GPR survey areas shown in BLUE.
Hot off the presses:
Ground Penetrating Radar Survey at the Lachlan McIntosh House, Savannah, Georgia. LAMAR Institute Publication Series, Report Number 210.
By Daniel T. Elliott and Rita F. Elliott
Available for free download at:
http://thelamarinstitute.org/images/PDFs/publication_210.pdf
Our history is beneath our feet.
City of Savannah’s official press release:
City hosting meeting to discuss potential archaeology ordinance
Office of Public Communications
City of Savannah
Media Release
Sept. 19, 2019
For Immediate Release
City hosting meeting to discuss potential archaeology ordinance
SAVANNAH, GA (Sept. 19, 2019) — The City of Savannah will be hosting a meeting to discuss the formation of an archaeology ordinance on Thursday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m. at the Coastal Georgia Center.
Since the early 1970s, the City has developed and approved ordinances to protect the National Historic Landmark District, as well as other locally designated historic districts, during development. Yet, one feature not included in any of these regulations is an archaeology ordinance. Through the creation of such an ordinance, the community will be better able to recognize our archaeological resources as well as understand and celebrate our community’s unique and diverse history. Please join us on Sept. 26 to discuss the City’s effort crafting an archaeology ordinance.
Parking is available in the Visitor Center Parking Lot accessible from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
For more information, please contact Bridget Lidy at 912-525-3097 or planning@savannahga.gov.
Little Danny is currently engrossed in a study of the elemental content of cast iron cannonballs and grapeshot (or case shot) from Revolutionary War sites in Georgia and South Carolina. Thus far he has sampled (with a Bruker III-V) ray gun, examples from Camden, Charleston, Ebenezer, Fort Motte, Kettle Creek, Ninety-Xix, Purysburg, Savannah, Sunbury and Tar Bluff. The sample size is growing! The results of this study will be presented at the 2018 International Fields of Conflict Conference in Connecticut later this year. Hurrah for pXRF!
ArchaeoBus at Forsyth Farmers Market 3-24-18
Abby the Archaeobus, the dreamgirl of the Society for Georgia Archaeology, will make a one-day only appearance in Savannah’s Forsyth Park on Saturday, March 24 from 9-1PM. Free and open to the public. Be there!
Our history is beneath our feet.
My wife is an archaeologist. Sometimes she does not tell me things about what she has done. This is an example. I discovered this video footage of one of her discoveries at Old Fort Jackson in Savannah, Georgia. It was 7 years ago, but it was news to me! Go Rita!
Mary Landers’ Savannah Morning News article:
Posted November 15, 2017 10:03 pm – Updated November 16, 2017 07:31 am
By Mary Landers
mary.landers@savannahnow.com
Georgia Trust: Savannah’s underground history in peril
No archaeological ordinance means artifacts can be lost when developments are built
Rita Elliott explains her findings at the Revolutionary War-era Spring Hill redoubt in 2005. Without Coastal Heritage Society’s archaeological efforts, the original earthen fort would not have been documented. (Photo courtesy Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation)
Walk around Savannah, Georgia’s oldest European-settled city, and you’re walking on history, much of it untold.
Sure, the rich and powerful are chronicled in books and government documents, said Rita Elliott, research associate and education coordinator at the nonprofit Lamar Institute in Savannah. But the stories of slaves, of women, of children and of other ordinary Savannahians, in Colonial times especially, exist mainly as artifacts buried in Savannah’s soil. And because Savannah doesn’t compel or incentivize developers to survey for artifacts before they build, it’s rarely done.
“We’re losing all those stories at an alarming rate because there’s no ordinance,” Elliott said.
To highlight this concern, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation included “Underground Savannah” on its 2018 list of “Places in Peril” released Wednesday and called on Savannah to incorporate archaeology into its regulations.
“Many of the more recently constructed buildings have deep architectural footprints that have obliterated any archaeological potential beneath them,” the “Places in Peril” report states. “Savannah has no archaeological ordinance that requires comprehensive archaeological study in advance of a site’s destruction. As a result, countless archaeological sites have been destroyed. Unmitigated development continues across Savannah, moving into areas where archaeological sites have managed to survive thus far. Savannah’s current public policy needs to incorporate archaeology into its regulations.”
The regulation doesn’t have to be an ordinance, it could come instead in the form of incentives to encourage archaeology, said Georgia Trust CEO and President Mark McDonald.
