Current Research: USA - Northeast
Reported by David Starbuck
dstarbuck@Frontiernet.net
(Winter 2008 SHA Newsletter 41[4])
Connecticut | New Hampshire | Vermont
Connecticut
The Memory and Legacy of the Pequot War (submitted by Kevin McBride, Director of Research, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, and David Naumec, Military Researcher, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center):
After more than 370 years the Pequot War remains one of the most controversial and significant events in the colonial and native history of North America. As recently as 2006, the History Channel included the “Massacre at Mystic” as the first episode in its highly acclaimed series “10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America.” Often lost in the work of scholars and antiquarians is the fact that the Pequot War consisted of far more than the single attack on the Pequot fortified village at Mystic on the morning of 11 June 1637 by the English and their Mohegan and Narragansett allies. The Pequot War lasted for more than two years, consisted of several major battles and skirmishes that extended over what is now southwestern Rhode Island, much of Connecticut, and portions of eastern New York, involved hundreds of native combatants from dozens of tribes and affected thousands of native people from dozens of communities throughout Connecticut and Long Island. The Sasqua of Fairfield, Quinnipiac of New Haven, Western Niantic, some Mohegan, and several bands of Nipmuck from northeastern Connecticut all fought alongside the Pequot in a loose confederacy of allies of tributaries. The Narragansett, Nipmuck bands tributary to the Narragansett, Wangunk and Podunk of the middle Connecticut Valley, and some Mohegan under Uncas all fought on the side of the English, sometimes in purely native encounters. The Mohawk of New York became involved later in the war, probably at the request of the Narragansett, and dealt the final blow to Pequot resistance when they executed the Chief Pequot sachem Sassacous and several of his sachems and warriors.
One of the ironies of the Pequot War is the sheer volume of information generated by colonial leaders and soldiers about the Pequot during the war years, primarily as a result of colonial efforts to eliminate the Pequot as a viable political and social entity—arguably the first time a policy of cultural genocide was perpetuated upon a native people in North America. The letters and narratives of English leaders and soldiers provide an unprecedented view of Pequot culture and society of the time.
In spite of centuries of research, debate, and discussion, the Pequot War remains one of the most misinterpreted and least understood events in the colonial and native history of early America. It was as much an intertribal conflict as it was an English–Pequot conflict. Tribes throughout the region allied themselves with the English to pursue their own political and military goals and to seek assistance in conflicts that in some cases had been going on for decades. The numerous letters and narratives of the war testify to the complexity of native social, political, diplomatic, and military relationships in the region.
Irrespective of the historical significance of the war, the war continues to live on in the individual and collective memories of the descendants of the colonists and native peoples of southern New England. Each year members of the Pequot Tribe gather on the anniversary of the Mystic Massacre for a “First Light” ceremony to commemorate and honor the hundreds of Pequot men, women, and children who were massacred at the Mystic Fort.
In recognition of the historical and contemporary significance of the Pequot War, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (MPMRC) has embarked on a multiyear research project funded by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) to identify and preserve battlefields and historical sites associated with the Pequot War. The primary goal of the project is the identification of prospective battlefield sites and the obtaining of physical evidence of a battlefield through noninvasive archaeological investigations (i.e., remote sensing).
The narratives and letters of John Mason, John Underhill, Philip Vincent, Lion Gardner (all four were active participants in the war), John Winthrop, and Roger Williams all provide important geographic clues on the locations of prospective battlefield sites. These clues, when integrated into a Geographic Information System database and analyzed with KOCOA, a military terrain model (Key terrain, Observation, Cover and concealment, Obstacles, Avenues of approach), provides the necessary information to isolate prospective battlefield locations.
Five prospective battlefield sites have been identified, including the Battle of Mystic Fort; the Fairfield Swamp Fight of 1637, the last major action of the war; and the Dover Stone Church site in Dover Plains, NY, purported to be the site where Sassacus and the other remaining Pequot sachems and warriors were intercepted and executed by the Mohawks.
