Framing the Past

As a colonial capital, St. Mary's City once had several hundred structures and welcomed traders, trappers, planters, and lawmakers who did business with innkeepers, lawyers, merchants, and a printer. Wooden skeletons called ghost frames stand over actual building foundations discovered through archaeology and represent original Town Center buildings. Frames with chimneys represent houses, while those without chimneys were probably barns, outbuildings, or stables. Archaeologists analyze postholes, brickwork, trash pits, and other in-ground evidence to determine what a structure may have looked like and how it was used, and continued research is expected to lead to the recreation of more original structures over time. Together, these ghost frames show that St. Mary's City was a place where people lived, worked, and established a government.

Maryland · United States