Dan Elliott, Rita’s husband and president and research archaeologist at the Lamar Institute, made the nomination and coined the term “Underground Savannah.” The Lamar Institute’s work at Ebenezer in Effingham County, Savannah’s colonial sister city, has revealed details of the spartan life of ordinary colonists, but comparable archaeological work hasn’t happened in Savannah, he said.
But the artifacts are there. A dig in Madison Square uncovered a trash-filled ditch from the time of the Revolutionary War.
“It probably extends for blocks,” Dan Elliott said. “It’s a resource that could be excavated for 100 years or more.”
The Coastal Heritage Society’s decision to do an archaeological survey on the site of Battlefield Park led to the discovery of the remains of the original Spring Hill redoubt, a earthen fort recreated on the eastern portion of the site to commemorate the major Revolutionary War battle that took place there.
“Archaeology is not just esoteric facts,” said Rita Elliott. “It can be a huge economic boon to the city.”
And though archaeology feeds the trend for heritage tourism it also adds to pride of place for locals. In Yamacraw Village there’s evidence of another Revolutionary War fort, the Carolina redoubt.
“For residents as well it can add to a community’s identity,” she said.
The costs of adding archaeology to a big development are small, especially compared to not doing it, advocates contend.
“What is the cost of not doing it?” Rita Elliott said. “It’s priceless history lost forever.”
About 130 cities and counties around the country have archaeological regulations or ordinances, including St. Augustine, New Orleans, Alexandria, Va., and Annapolis, Md. Charleston is considering one. If Savannah adopted one, it would be a first in Georgia.
Alderman Van Johnson said he’s open to the idea of a requiring or encouraging archaeology as long as it doesn’t “handcuff responsible developers.”
He pointed out as a successful compromise a slave cemetery discovered on the campus of Savannah State University. Officials proceeded with building a new science and technology center there, but only after archaeologists detailed their findings and relocated the remains.
“I’m not foolish enough to believe we’re all there was,” Johnson said. “We’re standing and walking on history every day.”
2018 PLACES IN PERIL
A.J. Gillen Department Store in Maxeys (Oglethorpe County)
Bibb City Elementary School in Columbus (Muscogee County)
Cuthbert Water Tower in Cuthbert (Randolph County)
Fire Station No. 2 in Rome (Floyd County)
Fort Valley Freight Depot in Fort Valley (Peach County)
Foster-Thomason-Miller House in Madison (Morgan County)
Kit Jones Vessel constructed on Sapelo Island (McIntosh County)
National Library Bindery Company in Atlanta (Fulton County)
Olmsted Linear Park Properties in Atlanta (DeKalb County)
Underground Savannah (Chatham County)
&&&&
Landers’ article was followed by this editorial in the Savannah Morning News:
Posted November 18, 2017 11:11 pm – Updated November 19, 2017 06:30 am
Editorial: Protect Underground Savannah
Last summer, Savannah State University officials broke ground on the construction of a $20.5 million science and technology building, but before they did they took the time to research whether they were building on the site of a former cemetery for slaves.
They also took time to honor the memories of those who may have toiled on that spot — part of the old Placentia Plantation — before going forward with the construction of the needed campus building. Archaeologists detailed their findings and respectfully relocated the remains of the dead.
The experience at SSU, and the due diligence that university officials did, showed proper respect for history and the past while not slowing down needed progress. It also helps illustrate why the city could benefit from having its own archaeology ordinance on the books to help save history and historic artifacts from earth-movers.
The lack of such an ordinance prompted the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to include “Underground Savannah” as one of 10 site on its 2018 list of “Places in Peril” released last Wednesday. The group called on Savannah to incorporate archaeology into its regulations.
“Many of the more recently constructed buildings have deep architectural footprints that have obliterated any archaeological potential beneath them,” the “Places in Peril” report states. “Savannah has no archaeological ordinance that requires comprehensive archaeological study in advance of a site’s destruction. As a result, countless archaeological sites have been destroyed. Unmitigated development continues across Savannah, moving into areas where archaeological sites have managed to survive thus far. Savannah’s current public policy needs to incorporate archaeology into its regulations.”
The regulation doesn’t have to be an ordinance, it could come instead in the form of incentives to encourage archaeology, said Georgia Trust CEO and President Mark McDonald. The Georgia Trust is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit preservation groups — its missions include reclaiming, restoring and revitalizing the state’s historic sites, from the obscure to the well-known. Mr. McDonald knows Savannah well, as he is a former president of the Historic Savannah Foundation.