A particularly intriguing aspect of the research is the identification of a unique type of brass projectile point that dates to the period of the Pequot War or before. Three of these brass points were originally identified in the collections of the Smithsonian and the Connecticut Museum of Natural History, whose records clearly indicate the projectiles were likely the cause of death of several Pequot warriors. Stylistically the points are very distinctive, as is their method of manufacture, perhaps making it possible to identify their origin and therefore identify whom the Pequot were fighting. The immediate assumption was that the points were either Dutch crossbow darts or English arrow points from longbows. The Pequot were engaged in a brief war with the Dutch in 1634, who may have used crossbows as did Dutch armies in Europe. Although English longbows are not mentioned in any of the Pequot War accounts, it is known that the colonial militias trained with longbows as late as the 1650s and possibly used them during the Pequot War. Interviews with military experts in the Netherlands and England suggest these points are likely not of Dutch or English origin. The possibility remains they may be of colonial origin (i.e., made in Massachusetts Bay or Connecticut) or of native origin. The recent identification of an almost identical projectile from a 17th-century native village north of Springfield, MA, is intriguing and raises the possibility these distinctive points may be associated with native groups in the middle Connecticut Valley—groups known to have fought the Pequot before and during the Pequot War.
New Hampshire
Investigation of a Necessary Place at the Chase House Site:Results of the 2008 Strawbery Banke Archaeological Field School (submitted by Sheila Charles, Archaeologist, Strawbery Banke Museum): The 2008 Strawbery Banke Museum archaeological field investigation focused on the previously unexplored Chase House site. Located at the corner of Washington and Court Streets in Portsmouth, the 2-1/2- story elegant Georgian home features handcrafted woodwork and was built in 1762 by mariner John Underwood. Subsequently, a future Lord Mayor of London owned it and the last New Hampshire royal governor, John Wentworth, considered using it as his executive mansion. Stephen Chase, a wealthy Portsmouth merchant and patriot, began renting the house in 1779. When newly elected President George Washington toured the colonies in 1789, he was entertained in the house at an evening reception where he reputedly kissed the three Chase girls on the head! Stephen Chase eventually bought the house in 1799. Following Chase’s death in 1805, his widow and sons continued to occupy the premises and it remained in the family until it was sold in 1881. One year later, Stephen Chase’s grandson repurchased the property and gave it to the city as a home for “orphan and destitute children.” In 1910, Lilian Aldrich acquired the Chase House as a summer residence near her husband’s childhood home, the Thomas Bailey Aldrich memorial site, which is also part of Strawbery Banke Museum. Private ownership of the property continued until it became part of Strawbery Banke (it was the first structure to be restored) in the early 1960s. Many of the furnishings were based on the 1805 and 1819 inventories following the deaths of Stephen Chase and his wife Mary.
Archaeological excavation units were established to answer research questions about the east yard of the Chase House site, measuring approximately 418 m2 (4500 ft.2). After extensive review of various historic maps, test locations were designed to capture maximum information about activities undertaken by former inhabitants of the Chase House, changes in the yard and streetscape, and former outbuildings. A former barn (approximately 60 x 22 ft.) is depicted on the 1813 J. G. Hales Map but is absent by the 1850s. A former water closet (an outhouse measuring approximately 20 ft.2) is portrayed on Sanborn maps between 1887 and 1956, including during the time period associated with the Children’s Home.
Initially, 11 excavation units (1 x 0.5 m) were established in the east yard of the Chase House. If warranted, these were expanded to 1 m2. Subsurface investigation yielded evidence of the structural composition and repair episodes associated with the former barn and outhouse, Durham flagstones associated with the historic street sidewalk, trash disposal patterns, and activities undertaken on the site by former occupants residing in the Strawbery Banke Puddle Dock neighborhood for nearly three centuries. Most exciting was the discovery of a brick-buttressed privy, capped with coal ash, in the southeast corner of the yard.
Given the richness of the site, we are extending our excavation process through the fall. The field investigation, laboratory processing, and analysis of the Chase House site is continuing to determine the structural composition, dimensions, and content of the privy and trash deposits. The artifact assemblage includes late-18th- through 20th-century ceramic kitchenware and tableware, including creamware, blue and green shelledged pearlware, and white earthen table and teaware, some of which correspond to objects referenced in the 1805 and 1819 probates of the Chase household. Redware flowerpots, including an uncommon green-glazed vessel with a fluted rim, provide evidence of gardening. Numerous red and buff clay marbles, fragments of porcelain toy tea sets, dolls and figurines, and slate pencil and board fragments attest to children’s activities on the site. Dr. Joan Merriman of Plymouth State University is analyzing the faunal assemblage, which includes cut and sawn mammal bone fragments, to disclose information on foodways.
