Archeology Reveals Outbuildings

In the 19th century, outbuildings stood behind the main house, and an old well in the distance provided water for the household. Historical archeologists use both written documents and physical remains to understand a site: documents reveal who owned or lived there, while physical remains can show what documents omit, including the locations of former outbuildings and the daily activities of people, especially women, children, and slaves who are often left out of written records. Some remains survive above ground, such as the brick chimneys and foundations of the main house, while others are found by exploring the ground surface and beneath it. Clusters of artifacts indicate the locations of outbuildings, and archeologists found more than 2000 artifacts dating from the 18th to the 20th century, including household items such as tableware, glassware, buttons, and oil lamp parts, as well as architectural materials like nails, window glass, bricks, and mortar. Artifacts from the 19th century, when the Chiles family lived here, include machine-cut nails and fragments of ceramic tableware such as pearlware, whiteware, yellowware, and stoneware. A few prehistoric Native American artifacts dating from before European settlement were also found. The outbuildings here may have included a dairy, a dark, ventilated building used to keep dairy products cool, or a smokehouse, where meats and fish were smoked for preservation.

Maryland · United States