The idea of an ordinance to help preserve historic treasures that may be underground here isn’t new. Indeed, only a year ago, Savannah archaeologist Philip Ashlock pushed the city to protect sites that may be historically significant. He urged Savannah to join other historic communities that have such protections, including St. Augustine, Fla., Beaufort County, S.C. and Alexandria, Va. Alexandria’s law has been on the books for about 24 years and is considered a model for the nation. During those 24 years, it has not been shown that the law imposed an unreasonable burden on developers or property owners — a typical objection to a new archaeological ordinance.
But last year’s push for a Savannah law failed to pick up traction, and the momentum for it slowed down, only to be renewed again by the Georgia Trust’s involvement.
Savannah City Council should give it a serious look. Indeed, federal law already requires an archaeological survey on land being developed with federal funds, and that law led to the discovery of ceramic shards and the possibility that Native Americans once had an encampment and brick wells at the site of the Chatham Area Transit’s Joe Murray Rivers Jr. Intermodal Transit Center on West Oglethorpe Ave. The shards had been hidden for about 1,500 years. That’s about 800 years before Gen. Oglethorpe landed here to found the Georgia colony.
The federal law helped reveal important evidence about this area’s past that otherwise would have been lost. Indeed, it’s highly likely that more evidence was destroyed in the 1960s during construction of the former Greyhound Bus depot on that site before surveys were required for projects involving federal funds.
As it stands now, developers are able to excavate sites for hotels and other private projects all over the city without regard to whatever history or artifacts their buildings will pave over. This is not the developers’ fault. They have no legal responsibility to search their properties for remnants of the past. It is the fault of previous generations of Savannah leaders who were unwilling to protect such relics.
It seems to be a glaring inconsistency on Savannah’s part. The city has an historic preservation law, but won’t touch archaeological protection. That needs to change.
About a year ago, the Metropolitan Planning Commission wrote a voluntary policy to address this concern. Under that proposal, developers with large-scale projects could get permission to exceed the height limitation in their area by one story in return for devoting 4 percent of the project cost — up to $500,000 — on an archaeological survey and, if any money as left over, dedicate it to outreach and education.
This plan wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing. As a voluntary measure it couldn’t promise protection against paving over Savannah’s past unless the developer agreed. Besides, how many big projects would opt for digging in the dirt to gain a bonus floor when they can already get one in several other ways, like using higher-grade building materials or sustainable technology or public art?
Alexandria’s archaeological protection code offers a better way. Developers there can find out ahead of time, with help from city staff, whether the site they want is likely to require an archaeological survey. Not every piece of property does. In that way, developers can factor a survey into their location decisions and into cost estimates, which is only fair.
The MPC staff liked the Alexandria model, too, but twice before, in the 1980s and again in 2012, attempts to preserve Savannah’s hidden archaeological treasures stalled for lack of mayoral and city council support, which is why the voluntary policy emerged to help protect Savannah’s past and prevent it from being paved over and lost forever.
These untold stories include how Native Americans, slaves and ordinary Savannahians once lived. The stories of the rich and powerful are already well-chronicled, but they paint an incomplete picture of Savannah’s past.
A potential treasure trove of historical information could exist. A dig in Madison Square uncovered a trash-filled ditch from the time of the Revolutionary War. In Yamacraw Village there’s evidence of a Revolutionary War-era fort.
But because the city doesn’t compel or incentive developers to survey for artifacts before they build, it’s rarely done. And as development increases, these stories are being permanently lost.
It’s time to reverse the momentum in a reasonable way that doesn’t punish thoughtful developers. City leaders should show that they care as much about the city’s hidden history that’s underground as they do with the visible history that’s above ground.
&&&&
Then on November 22nd, Connect Savannah published this editorial by Jim Morekis:
Editor’s Note: ‘Underground Savannah’ in peril
By Jim Morekis
jim@connectsavannah.com
@jimmorekis
THE ANNUAL “Places in Peril” list released each year by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is usually heavy on old mansions and firehouses and train depots and the like.
This year, one entry encompasses a whole city — but a city you can’t see.
“Underground Savannah” comes in at number 10 on the list. The effort to include Savannah’s as-yet-undiscovered archaeological record on the yearly tally was spearheaded by Dan Elliott, President and Research Archaeologist at the Lamar Institute.