Another highlight of the artifact assemblage is an 1804 U.S. half cent, recovered near a former side street in the northeast corner of the site at about 20 cm below surface. The coin’s obverse, depicting the draped bust of Liberty, was designed by Robert Scot based on a 1795 drawing by Gilbert Stuart of the beautiful Philadelphia society figure, Mrs. William Bingham. The reverse displays the image of a laurel wreath. This extremely rare copper coin, 1 of 1,055,312 minted in Philadelphia, represents the lowest face value that the U.S. ever issued. By today’s standard, this is an unusual denomination; however, it was an important element of our monetary system at a time when working wages were $1.00 for a 10-hour day (see www.encasedcollectorsinternational.org; www.coinfacts.com).
The 2008 Strawbery Banke Museum archaeological field school, 14 through 24 July, included hands-on archaeological field and laboratory experiences and engaging opportunities to use scientific observation and techniques. Eighteen individuals (ranging in age from 12 years old to senior adults), as well as 11 archaeology department volunteers, participated in hands-on archaeological field and laboratory activities in accordance with archaeological standards of the U.S. Department of Interior and the Society for American Archaeology. Strawbery Banke Archaeologist Sheila Charles served as Principal Investigator, assisted by Archaeological Field Supervisor Danielle Dadiego. In addition, mapping was supervised by Dr. Neill DePaoli, and key members of the Strawbery Banke team offered their expertise, including Curator Dr. Kimberly Alexander, Collections Manager Tara Webber, Curatorial Assistant Berit Sjuls, Director of Special Projects Rodney Rowland, Curator of Historic Landscapes John Forti, Education Director Michelle Moon, Cooper Ron Raiselis, and Potter Steve Zoldak. Louise Richardson also shared her ceramic expertise. Dr. Kathleen Wheeler and her staff not only shared their knowledge of privies but volunteered their time to assist in the excavation. Next year we intend to continue our investigation of the site and expand our focus to the perimeter of the Chase House and an earlier kitchen addition location.
Place-Based Community Research at the Colonel Lewis B. Smith Site, Sandwich Notch (submitted by Sheila Charles, Archaeological Consultant):Between 11 and 21 August 2008, the Sandwich Historical Society sponsored a 2-week Junior Historian Program for students entering the 6th though 8th grades. Place-based community research and hands-on field activities were undertaken, supervised by Archaeologist Sheila Charles. The field activities were limited to vegetation clearance, limited mapping, and surface collection of artifacts discarded by pothunters. No shovel testing was undertaken in order to allow substantive time for the compiling of relevant historic and environmental contextual information, the latter undertaken with the assistance of foresters Peter Pohl and Fred Levigne and Sandwich Historical Society members Dr. Joan Merriman, John Perkins, Abigail Hambrook, and Susan Green. We emphasized the idea that past land-use activities inform us about the history of the area, its changing environment, and the people who lived there.
This investigation follows an earlier study of four historic sites in Sandwich Notch undertaken in 1976 by Marjorie Ingle and Stephen Mrozowski at the request of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. At the Smith site, Ingle and Mrozowski conducted mapping and limited subsurface archaeological testing involving test pits of various sizes. The artifact recovery was substantive and the ceramic assemblage alone included 1,012 sherds (28% redware, 21% pearlware, and 30% whiteware). Ingle and Mrozowski concluded the Smith site was one of the most valuable archaeological sites within a cohesive geographic area characterized by a tight continuity of time and space. Further investigations and excavations were recommended.
The Colonel Lewis B. Smith site (27-CA-161) is located near a sharp road turn east of Long Hill and approximately 586 ft. south of the Sandwich Notch Road, a main east–west road constructed in 1803 to link Canada with Portsmouth, NH. Occupied by three generations of the Smith Family from the late 18th to the late 19th century, the historic large and prosperous farmstead was situated on a high knoll up a steep grade. Access to the site, now hidden in a reforested wilderness, is provided by an historic road, which led south off the Sandwich Notch Road.
