The Search for the Jesuit Mission of Father Andrew White Along the Potomac River

Dr. Julia King

At the CCASM November 16 meeting Dr. Julia King talked about recent investigations done in Chapel Point State Park along the Potomac River.  They were looking for evidence of the Jesuit Mission in that area was associated with Father Andrew White.  Julie's talk was so interesting and informative that I forgot to take any notes.  I do remember  - an old map showing the location of a dwelling that could be overlaid on a current map,  artifacts made by Native Americans (that's why the Jesuits wanted a mission there), seventeenth century artifacts from the time period Father White and/or his successor would have been there, but there was so much more.

Julie has a grant to continue investigations at the site next year.  So stay tuned.
(CCASM was written into the grant, and members will be able to volunteer.)

Native American and
early Colonial artifacts recovered

Two recovered sherds similar
to mid-seventeenth century mug

Julia King is a professor of anthropology at St Mary's College of Maryland and was the principle investigator for investigations that found Charles County's first Courthouse and that found the Piscataway's Zekiah Fort. 

Several CCASM members had volunteered for at least a day on the site early this year.   Julie thanked them by taking them to dinner prior to the meeting.  A really nice thank you.

Before the meeting

Attendance: 15

 

Documenting an African American Cemetery

Recording Coordinates
(Total Station)

Monday November 13 the locations of the grave depressions that had been found in October were recorded.  Jim Gibb used his Total Station to record the coordinates of the head and foot of the individual depressions found previously as well as those of a few new ones found today.  He was assisted by Ned and Esther.  Jim will use this data to create a map of the cemetery.

Thanks to Jim for doing this.

Thanks to Ned for the info and photos.

 Monday October 9 CCASM members Denise, Elsie, Linda, Carol, and Ed joined Esther Reed to mark graves on a property along Old Stage Coach Road.  There was one marked grave on this property that is privately owned.  The rest of the graves were just depressions in the ground.  We flagged seventy-seven possible graves. This appears to be a cemetery associated with the Mount Zion Colored Episcopal Church that was formed in the 1870s
For more about the site see Finding Charles County Blog- Mount Zion

Flagging the head
of a grave depression

Volunteering for
a day in the woods

2023 ESAF Conference

The Eastern States Archeological Federation (ESAF) held its 2023 Conference at Ocean City, MD Oct 27-29.  ESAF is an organization of state archeological societies representing much of the Eastern United States and Canada, and this was the year for the Archaeological Society of Maryland (ASM) and the Archaeological Society of Delaware (ASD) to co-host.

Presidents of ASD and ASM, the keynote speaker,
and President of ESAF. 
Sorry don't know the other ESAF conference helper

Five CCASM members (Mary, Gary, Pat, Carol, and Jim) attended the conference, and on the last day we all agreed we were glad we came.  There were a number of really interesting talks.  Rather that summarizing the various talk, here is a link to the final program - https://esaf-archeology.org/esaf-2023-final-program.pdf   

At the Saturday night banquet Dr. Julia King was the keynote speaker.  Her  talk was titled "Revisiting Portobago: A Mid- to Late 17th Century Trading Post on the Rappahannock River in Virginia".

Some of us at the dinner

Four of the five CCASM attendees
(although one appears to be hiding)

On Oct 26 before the conference started there was also a special tour that was limited to twenty people with one lucky CCASM member being able to take the tour.  It included a visit to the Zwaanendeal Museum with a behind the scenes look at the His Majesty’s Sloop Debraak 1798 Shipwreck exhibit.  The tour also included a visit to the Nanticoke Indian Museum.

Debraak Shipwreck (~80')

FYI, the archaeological societies from the following states/provinces are members of ESAF- Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Massaschusetts, New Brunswick (Canada), New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

CCASM is a chapter of the Archeological Society of Maryland.

Thanks to Pat for the photo of all the presidents and the speaker.

2023 Maxwell Hall Colonial Faire and Fall Festival

The Friends of Maxwell Hall held their annual Colonial Faire and Fall Festival on October 21 and 22 at historic Maxwell Hall in Hughesville, MD.  CCASM's table was near the house and the musicians.  It was a nice location since the shuttle from the parking area dropped people off near us.  We were able to talk about archaeology with quite a lot of people.  

Both days were cool and a little windy.  So everything had to be weighted down, but we didn't lose anything.  More people came out on Sunday and we needed at least three members to talk to the different groups of people.  

Explaining different activities
involved in investigating a site

Describing different types
of  historic ceramics

Showing cores and explaining
how to make lithic tools

 Thanks to Pat, Mary, Ned, Denise, Linda, Elsie, and Carol for representing CCASM at the Faire.

Historic Ceramics Workshop - Post Colonial Refined Earthenwares

Patricia Samford

At the October 19  Dr. Patricia Samford conducted a workshop on identifying post colonial refined earthenwares.   Rather than a presentation, Patricia provided each of us with handouts and brought lots of examples of decorated earthenwares recovered from archaeological sites.  She even brought a copper plate like that used in transfer printing as well as a piece of transfer printed paper.  So we sat in a circle and passed examples around.  And, of course, we asked questions questions.  Normally meetings last about an hour, but we stayed longer since there was so much to see.  We probably could have stayed even longer.  Definitely a really good workshop.

Patricia holding
printed transfer paper
and copper plate

Boxes containing
earthenware examples

Learning about post colonial decorated earthenware

Dr. Patricia Samford is the Director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab.

Since workshops need to be small, attendance was limited to CCASM and ASM members.

Attendance: 8

Thanks to Ned for the additional photos.