I finished the
Maxwell Hall Archaeological Survey Report in late July 2025. While I was
writing, the Monday Public Archaeology volunteer group, most of whom are
members of the Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland (CCASM), spent
almost all summer in the lab as we’d not been all that busy in the field. But
then things heated up in August and I’m not just talking about the temperature.
We’ve been really busy since then, starting with Elsmere...
 |
|
In August 2025, Cal Carpenter, the County’s Historic Site’s Planner and I got called out to look at a building along the Potomac River that was about to be demolished. Once upon a time “Elsmere” was a beautiful old farm house built in the late 1890s. However, it was in horrible shape when we arrived, and parts of it were downright scary to walk through - especially the basement and the deck around the in-ground pool. To add injury to insult, although the house had not been officially occupied for several years, it had been used as a squat and was full of garbage. We spent several days inside taking photos and doing measurements of the rooms, etc. From our document research, we knew one of the families that had lived in the house during the 1970s was Jewish. We discovered that the house had two kitchens, the earlier 20th-century kitchen and a later 1970s kitchen, indicating that they probably kept Kosher. We also removed the double 1890s glass front doors, the fireplace mantels, and a newel post from the base of the staircase. These items are in storage until a new home can be found for them.
 |
Newel Post that was Salvaged From the House |
As part of the work at “Elemere” I brought the Monday Public Archaeology volunteer group out to the house to place a series of Shovel Test Pits (STPs) around it. STPs are small, round, test pits measuring about 18 inches (50 cm) in diameter. They generally aren’t dug more than 3 feet into the ground as it’s impossible to go deeper in the small space with a shovel. We located a Native American Site, Early to Late Woodland in age (based on the pottery fragments about 900 B.C. to circa A.D. 1700), in the area around the house known as the LOD. The LOD is the Limits of Disturbance within which the demolition activities are allowed to occur.
 |
Denise Chesldine and Elsie Picyk excavating STPs at Elsmere |
We also uncovered brick paving further out
in the yard. The property was once part of the Marshall Hall estate and we are
theorizing that this was possibly an outbuilding associated with the estate.
Marshall Hall is about a mile north of Elsmere.
 |
Right: The brick paving at Elsmere on the surface. Left: We lifted some of the bricks and found a shallow wall under the paving. |
In late September and October, while
we were finishing up with the Elsmere lab work, we had school groups visit us. These were groups of 2nd graders from
local elementary schools. We have archaeology activities for them, which
includes Linda Talley (a former 2nd grade teacher) putting them
through their paces on what is and isn’t an artifact. The dinosaur photograph
gives them pause, although some of them know what a paleontologist is. They
also wash artifacts and then tape broken ceramics back together. Water is fun
when you’re 7 years old and the broken ceramics are a puzzle. In the meantime
we try to talk about how archaeologists do the exact same things and why we do
it. Not sure how much is absorbed, but we do our best.
 |
Linda Talley (left) working with a school group to identify what an artifact is. Volunteers Ned Edelen and Carrie Wedding on the left |
October brought the Annual Historic Preservation Awards and our own Doug and Linda Talley received the Preservation Service Award for all the work that they do in Port Tobacco Village and with the Monday Public Archaeology volunteer group.
 |
Charles County Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) Annual Preservation Awards - Preservation Service Award Recipients, County Staff, and HPC Commissioners. Front Row, Left to Right: Charles County Planning & Growth Management (PGM) Staff - Esther Doyle Read and Cal Carpenter, HPC Vice Chair and Piscataway-Conoy Tribal Chair Francis Gray, Award Recipents Doug and Linda Talley, HPC Commissioner Rev. Dr. Ruby Thomas. Back Row, Left to Right: HPC Commissioner Ben Shulz and HPC Chair Franklin Robinson. Note: This spring Francis Gray and Ben Schulz rotated off the board and Ruby Thomas was elected as the new Vice Chair |
We
were still in the field in October and November. Most of this time was spent at
the Swann Oyster House. This was a rather slow excavation as we were removing
plow scars and cleaning down the floor of the 275 square foot area that we’ve opened. We are starting to pick up post holes and molds. In archaeology
speak this means the hole dug to put the post in and the mold or stain left in
the ground when the post is either removed or has rotted in place. There’s also
a large area of red clay, instead of the usual yellowish brown subsoil, at the
base of the plow zone. We’re trying to get a better definition of this as the
plow has cut through large areas of it. This wasn’t the most exciting part of
the overall excavation, but it’s necessary to be able to understand how the land
was used by Swann family and the people who lived there before them.