The Smith family tenure of the farmstead began with Colonel Jacob Smith (1759–1816), an early settler of Sandwich. The buildings were erected by his son, Samuel Smith (1775–1840) and subsequently occupied by Samuel’s son, Colonel Lewis B. Smith (1809–1874). Samuel’s 6 children and Lewis’ 12 children were all raised on this farm. At the peak of the occupation of Sandwich Notch ca. 1845, the Smiths were one of over 25 families (totaling approximately 150 people) inhabiting the Notch. The 1860 Walling Map depicts the location of the site occupied by Colonel Lewis Smith. The results of the 1850 to 1880 U.S. agricultural censuses for the property of Lewis and Dolly Smith indicate the farm over time encompassed approximately 100 to 125 acres valued between $800 and $1500, with the highest value associated with 1860. Livestock included 2 horses, 2–4 oxen, 1–4 milch cows, 5–10 other cattle, 1 pig, and 7–16 sheep. While the sheep numbered 16 in 1850, by 1870 there were only 7, and by 1880 there were none. Farm production over time included butter and cheese (150–350 lbs.), hay (6–20 tons), Indian corn (40–50 bushels), oats (40–65 bushels), Irish potatoes (100–200 bushels), peas and beans (2–6 bushels), wool (40 lbs.), and maple sugar (50–550 lbs.). While the greatest production of farm goods is associated with 1860, the 1880 agricultural census indicates the largest production of maple syrup (550 lbs.) and added listings for the production of molasses (6 gals.) and apples (450 bushels associated with 100 apple trees), although many other farm products were no longer associated with the diminishing farm. In addition to his prosperous farm, which employed several local individuals as farm help, Colonel Lewis Smith was a prominent Methodist and served as town selectman in the 1830s and delegate to the national Democratic presidential convention of 1852 in support of the election of his friend, Franklin Pierce. On the day of his death, Lewis Smith was nominated as state senator.
By 1869, only six families remained as residents of Sandwich Notch, combating the challenging rugged and steep landscape, thin rocky soils, and the insurmountable competition of towns with rail service. The Smith barn was disassembled in the 1870s and moved to Holderness. Lewis’s son, Frederick L. Smith (1846–1941), who inherited the property, sold it to Lydia Holt in 1884, who sold it to Daniel Weeks. No occupied structures are indicated on subsequent historic maps (e.g., 1892 Hurd, 1931 and 1958 USGS Mount Chocorua 15 ft. topographic quadrangles). By 1900, Moses Hall was the sole inhabitant of Sandwich Notch. The region was intensively logged 1917–1924 by Parker-Young and subsequently managed by the Draper Company. In 1932, Susan Bacon Keith of Holderness acquired the area and donated it to the town of Sandwich as a city park.
Features of the historic hillside farm include the main dwelling house stone foundation. The core footprint measures approximately 32 x 40 ft. (9.75 x 12.19 m) suggesting a two room deep plan. This house, situated north of the access road, had a central brick chimney with a fieldstone base (approximately 10 ft.2/3 m2). Its cellar hole, limited to the east side of the house and comprised of five to six courses of fieldstone, measured approximately 30 x 28 ft. and extended 4 ft. (1.22 m) in depth.
In addition, the farmstead contained several outbuildings, including a large fieldstone barn situated approximately 100 ft. (30.5 m) south of the house. The barn, measuring approximately 40 x 55 ft. (12.19 x 16.76 m), still possesses 3 to 5 ft. high stone walls and exhibits a second floor ramp access on its west side. Town history indicates a cider press formerly operated in the lower level. Other noted structures of the site include a large collared well 10.5 ft. in diameter with a well aperture 4 ft. in diameter situated east of the barn and a sugar house foundation measuring approximately 16 x 20 ft. (4.88 x 6 m) located approximately 300 ft. (91.5 m) southwest of the barn. Other structural elements of the site include extensive stonewalls, pronounced use of stone wall terracing, and a family cemetery situated approximately 50 ft. (15.24 m) south of the Sandwich Notch Road. The Colonel Lewis Smith Cemetery measured approximately 50 ft.2. During recording exercises, 14 headstones were visually identified. It was noted that five are marked only by fieldstones, while three other historic headstones had been replaced with new granite headstones. This replacement occurred following vandalism in which the headstones were used as bullet targets. The earliest dated grave (1800) is associated with Asa, son of Samuel and Judith Smith. Members of Samuel Smith’s and Lewis Smith’s families are buried here. Other Sandwich Notch family names depicted on the headstones in the Smith Cemetery include Augustus E. S. Hackett (d. 1848) and Liberty Marshall (d. 1845).
