By Addie Heyer

Bartram’s Garden

PA Archaeology

Spring 2009

Kutztown University

John Bartram• Born on a farm in 1699 to immigrant

Quakers• Never received more than 4-5 years of

formal education • Hired himself a Latin tutor - within three

months he was able to read books borrowed from his friends

• Expanded his botanical knowledge through observations and correspondences

• Peter Collinson, a merchant in London – maintained communication for 35 years,

becoming close friends in the process

• Carolus Linnaeus called him “greatest natural botanist in the world”

John Bartram• Concentrated on native plants.• Studied as far south as Florida, as far north as Lake

Ontario, and as far west as the Ohio River. • Brought back a variety of seeds, cuttings, and roots. • Exported 200 new species to Europe• King George III honored him as Royal Botanist • Studied soil fertilization, soil erosion, reclaimed marsh

lands, and improved crops and vegetables. • He also studied the important medicinal properties of

plants, often helping neighbors who could not afford to pay for medical treatment

Original Study

Common Flower Garden

Upper Kitchen Garden

Lower Kitchen Gardens

Walks, 150 yards long, moderate descent

Bartram’s Home• Bartram added additions to the house in apparently

two stages • The first renovation in 1731 included the addition of

a large kitchen with an overhead chamber on the north side of the house.

• The 1770 renovations gave the house its “unusual” features– A classical façade with a centered, recessed porch– Three columns with Ionic capitals – Stone window frames carved in the baroque style

• It is said that the columns are similar to those of the Villa Sarego in Verona, Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio in the 16th century

Bartram’s Home• Bartram added additions to the house in apparently

two stages • The first renovation in 1731 included the addition of

a large kitchen with an overhead chamber on the north side of the house.

• The 1770 renovations gave the house its “unusual” features– A classical façade with a centered, recessed porch– Three columns with Ionic capitals – Stone window frames carved in the baroque style

• It is said that the columns are similar to those of the Villa Sarego in Verona, Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio in the 16th century

Villa Sarego in Verona, Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio in the 16th century.

What happened next?

• Bartram had 11 children• His 7th child, William, accompanied him on many trips • William gained fame for his botanical expeditions,

nature illustrations and writings– Travels (1791), about his 4 year journey through the South

• The land was left to his son John Jr. in 1777• William and John Jr. transformed the garden into a

commercial nursery– John Bartram and Son – Published the first catalogue of American plants in 1783 – Supplied plants for Independence Hall, Mount Vernon, and

Monticello – Propagated more than 4,000 species of native and exotic

plants.

What happened next?

• The property was sold in 1850 to Andrew Eastwick – a “self-made” man who made his fortune in the railroad

industry. – As a child played in the garden– determined that it be preserved

• Eastwick prevented the garden from being destroyed by the industrial sprawl

• After his death in 1879,Thomas Meehan, persuaded the city to buy Bartram’s garden and to have it maintained as an historic site and park

• John Bartram Association, organized in 1893, oversees:– Preservation efforts – Historical interpretation of

• the garden, • the John Bartram House, • the surviving outbuildings

The Archaeology!• The site is an excellent location for understanding:

– Historical facets related to John Bartram– 18th and 19th century botanic studies– Life in Philadelphia

• Excavations from the 1970’s through the 1990’s • Estimated that over 20,000 artfacts have been uncovered including:

– Jasper flakes– Flowerpots– 18th century pewter shoe buckle

• First in 1975 by Museum Historic Research Center of the University Museum.

– Searching for “subsurface traces” of a central path in front of the house • Second in 1977 by John Dickey and Associates

– Full-scale architectural analysis of the house. – Hopes of finding information for the restoration of the house. – Uncovered some artifacts, BUT they only focused on the horizontal

provenience without taking the stratigraphic positions into consideration, – thus the artifacts’ archaeological significance was indeterminable

The Archaeology!• 1979, Museum Institute for Conservation Archaeology of the University

Museum – study the seedhouse to uncover the plants that Bartram was studying and

cultivating • What was uncovered was a 87 glass bottles from the 1800 to 1900s

– uses such as: ink, liquor, perfume, salad oil, soda, jelly, root beer extract, and medicine bottles.

• 35 were identified as medicine bottles which included: – 7 Dr. Jayne’s Expectorant bottles, – 6 Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound bottles, – 6 Munyon’s Paw-Paw bottles, – 3 Bromo-Seltzer bottles, – 2 Oxomulsion bottles, – 1 Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Root Kidney, Liver and Bladder Cure bottle

• While this does not tell us anything about Bartram or his garden, it does show

– the variety of items that were used by the residents of the estate – the possible inflictions from which they might have suffered.

• However, it would be a difficult to pin point the exact ailment – the variety of medications that were just becoming available at the time – the increase in demand for medications

Artifacts – Examples of Bottles

Dr. Jayne’s Expectorant

Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound

Munyon’s Paw-Paw

Bromo-Seltzer

Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Root Kidney, Liver and Bladder

Cure

Common Medicine Ad

• 1980 by Robert L. Schuyler and students from the University of Pennsylvania

• Focused on two locations:– Site of Bartram’s original office, – an open field where greenhouses were supposed to have stood

• Excavation of the study revealed:– the possible foundation along with several garden features and post holes– the “most striking” feature was an eastward path that ran towards the river

• The field excavation uncovered parts of three structures• The third location, clearly showed evidence of a greenhouse

– constructed of brick and stone – evidence of a sloping wooden wall that would have held glass – the floor had been made out of stone that was heated by stoves

• An interesting artifacts to be uncovered at this site was a plate from a Franklin stove that

– The front plate was only the second of its kind to be found.. • Other artifacts from the greenhouse included:

– fragments of flowerpots, bell jars, greenhouse benches, watering devices, and other assorted gardening supplies and tools.

– Reconstructed flowerpots demonstrated that some aspects had not changed

The Archaeology!

Artifacts – Franklin Stove

ONE OF A KIND

“This foundation carved in bedrock formed the base of John Bartram's cider press. Apples were placed in the circular trench and crushed by a revolving wooden wheel. A small hole allowed juice to drain into a round reservoir. Pomace was gathered from the trench and drawn into a wooden press that sat on the square foundation carved in the bedrock. Still intact today, it may be the only one of its kind in North America.”

http://www.bartramsgarden.org/see/press.html

References• Cotter, John L.; Roberts, Daniel G.; Parrington, Michael

1992. Bartram’s Garden: An Early Botanical Venture. The Buried Past, University of Pennsylvania Press.

• DiGirolamo, Michele 2000. Historic Bartram's Garden. http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_bartram.htm.

• John Bartram Association2004. John Bartram – America’s Pioneering Naturalist. http://www.bartramsgarden.org/index.html.

• Parrington, Michael1981. Medical Archaeology in Philadelphia. Expedition, Volume 23(3), pp.34-38

Image links• http://www.ipass.net/rlynch/bottles/pics/DrDJaynesExp.jpg• http://www.glswrk-auction.com/WebPics-MORE/mc15.02.jpg• http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeltill/8833914/sizes/o/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/puddleboy/2146684205/sizes/m/• http://sjtreasurehunters.com/images/bottles/bigkilmer3.jpg• http://sln2.fi.edu/franklin/inventor/images/franklinstove.jpg• http://j-walkblog.com/images/froginthroat.jpg• http://www.bartramsgarden.org/see/press.html