Thanks to Lisa Kraus and Jason Shellenhamer for this update from April 23 and April 24—the first weekend of digging with the Herring Run Archaeology Project this spring. You can find their updates on our blog, the project website, and on Facebook. You can also subscribe to the project email list to read these posts in your inbox.
Our second season of fieldwork has begun, and we’ve already made some fantastic discoveries!
We’re exploring more of the Eutaw manor house, and have now firmly identified a second building that was likely the kitchen. We’ll be continuing to explore these two structures tomorrow, but we’re also hoping to begin excavation of the possible stable and slave quarter we’ve tentatively identified nearby.
In the manor mouse, we’ve finally located one of the chimneys, and have found some interesting artifacts, including a 1773 half penny, numerous decorative pieces of window hardware, a beautiful piece of an 18th-century hand-blown wine bottle, a 19th-century pipe bowl, and too many other things to mention.
At the end of last year’s fieldwork, we identified what appeared to be a second, smaller structure just west of the Manor House. We’ve now identified it as an out kitchen, a small building separate from the main house where food was stored and prepared.
This was likely one of the two smaller buildings depicted in the painting of Eutaw by Charles Wilson Peale (circled in yellow in the detail above). We’ll be posting more updates as the fieldwork progresses, and hope to see you in the field!