The recent 2008 investigation, sponsored by the Sandwich Historical Society, included documentary research, limited vegetation clearance, mapping, and surface collection of artifacts discarded by pothunters. There is evidence of the use of shovels by pothunters to dig pits adjacent to the cellar hole foundation and barn. Artifact fragments were dispersed and some were sorted and discarded along the house foundation by vandals. These were collected and minimally identified; diagnostic specimens were labeled and exhibited at the Sandwich Historical Society.
The results of this documentary and field investigation indicate the relative structural integrity of elements of the site, including the field-stone dwelling house foundations and cellar hole, barn and sugar house foundation, terrace walls, stone walls, and cemetery. These features of this site graphically depict the former prosperous hill farm and evoke images of the historic past of central New Hampshire. The relative integrity of these structural elements also reflect the potential archaeological sensitivity of subsurface deposits and features as well, even though pot hunting has taken its toll and continues to threaten the site. Many questions regarding the site remain unanswered. The locations and details of other historic elements of the hillside farm remain a mystery, including the location of the blacksmith shop, charcoal manufacturing pits, apple orchard, sugar bush, pastures, and privy and other trash disposal areas. In addition, the question of how water was accessed and managed across the site remains unanswered. Further evidence is required also to determine the functions of the various house and barn extensions. Limited controlled archaeological testing is planned for the summer of 2009. Mapping of the exterior structural alignments, building interiors, the well structure, and other landscape modifications will also be conducted.
Vermont
The Harwood Family Homestead in Bennington: The Harwood family homestead and orchard in Bennington, VT, was the focus of an archaeological investigation by Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc. during the summer and fall of 2007. In the 1760s, Zechariah and Lovina Harwood built a home and established extensive apple orchards on a hill overlooking Bennington. These were some of the earliest orchards established in Vermont. The still-extant 1780 Harwood home was left vacant in the 1990s. Archaeological investigations were conducted at the property prior to redevelopment of the property as an Adult Day Care and Day Health Facility by The Bennington Project Independence Rehabilitation Service.
Testing was focused on a 0.25-acre portion of the northern farmyard. Archaeological investigations uncovered a buried 18th-century stone foundation (Feature 1) north of the existing house, presumed to be the remains of the original 1760s Harwood home. Mechanical stripping was employed in conjunction with the excavation of hand trenches and 1 m2 test units within the cellar hole feature. These excavations revealed a rich early- to mid-19th-century midden deposit (Feature 3) overlying the earlier foundation feature and an 18th-century burned ground surface (Feature 4) on the exterior of the foundation.
Investigation of Feature 1 revealed a partially intact cellar foundation constructed of worked dry-laid stone, with an earthen floor. The cellar floor was located approximately 4.6 ft. (1.4 m) below the burned ground surface. The lower two to three courses of stone were intact, with the upper courses robbed out prior to the infilling of the cellar hole. The excavations revealed the southwest, northwest, and northeast corners of the structure, indicating the size of the cellar to measure approximately 8.5 ft. (2.6 m) east–west by 11.2 ft. (3.5 m) north–south. The cellar hole was infilled with various types of soil, stone, and brick fill containing a few artifacts, which indicated that the building was razed, and the cellar filled in during the mid- to late 18th century, prior to the construction of the 1780 home.
The upper levels of fill within the cellar hole are attributed to an early- to mid- 19th-century midden feature (Feature 3) which contained a large amount of ceramics, faunal material, nails, iron implements, and glass with a few buttons and buckles. The midden produced a variety of ceramic types, including utilitarian redwares (lead-glazed milkpans and crocks), whiteware (plain and transfer printed), pearlware (black and red transfer printed, and hand painted), creamware, stonewares, caramel-glazed earthenware (including locally made Bennington ware), as well as Whieldon ware, white salt-glazed stoneware, and porcelain. There was a wide array of tablewares—tea cups and saucers, plates, platters, and a tea pot, as well as a variety of utilitarian wares—milkpans, crocks, and jugs.
It was evident that during the late 18th to the mid-19th century, this portion of the yard was used for the deposition of household trash. This area may have been chosen specifically because of the location of the old cellar hole, which continued to settle, creating a depression which needed to be filled constantly. The general condition of the primary artifact assemblage as a whole—which includes whole bones and nails, and large ceramic fragments—suggests that the area was not accessible to foot traffic or farm animals. There are also very small fragments of ceramics, glass, and bone present, which may indicate that the midden also acted as a secondary repository for materials and soils originally deposited in other parts of the yard. It is likely that the midden and the old cellar hole were fenced off from the rest of the yard.