“We came up with the name as sort of a play on Underground Atlanta,” Dan explains. “Very little of the history from Savannah’s colonial era has seen the light of day.”
As unbelievable as it may sound, Dan says there really have only been two major scholarly excavations of Savannah’s past as a British colony, one dig in the Madison Square area and another in Battlefield Park near the Visitor’s Center.
click to enlarge This dig in Madison Square was made possible by a National Park Service grant. It wasn’t required by any local or state ordinance.
This dig in Madison Square was made possible by a National Park Service grant. It wasn’t required by any local or state ordinance.
The latter excavation, begun in 2005, resulted in the long-anticipated find of the Spring Hill Redoubt, a fortification used in the 1779 Siege of Savannah.
“There is some wonderful material, and there’s a lot more to be found underneath surrounding blocks. It’s a shame more attention’s not being paid to it,” Dan says.
“Savannah is a great showcase for things aboveground, but not so much for what’s under the ground,” he says.
Dan and his wife Rita Elliott, who serves as Education Coordinator & Research Associate at the Lamar Institute, say the inclusion of Underground Savannah on the Places in Peril list is intended to call attention to the dire need for an archaeological protection ordinance for the City of Savannah.
Surprised there’s not one already? You’re not alone.
“Everyone assumes Savannah, of all cities, would have an archaeological ordinance. When they find out we don’t have one at all, they’re usually shocked and appalled,” says Rita Elliott.
Rita says there are only 134 such local ordinances in the U.S., none in Georgia.
“The whole idea is for Savannah to have a well-constructed ordinance. It actually would be less of a pain to developers, because they’ll know from the get-go what’s involved,” Rita says.
When I mention to Rita that some people might welcome such an ordinance as an easy way to halt development projects they don’t like, she just laughs.
“99.99 percent of the time archaeology never, ever stops development. Really what we try to do is gather as much as we can before it’s destroyed,” she explains.
Currently, Dan says “The only real local archaeological protection is when a federal permit is involved. Typically around here it will involve a Corps of Engineers permitting process.”
At a time when Savannah is mulling over what to do with its visible Confederate monuments, this is a step Savannah can take to shine light on a much more diverse and appealing chapter in local history.
“This isn’t about monumental history, but about the stories not told. It’s about the women, about the enslaved people, about the everyday person,” says Rita.
Such untold stories would include Native American history too, they say, as in the recent case of a prehistoric shell midden discovered near Emmet Park.
While every new patch of concrete that’s poured means more history hidden, maybe forever, the Elliotts say it’s not too late.
“Cities don’t really erase archaeology as they develop. A city tends to build up like a layer cake,” Dan explains.
If you’re interested in seeing Savannah pass a local archaeological protection ordinance, Rita says the best thing you can do is contact your local elected representatives, from the Mayor on down.
“If this is something people really want to see, that’s the most helpful thing they can do to get it done,” she says.
&&&&
Hopefully the underground world of Savannah has been awakened and those above ground can hear and feel the rumblings beneath their feet. Savannah, bring out your dead.
….AND Happy Holidays!
Below is a video by Michael Jordan that discusses the history of historic preservation in Savannah. Perhaps he can make a sequel that addresses the archaeological resources of Savannah??? Michael?
Dan on TV someplace
Here I am on TV, but I cannot for the life of me remember where this was or what I was talking about. I do recognize the shirt, but not the hat. Anybody wanna help me with this puzzle?
Below is a letter that I wrote today to the Henry County (Georgia) Board of Commissioners regarding the current and future status of its Nash Farm Battlefield Park:
June 7, 2017
June Wood, Chairman
Henry County Board of Commissioners
140 Henry Parkway
McDonough, Georgia 30253
RE: Nash Farm and Battles of Lovejoy
Dear Chairman Wood:
I am writing to express my concern for the future of Henry County’s Nash Farm Battlefield Park and the related historical resources on adjacent lands that comprise the Battles of Lovejoy from the American Civil War. For those members of the board who may not be familiar with the LAMAR Institute, our organization worked closely with Henry County government in 2007 to define the archaeological resources on the Nash Farm property. That effort is fully documented in our research report, entitled, The Nash Farm Battlefield: History and Archaeology. That report is available for free download at our website at http://thelamarinstitute.org/images/PDFs/publication_123.pdf .
