Mapping an African American Cemetery

Wyseola Smith and Sarah Grady

Chew's Chapel in Edgewater, Maryland, is your typical Mid-Atlantic African American cemetery.  Found on a hillside that overlooks what used to be a stream, it is full of marked and unmarked graves.

On November 14 we learned about using cemetery mapping as a preservation strategy for working with and for communities.

First Sarah Grady related how her project documenting an African American school led to her interaction with the local community and a subsequent request to investigate the cemetery at Chew's Chapel.  Volunteers at the Smithsonian Environmental Archaeology Laboratory mapped the cemetery and produced a product for the descendants of those interred at the cemetery.  Sarah indicated that the next step is to work with the community to determine how they want to use and to maintain this information.

Next Wyseola Smith talked about her ties to the school, the church, and this African American community and what it meant to her to grow up in such a community.

Both Sarah and Wyseola volunteer in the Archaeology Lab at the  Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.  Sarah is a former president of CCASM.

Attendance: 14

Celebration for Mallows Bay - Potomac River National Marine Santuary

NOAA has designated an 18-square mile stretch of Maryland’s Potomac River as the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary.  It is the first national marine sanctuary designated since 2000, and the first one in Maryland.  For more about the Sanctuary, check out
MallowsBay-PotomacRiver (Don't forget to look at the video.)

To commemorate the designation of the new Sanctuary, NOAA and its partners hosted a community celebration on Saturday, November 9 at Mallows Bay Park.  CCASM was one of the sixty-one Community Champions. 

The program shows many of the dignitaries and honored guests at the dedication and celebration. 

CCASM along with numerous other organizations had  displays at the event.

Elsie and Gov. Larry Hogan

Elsie, Denise, and CCASM Display

Many of the partners with their wooden "Mallows Bay-Potomac River" paddle.

Thanks to Mary, Denise, Elsie, and Janna for representing CCASM.

2019 ASM Fall Meeting

On Saturday October 5 the Charles County Archaeology Society of Maryland (CCASM), a Chapter of ASM,  hosted the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc (ASM) 2019 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 ASM Business Meeting.  Instead of having chapter reports during the business meeting, chapters were requested to bring a display highlighting their activities.   Six Chapters--Charles, Central, Northern Chesapeake, Mid-Potomac, Western, and Monacacy-- brought displays.  They were all different, and all were interesting

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.

• 2019 Frederick L. Stiner Memorial Lecture
  What's New in Charles County: Overview of the County Archaeology Program
  Esther Doyle Read, County Archaeologist, Charles County Planning   
        
     
• Run of the Mill: History and Archaeology of Maryland Mills Dr. James G Gibb, Gibb Archaeological Consulting
    
    
• Archaeology and Community Collaboration:
  Researching Black History in Prince George’s County
  Dr. Kristin Montaperto, Chief Archaeologist, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning
    
     
• From Port Tobacco River (MD) to Portobago Bay (VA):
  Exploring Native Movement and Mobility through an Archaeological Lens
  Dr. Julia A King, Professor of Anthropology, St. Mary's College of Maryland
    
  
   
• Serendipity and a Lost Opportunity: An Adena Artifact Found in Charles County
  Carol Cowherd, Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc

Don presenting award to Claude

Also congratulations to Claude Bowen, the 2019 William B Mayre Award recipient. 

The Museum was open, and attendees were able to tour the various rooms.  Connie Uy, the Museum Ambassador for the Day, gave us a brief introduction to the Museum and was there to answer questions.

Here are 10 of the 16 CCASM members at the meeting.

Pat, Carol, Mary, Gary, Linda, Elsie, Jim G, Julie, Mike, Annetta
(Missing- Janna, Doug T, Doug Z, Sarah, Jim R, Don)

Attendance: 52 including 3 guests

Protecting the Upper Chesapeake Bay: Fort Hollingsworth (1813-1815)

James Gibb

On September 12 at the first CCASM meeting this fall Dr. James Gibb talked about Fort Hollingsworth, a small breastwork on the Hollingsworth property in Cecil County, Maryland.  He explained the reasons the local citizens felt the need to erect a fort at this location in April 1813 as a means to protect their property and the Upper Chesapeake Bay from the British during the War of 1812.  After the war the fort was demolished, and the land returned to farming.

Jim showed how geophysical methods were used to locate the fort and how field investigations during as Archeological Society of Maryland field session ground-truthed those findings.

James Gibb is the principal of Gibb Archaeological Consulting as well as a Smithsonian Research Associate.  Jim is also one of the founding members of CCASM.

Attendance: 11

Fieldwork near the Potomac River

On August 24 and 25 CCASM volunteers worked with Charles County archaeologist Esther Read to investigate an area behind a historic house in the Mount Vernon view shed.  Additional construction was planned in that area, and the Charles County Historic Preservation Commission had requested that Esther investigate before construction could proceed.

Eighteen shovel test pits were dug.  Various historic ceramics, a couple of prehistoric ceramic fragments, bricks, rusted nail fragments, and some worked lithics were found.  Once the artifacts recovered are processed at the Monday Lab, Esther will put together the report.

CCASM members volunteering included Denise, Joe, Linda, Doug, Mary, Janna, and Carol.