The presence of a fence would explain the relatively clear-cut limits of the midden feature. The fence would also have kept the trash within clearly defined boundaries, and kept out farm animals and scavengers. While no postholes were identified archaeologically, it is possible that any postholes delineating a fence line were disturbed during the numerous earthmoving and landscaping episodes at the farm. It is also just as likely that a snake fence, which did not require inground posts, was used at the Harwood farm. A fence would have given the appearance and presentation of a tidy farm, keeping the family’s garbage from public view. Hiding the household trash from public view may have been one of the most important aspects of a fence. Utilizing yard features and boundaries to hide unattractive sights and farm activities from public view was one aspect of a greater social phenomenon which emerged in the early 19th century.
The early-19th-century agricultural movement was a major social force which advanced a new perspective for the agrarian world that changed the manner in which farmers viewed themselves, their neighbors, their farms, and their community (Larkin 1994). Through the use of symbolic imagery, including Farmer Snug, the good farmer and neighbor, and his antithesis—Farmer Slack—reformers were able to persuade a largely agrarian nation to alter the landscape by cleaning up their farms and yards (Herman 1994). The result of this campaign is visible archaeologically in changing patterns of trash disposal and yard maintenance through time.
The patriarch of the Vermont Harwoods was an avid adherent of the agricultural reform mindset. Zechariah Harwood was quite diligent about the apples that went through his press. Many neighbors contracted to use the Harwood mill, some of whom proclaimed that a few rotten apples were needed to give spunk to the cider. Zechariah did not abide by this—he followed the rules set out in the Farmer’s Almanac which were posted to the beam of his mill—“Now the rules laid down by Farmer Snug are these: ‘See that your mill, press, and all the materials are sweet and clean and the straw free from must. The fruit should be ripe but not rotten, and when the apples are ground let the pomace remain from 12 to 24 hours, according to the heat of the weather, and the cider will be richer, softer, and higher–colored”.
The adherence to the agricultural reform practices of the early 19th century is exemplified in the varied treatment of different sections of the Harwood yard. The differences may be explained by what could be considered “public” areas, those which could be viewed by anyone from the road, and “private” areas, work or unsightly areas which were supposed to be visible only to family members or farm hands. There is a noted difference between the family’s deposition practices in the front yard adjacent to the road, which was relatively clean of debris, versus the artifact-rich midden area, located behind a fence and down a slope further from the road. The overall results of the archaeological investigation concluded that due to ground disturbance, the compromised state of the foundation, the presence of relatively clean foundation feature fill, and the lack of deposits on the cellar floor or any associated 18th-century deposits or features, the Harwood Hill site was not considered eligible for the National Register. Nonetheless, the archaeological investigation provided insight into the uses, maintenance, and alterations of the farmyard over time, as well as the habits, preferences, and social mores of the Harwood family.
Charlotte Poor Farm, Charlotte: Located on Thompson’s Point, in Charlotte, VT, the Charlotte Poor Farm was utilized by the town during the early 19th through the mid-20th century. Due to a fire in the late 1950s, the main house of the poor farm was destroyed and abandoned. The present landscape reflects the neglected space; the site is covered with overgrowth, and the agricultural field has lain fallow. However, the site continues to be an important landmark for the local community. Descendents of the proprietors continue to live nearby.
The Charlotte Poor Farm was partially excavated and mapped by the University of Vermont’s Champlain Valley Archaeological Field School in June 2007. Dr. Cameron B. Wesson directed the project, which involved a crew of 11 undergraduate students from UVM. The crew systematically mapped the foundations for the main house and the farm dependencies. The excavations totaled 24 1 x 1 m units, which recovered evidence from all periods of occupation; most of the recovered material dated to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Evidence of domestic refuse, including faunal remains, indicated on-site butchery as well as the availability of a variety of commercial foodstuffs and beverages.
The project is part of a larger endeavor by Dr. Wesson that is examining the material evidence of poverty in the 19th and 20th centuries. We are currently writing up this research for publication in Vermont Archaeology, and are looking to compare our data with other local, domestic contexts in order to assess differences in purchasing and consumption of nonlocal items. Poor farms are a vital resource for learning about and understanding social class and community relations in rural America; it is necessary that the Charlotte Poor Farm and other examples that are found in many New England communities be studied and properly understood before the increase in development affects their archaeological signature.
