Come Sail Away...

Today’s blog will review a book about Port Tobacco I read last week:

Tobacco Styx Bridge by Enis St.John is a tragic murder mystery set in post-Civil War Chandlers’ Town. The point of view switches back and forth between Charles Abell, dean of the financially ailing Southern Maryland College in 1987, and his ancestors living at Elysium farm in the 1890’s.

The two parallel stories are based on actual events, but the author plainly states that this is fiction. Those who are part of the Port Tobacco community in one way or another will recognize names and places in the story. For those not familiar with the area the book gives a great a taste of what life was like in late 1800s southern Maryland. As an ignorant, city-dwelling northerner I enjoyed reading about the jousting Tournaments where local farmers and skilled ‘knights’ alike would compete to spear a series in shrinking rings on a sharpened staff. I’d never heard of such a thing in Maryland outside the Renaissance Fair, but Kelley assures me they still occur and is fact the state sport of Maryland.

More overarching themes include family legacy. Is the son responsible for the transgressions of the forefathers? What does one do with unsavory family history?

The historian in me wishes the division between facts and fiction was a bit clearer, but I will most likely just take what I’ve read to the library and look it up. Overall, Tobacco Styx Bridge was an entertaining book that lent some color to my minds-eye sketch of Port Tobacco.

Hope to see you all at Port Tobacco tomorrow!

Anne

Play that music!

Hey folks,Today's artifact from our excavations at the Burch House is thought to be one of the oldest types of musical instruments in the world. The Mouth Harp, as it is commonly known, is a simple metal frame with a flexible reed in the center. This reed can be made from materials such as metal or bamboo, though our harp is missing this piece. This instrument is sometimes called a "Jew Harp," though this is misleading as the instrument has no particular connection to Judaism or Jewish people, and this particular name may stem from "Jaw Harp," as a player uses his or her jaw and mouth to adjust the volume of the notes created by the instrument. Other names for this nifty little instrument are mouth harp, juice harp, and Ozark harp.

It is likely that this instrument originated in Asia, where it is still played by many people. While a player adjusts his mouth to change the volume, he will pluck the reed, which rests against the tongue, with his finger to produce a note. Changing the sound the instrument produces has a great deal to do with altering the shape of one's mouth and throat, as well as one's breathing...the whole process sounds pretty tough to me!

Have a great weekend everyone! We will keep you posted on our next day of digging at the Burch House.
Kelley

Take your medicine!

Hi all!

Our work at the Burch House over the past few sweltering days (a special thanks to our volunteers for braving the sun, bugs, and humidity!) has produced some exciting finds, but for today's blog I though I would revisit a bottle we find a couple weeks ago.


This embossed lettering on this aqua bottle reads "COMPOUND PECTORAL" on one of the large sides with "JW BULL'S" and "BALTIMORE" embossed on the two small sides. It was found in Stratum 2 of Unit 84.

"JW BULL'S" refers to the Rev. Dr. John W Bull, the doctor responsible for coming up with the recipe for this compound. August Vogeler, who first manufactured drugs and chemicals in Baltimore starting in 1845, acquired Dr. Bull's recipes in 1873 and partnered with Adolph C. Meyer. By 1883 the company was known as A.C. Meyer and Co, and profited from sales of Dr. Bull's family medicines. As far as the contents of the compound go, it is likely that it was a mix of extracts and herbs intended to alleviate a cough, though without additional research it is impossible to know for sure. I suspect that it was cherry flavored (yuck!), given that this was the most common flavoring for cough medicines. This particular bottle likely dates to some time between 1880 and 1910, given that is is molded with a tooled finish, meaning that the mold seam stops short of the rim and a finishing tool was used to more particularly shape the rim (click on the image to the right for a close-up example). Thanks to the SHA bottle dating website for the picture as well as information on bottle types and finishes.

Hope to see you all out in the field! We will be out tomorrow as well as a couple of days next week, if the weather will allow it!
Kelley

We're going to need a locksmith!

Hi folks!
As Jim mentioned on Monday we recovered a large padlock from our excavations around Burch House. It is possible that this is the padlock for the Port Tobacco jail, as Washington Burch was the jailer and may have ended up with it after the jail closed.


This is the sort of interesting item all of us like to pull out of the screen at Port Tobacco! It would be great if we could conserve it.

Have a great weekend!
Kelley

A Rocky Vacation

Greetings all -

While today's blog doesn't have to do with an archaeological site directly, it does have to do with the future of archaeology...

(DU Campus)

I just returned from a three day visit to Denver Colorado where I will be attending graduate school in the fall to get my Masters in Anthropology at the University of Denver.

(Sturm Hall - my new home!)

I met with staff, professors and students during my visit. Everyone seems to be very focused and energetic about all aspects of Anthropology and Archaeology. I look forward to spending the next two years there gaining a better understanding of it all for myself.

(The Rocky Mountains)

They have several superb professors at DU focusing on things ranging from colonialism in Mozambique, WWII Japanese internment camps, ground-penetrating radar, and the archaeology of place and identity to name a few.

I leave at the end of August and will post updates on my progress when I can...as will Kelley down at William & Mary.

See you in the trenches soon I hope...including tomorrow, Thursday May 27th at the Burch House!!

- Peter

Saturday Lab

The Saturday lab was very successful, the six volunters having washed all of the material excavated the previous week. We'll be digging again Tuesday and Thursday and washing in front of the courthouse Saturday.

In other news, Jane donated several brand new hand tools and expendable materials to the project. Thank you Jane. Also, during the Saturday lab, we cleaned a large padlock that likely was from the jail house...Washington Burch was the jailer for several years before the new jail opened in La Plata. Hopefully, I'll get an image up on tomorrow's blog.

Jim

Summer Happenings

Over the next few weeks, the gang will close up excavations at the Swann House at Port Tobacco and focus on Burch House. Predictably, the deposits at Burch are complex and extensive. I hope to have a summary of finds at Swann House by the end of June...I'm a little less certain on how long it will take to figure out Burch House.

Two of my Stevenson University students will join the team in June. Each must complete an internship to fulfill requirements for a Public History major. More about them in a couple of weeks.

Today the GAC crew worked on a small project in Anne Arundel County...a badly damaged 19th-century house site. We had little hope to recover anything of interest at the outset, and a day of intensive testing has done little to alter that assessment. If anything changes, you'll read about it here.

Jim