PROJECT AREA

Data Recovery (Phase III) at Historic Site 18CV151

Cove Point, Maryland

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Data Recovery at Site 18CV151

Phase III data recovery investigations led to important insights into mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth-century slave occupations in the Chesapeake region. Data recovery work successfully mitigated adverse effects to this National Register-eligible site.

Historic Artifacts at Cove PointData recovery excavations produced 4,389 historic artifacts, 26 prehistoric artifacts, 2,069 bone and shell, and 882 botanical specimens. Architectural debris, kitchen-related items, and faunal remains accounted for 97 percent of the artifact assemblage (not counting botanical specimens). One of the most interesting artifacts from the site was a silver Spanish One Reale coin (containing the Spanish Pillar and Waves motif and produced in Potosi, Bolivia ca. 1732). These coins are not uncommon on sites of this period in southern Maryland and Tidewater Virginia.

Spanish One Reale coin recovered from Site 18Cv151

Archaeology | Archival Research | Artifacts

Extensive historical research was useful in creating a site history. Deed, tax, census, wills, and court records provided information on the chain-of-title, occupants, farm economy, and other information about former landowners of this tract. Geneological information

and local histories provided additional insights into the former owners. Maps helped document changes in the local infrastructure and buildings over time.

1673 Map of Site Location.Source: Augustine Herman, Virginia and Maryland.

Phase I/II ArchaeologyPhase I/II investigations at Site 18CV151 produced 3,373 historic artifacts and 17 prehistoric artifacts. Feature 1 was a 6.6x1.8 foot pit found 2.2 feet below the plowzone where 697 artifacts were recovered. Feature fill was dark yellowish-brown sandy loam mottled with yellowish-brown and light yellowish-brown clay. Feature 1 may represent a clay extraction pit where clay was mined for processing daub for fabricating structures. Wattle-and-daub walls and chimneys were common in the pre-Colonial and Colonial periods in the Chesapeake and Tidewater regions of Maryland and Virginia.

Excavation of Feature 1, Site 18CV151. A Possible Clay Extraction Pit/Daub Processing Pit. Facing Northwest.

Archival Research

For more information Contact Lori Frye, RPA

atGAI Consultants, Inc.

1.800.437.2150

Why Data Recovery?

Dominion Cove Point LNG, L.P. planned to construct a 36-inch pipeline, known as TL-532, from the existing Cove Point LNG Terminal in Calvert County, westward for approximately 48 miles to Marshall Hall Gate in Prince George’s County, but Site 18CV151 extended into the right-of-way of their planned project.

Based on the results of Phase II studies, GAI concluded that the historic component at Site 18CV151 was eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criterion D. As a result, any impacts to Site 18CV151 would constitute an Adverse Effect.

Since avoidance was not feasible, GAI conducted Phase III data recovery investigations to resolve adverse e f fec t s f rom project development by 1) conducting site-specific

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Data Recovery Excavations at Historic Site 18CV151

Overview of Site 18Cv151. Facing Southwest

Previous archeological investigations indicated that Site 18CV151 had the potential to provide insights into interdependent research goals relating to s i te funct ion , economics , and architecture/landscape for a plantation during the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century.

In-depth historical research shed light on previous landowners, weather conditions, mortality rates, diseases, and economic conditions in the region.

arch iva l research , 2) making comparisons with other mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century plantation archeological sites in the region, and 3) providing archeological excavations and analysis for the record. Background research provided insights into the history of the site (i.e., number of slaves, types of crops, and approximate period of occupation).

Data recovery identified three successive slave quarters, an outbuilding, fence lines, and activity areas. The interpretation of slave quarters is largely supported by: 1) interior root cellars, 2) consumptions of meats in soups and stews, 3) limited butchery marks (butchery process occurred elsewhere), 4) low numbers of kitchen ceramic and glass artifacts (few material possessions), and 5) possible colonoware ceramics.

The quarters were located on marginal land subjected to frequent flooding. The excavated portion of the site falls within a nearly level “basin” area at the foot of a hillslope. Water runoff (and accompanying erosion) from the hillslopes can be moderate to severe and tobacco cult ivation would have exacerbated the drainage problem. The structural integrity of the earliest quarters (abandoned ca. 1780) was compromised by heavy water runoff that washed away soils from around the structural posts.

A broad trench to mitigate water runoff defined the location of the next house--a ca. 1780-1802 log structure built slightly uphill but still impacted by flooding after rain events.

Research and Analysis

Data recovery e f for ts included archival research, excavation of 10 5x5-foot units, soil chemical analysis, mechanical excavation of a 48x185-foot area (58 cultural features), and analysis of a total of 6,484 artifacts.

Phase III data recovery excavations at Site 18CV151 addressed a ser ies of research questions focused on the interpretation of the site’s architecture/landscape and agriculture themes. Phase III investigations led to important insights into mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth-century slave occupations in the Chesapeake region.

OwnershipBased on temporally diagnostic artifacts and historical research, Site 18CV151 was occupied from ca. 1760-1830s. Most of this occupation dates to the Somervell family ownership (1773-ca. 1810). This settlement may represent a branch of the prominent Somervell family’s “homestead,” since family members continued to be buried in a nearby family cemetery nearly 50 years after the family sold the plantation. Joseph Wilkinson acquired the property after the Somervell family and constructed new homes on another part of the plantation.