Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference

A slight departure from the usual posts...

The 6th annual Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference will take place Saturday October 9th on the campus of Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio.

The conference will feature 4 invited speakers who will give presentations on their research into the archaeology of conflict. Topics include an Indian trading post, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. A fifth guest speaker will give an evening lecture on the excavation of mass graves from the Spanish Civil War.

Submissions are being accepted for poster presentations on any aspect of historical archaeology. Student submissions will be entered into a student poster prize to be voted on by attendees. Winners will receive a cash award.

A series of small roundtable discussions will provide opportunities for individuals with similar research interests and career goals to interact. These discussions will be led by experts in each area.

All attendees must register for the conference. The cost is $20 per person. Undergraduate students can register for $15 if they include a copy of their student ID with their registration materials. This cost includes a catered lunch and morning coffee/tea. The deadline to register is Monday, September 20th. The deadline to submit poster titles and abstracts is Friday, September 17th.

Additional details and registration forms are available at:
http://herald.heidelberg.edu/mwhac10

Please send questions and poster submissions to mwhac10@heidelberg.edu

Yep, got it!

I am confident that I know the approximate location of the Atzerodt Brothers carriage factory. Their 1857 advertisement in The Port Tobacco Times places the shop opposite the dwelling of Dr. Neale, and that is roughly on the east side of Main Street and High Street (see map) and includes the Hamilton lot and a portion of the lot immediately to the north.

This is the lot on which Griffin Carter operated his vehicle shop from at least as early 1842. Blacksmith Charles E. Wade probably succeeded Griffin, after the Atzerodts ceased operations, first working briefly for Carter than acquiring the operation for himself. Given widespread changes in industrial production after the Civil War, and especially in the mass-production of wheeled vehicles, Wade probably did little in the way of manufacturing and increasingly concerned himself with repairs.

If I'm correct, the Carter-Atzerodt shop is on the land of the Wade family, just south of the house in which they now live. There is no evidence pointing to the Atzerodts' shop, or any other shop, behind the Chimney house.

Atzerodt Carriage Shop Site Suspected!

Readers will note from previous postings that we have looked for the carriage shop and house of Lincoln conspirator George A. Atzerodt. Previously the team focused on the land immediately behind the Barnes-Compton, or Chimney, House. The reason for doing so was a sketch and remark made by George Townsend in his 1865 book on the assassination of President Lincoln. We had reason to question the veracity of the sketch, April having pointed out several inconsistencies.

Today, while working on our final report for the Preserve America grant, which funded our exploration of Civil War era Port Tobacco, I put together several bits of information that resulted in the formulation of a hypothesis: the Atzerodt carriage shop and the house in which George Atzerodt lived with Mrs. Elizabeth Wheeler might have been leased from wheelwright Griffin Carter, and that property lies on the east side of Chapel Point Road, where we have not undertaken any archaeological investigations, directly across from the road that runs west to the courthouse.

There were three individuals listed for Port Tobacco in the 1860 census engaged in the horse-drawn vehicle trade, and three others in the 1870 census. Only two (Griffin Carter and Charles E. Wade) owned land and their holdings included the Hamilton lot (a portion of the subsequently named Dr. Neale lot) from as early as 1842 until 1895. It is possible, and even likely, that Rufus Vincent, John E. Daily, and Charles E. Wade worked for Carter, and subsequently (by 1870) Washington Pye and Ralph H. Way worked for Wade, Carter having died by 1866. If true, the Atzerodts may have leased the carriage and wheelwright shop in 1857 from the then 52-year-old Carter. All of the deeds from 1852 onward note that the lot was situated on the east side of the road that runs south to north through the village, with the lot of the late William Boswell on the north and most of the east side, and the lot of John Hamilton on the south and part of the east side. The 1852 deed also places the lot “under the hill at the head of the street running east from the courthouse” (Land Records RHM 1/401, May 4, 1852).