Since 2007 historians and archaeologists have continued to delve into the cultural resources associated with the battles at Lovejoy and I have continued my involvement as a researcher on that subject. In 2010, our research team worked with the National Park Service to revise its boundary and understanding of the Battle(s) of Lovejoy and this resulted in a large area of Clayton and Henry Counties designated as the battlefield boundary. That recognized boundary encompasses all of the Nash Farm Battlefield Park property.
Archaeological surveys from 2008-2017 have verified this boundary, primarily the result of Georgia Department of Transportation projects for the proposed improvement of Jonesboro Road. Those efforts are fully documented in multiple survey reports by the firms of Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. and Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. The bottom line is Lovejoy was the scene of four battles in 1864, three of which are manifested at Nash Farm. Soldiers from both armies fought, died, were wounded, captured or survived. These men who clashed at the Nash farm are recognized by the U.S.A. as military veterans.
Metropolitan Atlanta has preserved very few reminders of the military contest for Atlanta. The Nash Farm Battlefield Park presents an excellent opportunity for telling this history as it provides an opportunity for outdoor learning for today’s youth and future generations. I applaud Henry County for demonstrating the initiative to acquire and preserve this historical property. It concerns me to read talk in today’s news, however, questioning the battlefield’s reality and the poor prospects for its continued preservation. This property is a huge asset to the county, both in terms of serving the local community as a lovely park and as a destination for those interested in studying and experiencing important places in America’s past.
Our recommendations would be to expand the boundaries of the park by acquiring additional property, create a museum that tells the stories of the battles in an unbiased format, and promote the site to the public for its important role in the development of our country. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Daniel T. Elliott
President
The LAMAR Institute, Inc.
Cc: Johnny Wilson, Dee Clemmons, Gary Barham, Blake Prince, Bruce Holmes
Georgia Archaeology Month 2017
While May is officially Georgia Archaeology Month, Savannah has little to celebrate. This year’s Georgia Archaeology Month poster features the CSS Georgia ironclad shipwreck site in Savannah. This site is being excavated and documented for the future. Unfortunately, it is one of the very few important archaeological sites in Savannah that is being saved. Most of Savannah’s archaeological sites – whether they are Civil War sites, colonial sites from General Oglethorpe’s day, 8,000 year old Native American sites, or many others – have no protections from destruction. The City of Savannah has no archaeology ordinance to protect its valuable, unique, and non-renewable history located underground.
These archaeological sites are the only places that can reveal unique history of African Americans, Native Americans and European and Asian Americans. Once destroyed their information, stories, and artifacts are gone forever. A comprehensive archaeology ordinance would protect this information by preserving such sites, or in cases of development, by excavating the sites before they are destroyed forever by construction.
Daniel Elliott, President of The LAMAR Institute, in Savannah notes that, “Savannah leaders continue to fall victim to the myth that archaeology will slow or stop development. In reality, archaeology benefits development, heritage tourism, education, and a better quality of life for residents. It is unfortunate that Savannah city leaders have failed for thirty years to recognize this fact. Unlike educated, cultured cities such as Alexandria, Virginia, St. Augustine, Florida, and dozens of others in America, Savannah has been a poor steward of the very cultural resources that can benefit it.”
Rita Elliott and Daniel Elliott are giving a presentation on the Puryburg 18th Century Redware Pottery Production Site discovery at the Decorative Arts Trust Symposium in Savannah this April. Here is the info:
http://decorativeartstrust.org/savannah-low-country-sophistication/
Buy stuff at Amazon Smile and Amazon will donate 5% of the object’s cost to the LAMAR Institute, This offer is good only for Thursday, March 16, 2017. On other days Amazon Smile will still donate a portion of your purchase price to the LAMAR Institute, but only if you register it as your preferred charity on the Amazon Smile webpage. Here is a link to get started shopping today:
Amazon is celebrating its #1 ranking in customer satisfaction by the ACSI! Today, March 16, Amazon will donate 5% (10 times the usual donation rate) of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Lamar Institute, Inc.. Get started at smile.amazon.com/ch/58-1537572.
