Archaeology Lab at Historic Burch House

Washington Burch House

Washington Burch House

The Washington Burch House is one of only three remaining 18th Century houses in the village of Port Tobacco.  Today it also houses the Charles County Archaeological Laboratory where Charles County Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc (CCASM) members process artifacts under the direction of Charles County Planning Archaeologist Esther Doyle Read.

Burch House can be toured as part of the Port Tobacco Tours given by Charles County Tourism (located at Stagg Hall).  And on special days CCASM members are at Burch House to talk to visitors about archaeology as well as the history of the house and maybe even have a children's activity.

Location of Burch House
in Village of Port Tobacco

Archaeology Laboratory
Since 2015 one of the lean-to rooms in the back of the house as well as the 2011 addition have been used for processing artifacts by CCASM members and other volunteers under the direction of Charles County Planning Archaeologist Esther Doyle Read.  Processing artifacts involves washing, sorting, bagging, and adding provenience tags to artifacts.  During colder months the lab moves to the second floor of the Port Tobacco Courthouse where the processing continues with the cataloging of information about the artifact.  Most of the artifacts processed were recovered 1964-1971 from the area around the Courthouse prior to its reconstruction and have been stored in the Courthouse attic since the 1970's.  The Lab also processes artifacts recovered from recent investigations requested by Charles County Planning and Growth on Charles County owned properties, e.g. Rich Hill, Stagg Hall, and Maxwell Hall, as well as investigations requested by the Charles County Historic Preservation Commission

The Lab meets most Mondays.  The schedule is on the  CCASM blog - both in the Lab posts and the CCASM calendar.  On all other days there are tools and signs laid out in the lab area at Burch House to show what is involved in processing artifacts.

Washing artifacts and putting them in screen to dry

 

Brief Architectural History of Burch House
Burch House was built in the eighteenth century some time after 1755 as a one-and-half story building with a basement.  Burch House initially only had two rooms - a hall and a parlor.  The walls on the “1/2 story” were raised so the house was two stories probably early in the 19th century.  At another time a lean-to addition of two rooms was added to the back and the stairs to the second story were moved from a front room of the house to that addition.  Due to the steep slope of the roof over this rear addition, the house is sometimes called the Cat Slide House.

Burch House was restored in the 1970’s and again in 2006.  In 2011 a new addition was added to the west side to provide water and a bathroom to the house and make it more usable.  Archaeological investigations done prior to the addition being built uncovered features related to previous buildings that had been in that area of the addition.

Brief Overview of Previous Owners of Burch House
The house was probably built by John Kinsman who was an innkeeper that also owned property to the north across the street. There would have been a store here in the late eighteenth century, and the storekeeper would also live in the house.  Early owners included Henry Barnes (storekeeper) in late 18th century, Ann Lee (who later married William Gamble) in the early 19th century,  John Ware, and Charles Barnes (a tailor) in the mid 19th century.  Each of these individuals owned the house for 10-20 years.

In 1874 the house was sold to Washington Burch, and that is why the house is often referred to as the Burch House.   Washington Burch was an African American.  He was born around 1829.  There is no record of him prior to the Civil War, and he was most likely enslaved.   He became a prominent member of Port Tobacco’s African American community and accomplished several things that were unusual for a man of color, in the south, in the late 19th century.  Washington owned his own home and additional land,  helped establish a school for African American children,  registered to vote,  was on the committee that maintained the Charles County voter registration lists, and was a delegate to the State Republican Convention.  Some of the jobs he had in Port Tobacco were jailer, bailiff, and tax collector.  Washington Burch died in 1901 at the age of 72.  His daughters inherited the house. 

Burch House is currently owned by the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco