CCASM Trip To Gresham Estate

London Town offered several Archaeological Tours of the Gresham Estate in Edgewater, MD, and several of us thought why not put together a CCASM trip.  It had been a while since we have had a chance to do this.

So on June 23 Pat, Linda, Julie, Elsie, and Carol traveled to Edgwater for the tour.   But first we stopped at Chad's BBQ for lunch and were joined by Jim Gibb who brought us up-to-date with what he was doing.

Pat, Julie, Carol, Elsie, Linda at Gresham Estate

The Gresham Estate dates back to the late 17th century.  Owners have included everyone from actual pirate William Cotter to Commodore Isaac Mayo (for whom the Mayo Peninsula is named) and more.  The site was acquired by Anne Arundel County in 2017.  Diana, the Director of Public Programs at London Town, guided the tour and entertained us with the history of the site and of the house.

It was a beautiful day to be outside, and there was time to wander around the grounds and through the house.  Of course, we noticed all the flags marking STPs that had been dug or were to be dug.   Archaeologist Steve Lenik from St Mary's College told us what they had learned so far from the STPs.  St Mary's College of Maryland will be holding a field session here in the fall, and the STPs were to help determine where to put units. 

Listening to the Archaeologist

Thanks to Linda and Pat for driving. 

It turns out we were a little late in putting this trip together, and two CCASM members, Carole and Polly, took the tour on one of the earlier dates.  Hopefully we can do a different tour this fall.

2021 Port Tobacco Market Day

Saturday, June 4 was the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco's Twelfth Annual Market Day in Historic Port Tobacco Village.  Numerous vendors as well as several non-profits including CCASM had tables at the event. 

Market Day is a always great day for talking to people about archaeology.  And people told us about the artifacts they have found on their property.   CCASM had a display as well as information about what CCASM does.  Our "activity" was demonstrating how to wash artifacts - artifacts recovered from Port Tobacco.   And during the day musicians were performing on the Courthouse steps.

Thanks to Linda, Denise, Mary, Elsie, Peggy, and Carol for representing CCASM.

2021 ASM Field Session - Billingley

Amazingly the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc (ASM) was able to hold its 50th Field Session May 28 through June 7.  It was announced only a few weeks in advance and required pre-registration.  Participants were limited to fifty per day.  Once again the site was the Billingsley Site (18PR9) in Prince George's County Maryland.
 
Matt McKnight, Chief Archeologist at MHT, and Stephanie Sperling, Senior Archaeologist at Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, were  the principal investigators.

Stephanie Sperling,
Pat, Matt McKnight

The Billingsley Site (18PR9) dates to the prehistoric and contact periods.  It is depicted on Augustine Herrman's 1670 map as a Native American village named Wighkamameck.  The site is also mentioned in the Proceedings of the Maryland Assembly on May 23, 1674, as the last known home of the Patuxent Indians.  

Billingsley Site Overview

This photo shows the various areas being investigated during the middle of the session.  The tent on the left is the lab tent.  The other tents are covering units that were being worked.  Here are some of the projectile points found in one of the units.

Photographing
Burned Shell Feature

Projectile Points and Blade

On Wednesday a photographer and another person from Maryland Public Television's Outdoors Maryland were on site almost all day and interviewed several people at the site.  Here they are recording Matt talking about the burned shell feature that was found in the unit.  Earlier in the morning a MNPCC drone recorded activity on the site. 

At least three CCASM members attended for two or more days.

Screening

Troweling

Cicada on hat

CCASM is a chapter of ASM.

Looking for Graves at Rich Hill - Update

On Monday March 22 Linda, Denise, Elsie, and Carol along with Esther Read were back in the field at Rich Hill.  Again it was a great day to be outside and to socially distance with each other.   Although it wasn't what we had planned to do, we checked out another part of the property looking for the lost eighteenth century grave of Dr Gustavus Brown, Sr.  Then Elsie came upon some periwinkle (vinca major) - a lot of periwinkle.  In the past periwinkle was planted on graves to provide a ground cover.  So finding periwinkle often indicates the presence of graves.  Even if this does not turn out to be the location of Dr. Brown's grave, it is almost certainly the location of other graves.  Although we searched for depressions or possible stones marking graves, we didn't find anything this time.

Looking for graveyard

Periwinkle at site

Looking for indication
of graves in areas with periwinkle

Update: On May 16 Esther returned to the area with Heather Roche and her cadaver dogs.  Elsie and Mike helped aerate the soil.  All three of the cadaver dogs alerted to the same spots.  It appears that this is a cemetery! 

Digging St. Clement's Manor and Award of Special Certificate

Julia King

At the May 13 CCASM Zoom meeting Julia King told about archaeology relating to the search for Thomas Gerard's manor house that was located near the mouth of the Wicomico River. Thomas Gerard was a colorful figure in 17th-century Maryland and one of the wealthiest men in early Maryland. 

The story starts with homeowners in 2000 finding seventeenth century artifacts followed by limited investigations by St. Mary's students as well as a geophysical survey. The story is continuing with more investigations planned this year by St. Mary's students.  Currently they think the manor may be under a twenty-first century horse barn.  Here a composite photo of some of the artifacts*.

Dr. Julia King is a Professor of Anthropology at St. Mary's College of Maryland

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The CCASM Annual Business Meeting followed Julie's talk.  

At the Business Meeting in grateful appreciation for his support of Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc. Dr. James G. Gibb was granted a Life Membership in CCASM. 

James Gibb

A snapshot of those at the meetings -

Attendance: 13

 

*Note: I forgot to take photos during the presentation.  So the artifacts shown are from Julia King's and Scott Strickland's presentation on St Clements Manor given to St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners in 2019.