PRESS RELEASE
THE LAMAR INSTITUTE
For release, Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Get the Lead Out! A Scientific Workshop
The LAMAR Institute is pleased to announce that it will host a workshop for archaeologists, museum specialists, military historians and other professionals interested in early military history. The workshop, Get the Lead Out: Elemental Analysis of 18th and Early 19th Century Ammunition in Eastern North America, will instruct participants in the use of Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) technology in the study of musket balls. It will allow participants to use elemental analysis to improve their understanding of round (musket) balls in current research and in older museum collections. The application of this advanced technology on early ammunition is new and evolving and preliminary results reveal it to be useful in identifying unique profile characterizations. While nearly all bullets from this era contain quantities of lead, the addition of other elements such as tin, antimony, and silver, whether intentional or accidental, has been demonstrated to vary within and between archaeological sites in Georgia and South Carolina. The workshop will be structured to allow researchers to bring samples for study. Experts in the field of pXRF will assist in data collection, processing and interpretation. The results of the workshop is expected to set the baseline for future studies on this topic. The workshop is being held at the Coastal Georgia Center in Savannah, Georgia on June 29 and 30, 2017 and is open to 30 students on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested persons should contact the LAMAR Institute.
Contact: Daniel Elliott, The LAMAR Institute, P.O. Box 2992, Savannah, GA 31402
Cell: 706-341-7796
Email: dantelliott@gmail.com
When: June 29 and 30, 2017; 9AM-5PM
Where: Room 2002, Coastal Georgia Center, 305 Fahm Street, Savannah, Georgia
Cost: $25 registration fee, checks made payable to the LAMAR Institute; Registration for the workshop closes on June 15th.
What to bring: Laptop computer, round lead ball collection (if available)
Sponsored by: The LAMAR Institute, Savannah, Georgia and funded by a Preservation Technology and Training Grant from the National Park Service, National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Open to: Archaeologists, museum specialists, military historians and other interested professionals (30 students max).
When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Lamar Institute, Inc.. Bookmark the link http://smile.amazon.com/ch/58-1537572
and support us every time you shop. Our research team stands ready to locate more Revolutionary War sites in interior Georgia, but an archaeologist travels on his/her stomach! Consider buying something today and route it through AmazonSmile, it really is easy with no strings attached!
Support L… See More
Support Lamar Institute, Inc. by shopping at AmazonSmile.
When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate to Lamar Institute, Inc.. Support us every time you shop.
smile.amazon.com
LETS GO KROGERING –For Archaeology!
Are you a Kroger shopper? Do you have a Kroger card? Do you love archaeology? Why not put all these together by adding the LAMAR institute to your list of Charitable Organizations that may benefit from your grocery shopping. The money comes from Kroger, so your money is safe. Just visit:
http://kroger.com and login to your account. Then go to:
https://www.kroger.com/account/communityrewards/enroll
and enter LAMAR Institute or the Number 64275 to enroll in the program. I will let everyone know how this money raising effort progresses. I just registered our personal card to get it started.
To learn more about the upcoming workshop on Metal Detecting for Archaeologists, visit this website:
https://www.ncptt.nps.gov/events/metal-detecting-for-archeologists/
Article from Savannah Morning News, June 18, 2016:
Petition urges protection of Savannah’s buried past
‘Archaeological ordinance’ would require builders to consider historic remnants
Within a city block-sized hole immediately north of downtown’s Drayton Tower apartment complex, excavators have been moving earth deep below the surface to make way for a new hotel. The project is just one of multiple developments underway or pending in Savannah’s Historic District, now that construction activity has picked up after the 2008 recession.
The renewed building activity has recently revived a decades-long effort to protect the city’s underground historic resources.
Archaeologist Phillip Ashlock said seeing the Drayton Street hotel development was a motivating factor behind an online petition he recently posted, which urges the city to adopt an archaeological ordinance.
The large hole in the Historic District, just west of Colonial Park Cemetery, was another reminder that Savannah has no archaeological requirements in place for city or private projects, Ashlock said.
The goal of the petition is to garner support for building requirements that would help prevent the loss of historic resources, Ashlock said, in addition to persuading the city to hire an archeologist who would coordinate preservation efforts. His aim is not to stop development, Ashlock said, but to make sure there is a review process for developers to follow to preserve and document historic sites.
“The past doesn’t belong to anybody,” he said. “We’re stewards of what came before us, and it’s our responsibility to take care of it.”
No ‘champion’
As of Friday afternoon, Ashlock’s petition on Change.org was more than halfway toward meeting his goal of 1,000 signatures.
The petition is raising awareness about the issue as the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission creates an incentive for developers to voluntarily conduct archaeological studies.
