straightening up Burch House, and Denise inventoried remaining artifact bags. Carol sorted and bagged artifacts from BF1-1-4.  It is from these artifacts that we selected an artifact of the day.  The artifact of the day is a fragment of a tobacco pipe bowl with a partial maker's mark that is somewhat distinctive - a "D" inside what appears to be a heart with additional geometric symbols (diamond circle, bar, possibly a stylized Fleur-di-lei) under the initial.  There isn't enough to identify the maker but there was a mid-eighteenth century London pipe maker whose makers mark was a TD inside a circle or heart.  Interestingly there are several seventeenth maker marks with initials and a stylized Fleur-di-lei inside a heart.  Maybe someone else will be able to identify the maker. 

2025 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun) -- 2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)  
2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Oct-Dec) --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Sep) 
  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Feb-Jun)
2021 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Mar-Dec)
2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Sep-Dec) --2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jul-Dec)   --2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2015 Public Archaeology Lab Days