New Staff

During the past week, two new people joined the staff of Gibb Archaeological Consulting (GAC). While GAC is a separate entity from the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project, my staff plays an integral role in the Port Tobacco work.

Anne Hayward joined us last week. She is a recent graduate of St. Mary's College and interned with our colleagues Dennis Pogue and Esther White at Mount Vernon. She has interests in underwater archaeology, museum science, and historic textiles.

Stephanie Duensing joined us today. She is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park. She has interests in 18th and 19th-century sites.

I'll let them tell us all more about themselves as they get settled and start working on Port Tobacco material...they'll probably spend the next two days washing and re-bagging materials from the March Campaign while we wait out the inclement weather...I hope they will contribute some blogs.

Jim

Processing, processing, processing

I have been remiss the past two days in posting blogs. The reason is that several large projects undertaken simultaneously have occupied me and the GAC crew.

Despite greater activity than usual in other counties, we have not neglected Port Tobacco. Scott Lawrence and Anne Hayward (who has just joined the GAC team) spent the entirety of yesterday washing the artifacts we recovered from the Wade family's property around the north and west sides of the courthouse. I don't think they washed one-third of what we recovered in just two days worth of fieldwork.

No, Scott and Anne are not slackers...we just collected a huge amount of material from a mere 69 shovel tests. We will continue the washing and then catalogue the material as soon as possible.

Shalom and Good Easter to all.

Jim

Upcoming Archival Research Demonstration

Tuesday, April 14, at 7:30, the Charles County Archaeological Society will meet in room LR102 (that's in the basement of the 'Learning Center,' known by the over-40 crowd as the library) at the College of Southern Maryland. If interested in attending, please contact me for directions.

I will demonstrate several facets of conducting local historical research online, emphasizing maps, censuses, and land title research. The reason for holding the meeting at the College (which is just a few miles north of Port Tobacco) is that we will need a good Internet connection. Connectivity at Port Tobacco is unreliable and slow.

This will be a demonstration and not a workshop. For a workshop we would have to meet in a computer pod where everybody would have a machine to work on. Perhaps we can manage that later in the year.

Please join us.

Jim

Site Map Update

Here is the latest site map with all the work we did during the March campaign now plugged in. We are surely shovel testing our way through the town!

I think after all the work we do this summer I will break up the map so its easier to read and see. I will add close up views of the excavation units, existing buildings and more as we gather more information.

- Peter

In the News, Soon

I had a pleasant interview with Washington Post journalist Ann Siegal today at Port Tobacco. We walked around the various sites in the town center, talking of plans for the field session and beyond. Ms Siegal is doing a piece, due out in early May, on opportunities for the public to visit archaeological sites and to participate in the Washington area. We upload a link to the piece when it comes out.

Jim

Furnishing Burch House, Part 2

Thanks to the generosity of John Lawrence, Esq., we now have a suitable desk for the Burch House. Thank you John.
To make the house a little more useful as crew bunkhouse during the field session, we could use more in the way of cooking facilities: a microwave that isn't too decrepit, a camp stove or a large grill (we have a couple of small charcoal grills owned by ASM). A few pots and pans and cooking utensils would also be welcome additions.
Jim

Furnishing Burch House

Thanks to the generosity of Tom Forhan, the PTAP team has a desktop computer and a dorm-type refrigerator with which to outfit the Burch House. The refrigerator will be particularly useful during the May 22 to June 1 ASM field session...the crew will be cooking and eating on site.

The computer will be very helpful as we begin to move the laboratory work out of Annapolis and down to Port Tobacco. We will catalogue materials at the Burch House and, hopefully, reduce the amount of time that it takes us to get from fieldwork to final report (not that we don't already do so at amazingly fast rates).

We are still in need of some basic office furnishings such as a filing cabinet, desk, and desk chair, lamps, etc. All of these donations serve as matches for our various grants and, because the donations are to the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco, a 501(3)c charitable organization, they may be tax deductible.

Thank you, Tom.

Jim