1630 FIND FITS WILLIAMSBURG PICTURE
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Byline: Wilford Kale
Date: 05-10-1987
WILLIAMSBURG -- Archaeologists have uncovered the site of the earliest-known colonial house to be found in Williamsburg. The dwelling -- thought to date from about 1630 -- was located in a lot on which a house is scheduled to be built in the Port Anne subdivision. In the 17th century, the area was known as Middle Plantation. It was found by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation archaeologists working with the subdivision developer to save major archaeological sites in the project before lots are sold and construction is begun.
The city of Williamsburg and Gerald Divaris of Port Anne Associates, the developer, had agreed to protect a section of the subdivision while archaeologists continued to locate 18th century sites off College Creek at old Port Anne, one of the city's two principal colonial ports. "This site, however, was not located in the protected area," said Marley Brown, Colonial Williamsburg's director of archaeology. Brown, who was in charge of the excavation, said the site was found accidentally when construction crews putting in a road "stumbled upon a couple of graves."
Divaris gave Brown permission to expand digs along the road. Ten graves were found and the site of the 1630 house.
"The exciting thing about this site is the knowledge that we're finding physical evidences of the earliest settlement, remains of Middle Plantation," Brown said.
Middle Plantation became a substantial settlement later in the 17th century. Its name was changed to Williamsburg in 1699 when it became Virginia's colonial capital.
"Within the next several years, with the aid of this site and others, we have to have a better idea of the nature of Middle Plantation. Ultimately, we hope we can do a better job of reconstructing what the community was like from 1630 to just prior to the founding of the capital," Brown said.
The archaeologist has been able to date the site to the late 1620s or early 1630s because of the artifacts found during the dig. Archaeologists located several Bellarmaine jugs with designs, called masks, on them that were typical in the early 17th century. "We also found some early 17th century spoons and other various pieces of early pottery. We've found material that is somewhat later that takes us to the middle of the 17th century, such as locally made pipe bowls from 1640-1660. This combination of artifacts gives us a date range of the settlement."
Brown said evidence includes remains of what appears to be a main house, "but this is not nearly as clear as we would like. There also is a series of postholes that indicates outbuildings."
The buildings of the early colonists did not have brick or stone foundations, but rather were constructed on posts driven into the ground. The ideal way to excavate an early 17th century site is to expose broad areas of land so posthole patterns become observable. But in the subdivison project, "we were restricted only to the area where houses were going in and we couldn't disturb the trees," Brown said.
"Working within the trees it is very difficult to see the pattern. But considering all that, we did get a very good idea of the site and were able to recover the important information associated with it."
Though the site was discovered in August, it was not until January that excavation work began, Brown said. In four months, the archaeological team uncovered household debris, including pots, nails, straight pins, animal bones, bottles, ceramics, clay pipes and some personal items such as scissors.
The graves also appear to date from the 1620s until the middle of the 17th century, Brown said. Not much is left of the skeletons, but some were intact so that future research will enable the age, sex and size of the bodies to be determined.
Since many of these people probably were part of the first major wave of colonists from England, new techniques in bone analysis will let historians gain knowledge about the colonists' diet, Brown said. Brown said negotiations and cooperation by the developer, city and historic foundation worked so well that he hopes "other people can take a lesson from it in terms of way of dealing with future development on property that we know is historically important."
Two projects still need to be completed at Port Anne, the archaeologist said. "We've found several 18th century sites associated with the landing and we have a good idea that they're well preserved and important," Brown said.
"Secondly, we're interested and would like to be able to find the palisade that was erected around Middle Plantation to protect it from possible Indian attack. We're fairly certain that it runs very close to the dwelling site," he said.
If the palisade is located, archaeologists would be able to locate other Middle Plantation sites, probably nearby. Today, the palisade remains may only be a shallow ditch with some postholes in it.
The 18th century sites, including a possible tavern with a cellar and another dwelling, are located in Williamsburg in a corridor between South Henry Street and the Port Anne development, Brown said. "Hopefully an easement will protect those sites. They are not in any actual construction area."
A second article from an unidentified publication..probable in March or April 1987
1600s Homesite Found -- Discovery at Port Anne believed city’s earliest settlement
by Claire Fortier
Williamsburg - Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be one of the earliest colonial homesites within the city limits. After almost five months of excavations in the Port Anne subdivision, Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists unearthed the hearth of an early 17th century dwelling, as well as, a number of artifacts that date to the same period.
“We believe it is the earliest colonial domestic settlement in the city proper, and one of the earliest on the Peninsula,” said Marley Brown, CW’s director of archaeology.
The project was a cooperative effort on the part of CW, the city and Gerald Divaris, developer of the Port Anne subdivision. All three parties split the initial costs of $15,000.
However, archaeologists recently asked for an extension of time and an additional $9,000 to complete the excavation. Both Divaris and CW agreed, but the city is waiting for the results of the project before agreeing to pay its share of additional funds.
In addition to a number of domestic artifacts, archaeologist unearthed 10 bodies which also date back to the early 17th century.
“We removed all 10 bodies and are in the course of testing them. We are going to do a diagnostic study of the bone aimed at reconstructing their diet, “Brown said. “This will be one of the very few such studies done on remains from the early Colonial population.”
“We found a lot of nice household debris in a pit we think they used as a trash dump.” Said Andrew C. Edwards, a CW archaeologist and project supervisor.
“We found the remains of a number of case bottles. They are squared-off bottles that fit in cases (for easier loading in ships), usually containing gin. Those are fairly datable.”
Pots, nails, straight pins and animal bones were some of the other items found that lead archaeologists to believe the site was a dwelling. While they speculate that the property could have been owned by one of the first doctors in the area, John Potts, they can’t be sure until they complete their laboratory research.
In addition to the 17th century find, archaeologists found evidence of three 18th century buildings in another site within the Port Anne area. One of the buildings may have been a tavern, according to Brown, complete with a cellar. Another is believed to be a house.
While no further research will be done on the area immediately, archaeologists are hoping that the city and Divaris will reach an agreement to allow excavation in the future.
“Most of the 18th century material was in the area near South Henry Street which is being used as a buffer. We are making a recommendation to the city that they work with the developer to obtain an easement to protect that site for future study.” Brown said.
In the meantime, Edwards said the current project will be completed by April 27. “We will then backfill the land and it will be ready for construction. Through all of this, Mr. Divaris has been extremely cooperative. He placed no unreasonable restrictions on us and granted an extension for the first phase.” Edwards said.