 |
The plow scars appear as dark lines at the base of the plow zone and when removed they leave linear ruts in the base of the unit, that you can see in the photograph below. Once they are removed we can check for features (i.e. large artifacts like posts or hearths that can't be taken back to the lab). |
 |
Carol Cowherd (left) and Denise Cheseldine (right) excavating the plow scars. |
In addition to the work in Port Tobacco, we also spent part of November at Rich Hill in Bel Alton excavating a unit in the area of one of the Enslaved Quarters. This excavation was partly to clear an area where a “Ghost Structure” or frame house will be placed on the grounds of the park. The house will be the size of a typical Quarter and will have interpretive signage about the enslaved peoples who lived at Rich Hill. It was slow going as the soil was (and continues to be) like concrete due to the drought last summer.
 |
Artist's Conception of the "Ghost Structure" For more information visit: https://richhillfriends.org/about/ghost-structure/ |
In December we almost finished washing all the artifacts from the 2025 excavation season. Then we closed out 2025 with our annual holiday party. I made chili (yes I can cook) and everyone else brought delicious main dishes, salads and desserts. We closed down for the holidays planning to come back in January 2026. But, then the snow and ice hit. We made it to the lab on January 19th and then we were out of the lab until February 9th; as it was Ned Edelen had to come out on the 9th and chop the ice off the sidewalks in Port Tobacco so we could get into the courthouse lab. Two days later it was in the 50s; a week later it snowed, again.
 |
The snow was still on the ground in Patuxent when I made a field visit to a site on February 25th. A few years ago we started the field season in late February. |
It finally stopped snowing in late February and the weather warmed up. We got a couple of lab days in before the school groups started to arrive. On those days no lab or field work got done as we were chasing kids, doing kid activities, and hopefully teaching them about archaeology.
 |
School Group washing artifacts. The volunteers are, left to right, Elsie Pyck with her back to the camera, Carrie Wedding, and Denise Cheseldine. |
 |
Noelani Brockett, a PGM staffer stopped by Rich Hill to help out. She's holding a piece of 19th-century American Blue and Gray Saltglaze Stoneware. Advanced Architecture's tent is in the background, they are building the "Ghost Structure." |
 |
The Screening Crew at Rich Hill. Left to Right Advanced Architecture Staff Aaliyah Winford and Trevon Hall, CCASM Volunteers Claudia Kuhl, and Elise Picyk. |
In
May we spent two days at Mulberry Grove just south of Port Tobacco. Mulberry Grove was the birth place of John Hanson, the President of the 2nd Continental Congress. We were able to excavate three levels before
we had to back fill. We’ll be returning there in the fall to open up another
unit next to the one where we dug in May. We think we’re in the original
kitchen as we recovered some yellow ceramic floor tiles, white saltglaze
stoneware, and a piece of Rhenish stoneware. All of these items date to the
early 18th century.
 |
The screening crew at Mulberry Grove, left to right: Kathy Mitchell, Melinda Gray, Linda Talley, and Denise Cheseldine |
 |
Unit at Mulberry Grove. We managed to shovel down three levels in the concrete soil. What we found is a buried A Horizon, which is the bottommost dark gray soil stratum in the upper left corner of the unit. A buried A horizon is a much earlier surface or yard layer buried under recent deposits. We found most the 18th-century artifacts in this layer and will be returning this fall to continued exploring this level. |
.jpg) |
Rhenish Stoneware Fragment |
 |
Eveylen Wenzel at Teagues Point in 2025. |
 |
Excavation at Teagues Point in 2025. This year the feature in the photograph was opened. |
This June we’ve been alternating between the Swann Oyster Site and Rich Hill. We’ve opened a new unit at the Swann Oyster House Site and are continuing to map the post holes and molds and to remove the plow scars. The unit placement is continuing to follow the artifact concentrations that were mapped out by the Port Tobacco Archaeology Project back in the early 2000s under the leadership of Jim Gibb, and the metal detection survey by Steve Lohr in 2024.
 |
Rich Rico and Caleb working in the new unit at the Swann Oyster House Site in Port Tobacco |
 |
Late Archaic Piscataway Point approximately 4850-3750 BC calendar years Rich Hill Site |
Comments
Post a Comment