News: Patterson Park dig uncovering traces of War of 1812 militia camp, defenses

Patterson Park dig uncovering traces of War of 1812 militia camp, defenses, Scott Dance, Baltimore Sun, April 20, 2014.

When Samuel Smith, major general of the Maryland militia, needed a headquarters to plot Baltimore’s defense from British invaders in the summer of 1814, archaeologists believe he called on the owner of a shop that gives Butcher’s Hill its name. Jacob Laudenslager leased much of what is Patterson Park today from landowner William Patterson, including a butcher’s shop steps from where the park’s iconic observatory sits today.

Archaeologists have uncovered a wall of that structure as they embark on a dig for a better understanding of what happened when thousands of militiamen camped along the hills of southeast Baltimore during the War of 1812. An excavation that began Wednesday has uncovered artifacts including bricks, mortar, glass, nails, shards of pottery and a gunflint — used to ignite gunpowder inside 19th century firearms.

News: Tour hours expanding for historic Phoenix Shot Tower

Tour hours expanding for historic Phoenix Shot Tower: Preservationists and city hope to restore, draw visitors to structure built in 1828, Alison Knezevich, The Baltimore Sun, April 18, 2014.

In one of the city’s first historic preservation battles, Baltimore residents paid $17,000 in 1924 to save the soaring Phoenix Shot Tower from a wrecking ball and a future as a Union Oil Company gas station.

Today, preservationists are again rallying around the Shot Tower. While it is no longer in danger — the city has abandoned a 2012 proposal to consider selling more than a dozen historic properties, including the tower — they say more needs to be done to showcase the attraction and to fully restore what was once the nation’s tallest building.

The nonprofit Carroll Museums, which manages the Shot Tower and the nearby historic Carroll Mansion, plans to open the tower for drop-in visitors next month. And starting Sunday, the nonprofit Baltimore Heritage is adding a tour of the historic Jonestown neighborhood that includes the Shot Tower.

[We Dig Hampstead Hill] Digging up the history of the Battle of Baltimore at our community open house

Thanks to everyone who came out this morning to join us at our community open house in Patterson Park. With tours of the Observatory and our Witness to the War of 1812 banner we shared the history of Hampstead Hill and the Battle of Baltimore. Our archeology team and volunteers are learning more day by day so please join us next Saturday for more updates on the project. We’re also looking forward to welcoming more visitors to the park next week when we start offering field trips to local students thanks to our partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools.

[We Dig Hampstead Hill] Field excavation finds a brick foundation and a French gunflint

Today in Patterson Park, volunteers working with Jason Shellenhamer, Ryun Papson, and archeologist Emily Walter uncovered a brick foundation for the structure identified in our earlier remote sensing survey. With multiple units open, we’ve also started to recover a number of intriguing artifacts including coins, ceramics and even a French gunflint that could potentially have been used with a French rifle during the War of 1812.

Thanks to Emily for capturing a shot of the gunflint on Instagram right after it came out of the ground! Thanks also to Johns Hopkins and Ryun for sharing a few more photos of our second day of field excavations below.

[We Dig Hampstead Hill] A rainy day followed by an exciting start to archeology in Patterson Park

Thank you to everyone who came out and joined us last night for our rainy volunteer workshop in Patterson Park. Delayed a day by yesterday’s storm, the field excavation started today led by fieldwork supervisor Jason Shellenhamer and team archeologist Ryun Papson together with a great team of volunteers recruited in partnership with the Archeological Society of Maryland.

Check out the a few photos below from the first day of the excavation and please join us this Saturday for our community open house (and a repeat volunteer workshop for anyone who missed last night).