Under the policy, developers that agree to perform studies for large-scale projects would be permitted to build an additional story beyond the area’s height limits. Four percent of the project’s cost, with a cap of $500,000, would have to go toward archaeology, outreach and education.
The incentive approach is a change in direction after an attempt about four years ago to develop an archaeology ordinance failed to move forward, said Ellen Harris, MPC director of urban planning and historic preservation. Options considered at the time varied from only requiring archaeological assessments for public projects to also mandating that private developers conduct evaluations, with potential incentives to offset additional costs.
The reasoning behind the ordinance was explained in a planning commission memo that said large segments of the underrepresented community — such as slaves, women and immigrants — could be more thoroughly understood through archaeology. Also, 95 percent of the area’s past is considered prehistoric and archaeology remains the only effective means of studying the 13,000-year-old heritage, the memo stated.
Archaeology helps tell the story of the people who built the buildings, Harris said.
“That story isn’t told in the structure anymore,” she said.
That abandoned 2012 endeavor followed a previous failed attempt in the late 1980s. At that time, the planning commission approved an ordinance that would have established an archaeological review policy for city projects, in addition to prohibiting the removal of artifacts from city-owned lands.
The ordinance was never approved by the mayor and aldermen, however.
“We just haven’t had a champion at the city council level for it,” Harris said.
With a new council in place, the issue could be brought back for consideration.
Savannah Alderman Bill Durrence, who represents the downtown Historic District, said last week that he was surprised to learn the city does not have an archaeology ordinance in place. The lack of a policy was something he would look into, Durrence said.
“That’s kind of odd, considering our history,” he said.
Underground stories
Most people in Savannah have no idea the city does not have an archaeological ordinance, either for city or private projects, said Rita Elliott, education coordinator and research associate with the Lamar Institute archaeological nonprofit. Elliott said she has been supporting the effort to “get the ball rolling” for implementing protections for 30 years, but that the lack of community awareness to the issue has played a part in the planning commission’s failed attempts to get regulations enacted.
“I think they need public support,” she said.
The false perception that archaeology and development can’t coexist is another barrier to an ordinance, said Laura Seifert an archaeology professor at Armstrong State University. Archaeology would just be another component of the historic review process, Seifert said, and the cost and time it takes could be built in if developers know their responsibilities at the start.
“If there is good planning, it shouldn’t be a problem,” she said.
Certain projects that receive state or federal funding are required to conduct archaeological studies. That requirement was why Chatham Area Transit had to have a site evaluation performed in 2012 when it was building a transit center on Oglethorpe Avenue west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The archaeologists for that project evaluated two brick wells found on the site, which were believed to date back to the 18th century. The excavation work uncovered artifacts from the 1700s, as well as ceramic shards dating back an estimated 1,500 years, said the project’s archaeologist, Angus Sawyer. More artifacts would likely have been discovered if it wasn’t for the damage caused to the site by the construction of a bus station there in the early 1960s, Sawyer said. Now more than 50 years later, Sawyer said, that damage continues throughout the city.
“There is a story under Savannah that is being lost piecemeal,” he said.
Digging versus archaeology
Historic artifacts are discovered regularly during construction projects. Recently, workers dug up about 50,000 19th century bricks hand-crafted by slaves, known as Savannah Greys, during the construction of a hotel on the south side of River Street at MLK.
A stoneware jug dating back to the early 19th century was also recently discovered during the construction of a ferry shelter on River Street north of City Hall.
The handle was broken off by machinery during the project, but the rest of the jug is intact and in the city’s possession after Luciana Spracher, Savannah’s library and archives director, heard about the discovery and rushed down to claim the artifact.
“I’m not sure what would have happened if I hadn’t found out about it,” Spracher said.
However, Ashlock said the discovery of an artifact is not the same as determining the historic object’s story.
“Context is very important,” he said. “Digging is different than archaeology.”
Savannah would not be the first city to adopt protections for its buried past. Other governments that have adopted archaeological ordinances include St. Augustine, Beaufort County, and Hilton Head.
Alexandria, Va. has one of the best models, Harris said.
That city’s archaeological protection code requires the evaluation of a project on a case-by-case basis. The developer is only required to hire an archaeological consultant to conduct research after it is determined there is potential for archaeological resources to be impacted.