This chain of title is partial and may include errors, especially because Lot 59 was divided and conveyed in small portions; e.g. Land Record JHC1/450, dated October 1, 1860, wherein Griffin Carter conveyed a northern strip of his houselot to Dr. Bennett Neale whose houselot bordered the north line of Carter’s houselot. The chain of title is integral to the proposition that Griffin Carter’s house and shop were on the east side of Chapel Point Road opposite the road that leads directly east of the courthouse (shifted slightly since the 1970s). Other archival data might be sought to determine whether the Atzerodts had leased Carter’s shop between 1857 and 1859., and, of course, archaeological survey should uncover the remains of 19th-century vehicle making and repair.

Westward Expansion

Greetings from Denver!
It was a long road trip out here but I arrived mid week and have been unpacking and settling in to my new apartment...and doing some sightseeing too!


Here's some highlights and photos!
BBQ road trip:Lexington KY - Billy's BBQ...averageOwensboro KY - Moonlite BBQ Inn...buffet style and very good
St. Louis, MO - Pappy's Smokehouse...my favorite!
Kansas City, MO - Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue...not what you would expect but very good!

While in Kentucky we visited the Maker's Mark Distillery. We did a tour and of course went to the tasting room! Oh and...it's in the middle of nowhere!
We also went up to the top of the Arch in St. Louis! Great views but nothing compared to Mt Evans in Colorado. About 2 hours west of Denver is the highest paved road in America at 14,130ft! A hair-raising drive up and around a narrow road with no guardrails! Summit Lake is about 1000ft lower and was absolutely gorgeous:

It was cold and windy that high up and we did get a little lightheaded and short of breath but it was absolutely worth it.

Classes don't start for another week but I have lots of work to do to get ready. I'll try and update on the happenings of the "GAC Denver office" when I can.

New Online Data Source

Anne and I will be working at the Burch house tomorrow (Tuesday). Do join us.

Cathy Thompson forwarded to me the link below. It is for the Richmond Daily Dispatch. This newspaper provides material during the critical Civil War years, a period for which few issues of the Port Tobacco Times survive. I'm drilling through for 'Port Tobacco,' but other keywords may also provide useful material. We'll add this material to our Port Tobacco Times digital database.

http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr/index.html

Thank you Cathy!

No news yet on Pete's great adventure to Denver. He should arrive in a couple of days.

Jim

A Note to my Fans...

It's the end of my last day with Jim and crew at GAC and I thought I would take this time to reflect on the past three years with GAC and with PTAP.

It was a hot and muggy (typical) August day in 2007 that I started working with Jim. It was a project down in Brandywine with 90% humidity on a 100 degree day. We were surveying a wooded lot with poison ivy everywhere and briars taller than I. It was also my first introduction to Scott. Somehow I managed through the day and despite better judgement (haha) I came back again the next day!

Since that day I have worked on numerous CRM projects with Jim and have been heavily involved with PTAP on many levels. An ongoing shovel test survey, surface collection and two field sessions later, I can say that Port Tobacco has become like a second home to me and the people I have met and worked with there like family.

I was a wide-eye "rookie" when I started but Jim and everyone involved with GAC and PTAP have helped me grow as a professional and as a person.

I hope to continue the great work PTAP has done in graduate school and beyond.

I truly am grateful for my time here. I will miss you all.

So until we meet again in the field, at a conference, in a bar, or elsewhere...it's time to say goodbye!

With great admiration and affection,
Peter

New Report Released

Well, the report on the 2009 field session at Port Tobacco with the Archeological Society of Maryland was new last December. Having heard no requests for revision, I decided it was high time to post the report on the web. April kindly accommodated yesterday.

Readers can download a PDF file of the report from the Society of Restore Tobacco website at: http://www.restoreporttobacco.org/page5/files/Field%20Session%202009%20Report.pdf

or just go to www.restoreporttobacco.org, click on Download, and select the December 2009 report, or any of the other four or five reports that we have posted to date.

The PTAP team will be at the Burch House today, dodging rain drops. Do join us.

Jim