Serenity Farm Burial Ground and Potluck Supper

Lots of Food

CCASM's third Potluck Supper was held Sunday May 19 at the Harvest House on Serenity Farm.  It's always fun to have an excuse to get together and to eat.  And there was a variety of food - all quite delicious.  Despite the hot weather Sunday there was a nice breeze on the porch of Harvest House.

Meeting on the Porch

After we finished eating, the annual CCASM business meeting was held.  At the end of the meeting one member, Evelyn Wenzel, and one former member, Barbara Kane, were recognized for their contributions to CCASM.

Serenity Farm Burial Ground

The meeting was followed by a walk up the hill to see the Serenity Farm Burial Ground where twenty-three African Americans were buried between 1780 and 1810.  At the January CCASM meeting Franklin Robinson had told us about the Burial Ground and the archaeology done at the site.  Franklin was happy to announce that the film “Remembered by the Wind: The Slave Graves of Serenity Farm" has recently been released.

CCASM would like to thank Franklin Robinson, the owner of Serenity Farm, for allowing CCASM to have their meeting at Harvest House as well as for the opportunity to visit the Burial Grounds.
 

Attendance: 10

Serenity Farm Burial Ground

Franklin Robinson, Jr

At the January 10 CCASM meeting Franklin Robinson, Jr told how a skull found in 1982 on Serenity Farm in Benedict led to the discovery of a previously unknown slave burial ground.  In 2012 the State Highway Administration started investigating the site and identified 23 African American burials dating from 1780 to 1810.  Franklin related how archeologists, physical anthropologists, historical research, and interaction with  the African American community have helped us to understand more about the individuals (9 adults, 6 children and 8 infants) buried here. 

 

Franklin also shared a new publication "In this Place, A Discovery Guide for the Benedict Region" that contains information on the burial ground, and he distributed copies at the meeting.  The guide was written to introduce students and others to the history of Benedict.

Franklin Robinson is an archivist working at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  The burial ground can be visited by a written request to Franklin or as part of a scheduled tour.

Attendance: 19

Public Archaeology at Serenity Farm

On April 23-24 Charles County and Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) sponsored Public Archaeology at Serenity Farm near Benedict, MD.  The rain on Saturday cut the session short (only two hours), but the weather on Sunday was beautiful.  There were only about seven people participating, and only one was from CCASM.  One test unit was dug in an area of the site near an STP that contained seventeenth century artifacts.  Esther Read, Charles County archaeologist, was in charge this weekend.

Excavating Test Unit

Lunch Break - guess what they are doing

Celebrate Charles! March From Benedict

On Saturday August 30, CCASM participated in the event "Celebrate Charles! March From Benedict".  The event was to commemorate the landing of the British at Benedict two hundred years ago during the War of 1812.  The British then marched to Washington where they burned the capitol.  Subsequent events at Baltimore led to the writing of the "Star Spangled Banner"

There were two locations - 1) Serenity Farm with crafters, inflatable games for children, petting zoo, and "1812 music" and 2) Maxwell Hall with historic reenactments, crafters, toys and games, and "1812 music" with a free shuttle between the two locations.

CCASM was at Serenity Farm and had one of the booths closest to the parking lot so lots of people stopped as they arrived.  The adults stopped to looked at the projectile point poster and then to sort the type of artifacts that are often overlooked - fire cracked rock, flakes, and ceramics.  The children stopped for the seed identification activity and to reconstruct plate fragments.  There was also the Port Tobacco trifold and a trifold showing photos of CCASM working on a Native American site.  And Rich also brought his bag of trash. 

We had nice weather.  It was sunny with temperatures in the 80's, and a light breeze that kept blowing over the photo trifold.

CCASM members helping with the booth were Barbara, Carol, Lindsey, Sarah, and Rich.