‘Careful’ crafting
Local architect Patrick Shay said requiring some sort of historic investigation makes sense, but that an archaeological ordinance would have to be carefully crafted so it doesn’t make it impossible for development projects to move forward.
“It can get in the way of people using their property the way they want to,” Shay said. “It depends on how it’s worded, but it’s got merit.”
Shay’s firm designed the Rockbridge Capital hotel now being built along River Street, where the Savannah Grey bricks were found. An ordinance requiring work be halted in the middle of a project when such discoveries are made could be problematic for the developer, Shay said.
“If the rules are too strict, it can make it unlikely it is reported, frankly,” he said.
Jim Schrim, senior vice-president of real estate for Rockbridge, said during the project’s recent groundbreaking that the historic bricks would be cleaned and reused at the hotel.
Shay’s firm also designed the cultural arts center the city plans to build directly west of the downtown Civic Center. The arts center site at Montgomery Street and Oglethorpe Avenue is where a three-story private residence known as the Wetter House previously stood from about the mid-19th century to 1950. Noted for the ornamental iron railings that ran along the balconies circling the first and second floors, the house was torn down to make way for a used-car dealership and auto repairs.
The city decided not to conduct any further archaeological studies for the arts center project, since a previous survey was performed about 16 years ago when the site was being considered for the CAT transit center, according to city officials. While a full-scale excavation was not performed, an examination of a limited area on the site failed to locate any significant features and further study was not recommended, according to the survey report.
While it won’t be the same as archaeology, Shay said there are plans to investigate the site when the former parking lot’s concrete surface is torn up for the project.
With construction set to begin this summer, the arts center is among the millions of dollars worth of projects expected to soon break ground. In addition, developer Richard Kessler has announced plans to begin construction next month of an estimated $250 million hotel project along West River Street.
Without an ordinance in place, the revitalized building activity can mean the death of archaeological sites, Elliott said.
“When the source is destroyed, you don’t have that history anymore,” she said.
Teacher Institute flier CEISMC
From STEM to Stern: CSS Georgia Shipwreck
Teacher’s Institute
Dive into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) as well as English Language Arts, and History/Social Studies in this exciting Teachers’ Institute focusing on the Civil War ironclad shipwreck sunk in 1864 in the Savannah River adjacent to Savannah and recovered in 2015 by underwater archaeologists. Use elements from the wreck, its history, and underwater archaeology to engage your students in learning state performance standards as well as Next Generation Science Standards. As a workshop attendee you will participate in a variety of hands-on activities that you can replicate in your classroom, have the opportunity to question underwater archaeologists following presentations, collect sonar data with underwater archaeologists in a boat over the wreck site, gather and interpret data, create your own lesson plans, and obtain resource materials for your classroom. The workshop is recommended for 4th-12th grade teachers and is open to a total of 20 teachers from Bryan, Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty counties, Georgia and Jasper and Beaufort counties, South Carolina. The workshop will be held May 31-June 3, 2016, with the final presentation and luncheon day on Friday, July 29, 2016. Participants will earn 4 PLUs and receive a $400 stipend. Except for the field trip, the workshop will be held at Georgia Tech Savannah, 210 Technology Circle, Savannah, Georgia 31407. The workshop is funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Savannah District as part of the public outreach for its CSS Georgia recovery related to the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. The workshop is hosted by Georgia Tech, Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) in partnership with the USACE. Space is limited. To register please go to: pe.gatech.edu/teacher-institute. For questions contact: Rita Elliott at ritafelliott@gmail.com
Connections: Georgia in the World: The Seventh Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Georgia Museum of Art; 1st edition (February 1, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0915977923
ISBN-13: 978-0915977925
This volume includes the following papers delivered at the seventh Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts, held Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, 2014: “Revealing Georgia: Viewing the Cultural Landscape through Prints and Maps,” by Margaret Beck Pritchard; “Utilitarian Earthenware in the Ebenezer Settlement, Effingham County, Georgia,” by Daniel T. Elliott; “Worldly Goods for a Chosen People: The Material Culture of Savannah s Colonial Jewish Community,” by Daniel Kurt Ackermann; “Considerations of William Verelst s ‘The Common Council of Georgia Receiving the Indian Chiefs,’ 1734 36,” by Kathleen Staples; “Materiality in the Gullah Geechee Culture: The Kitchen in the Heart of the Story,” by Althea Sumpter; “Colonial South Carolina Indigo: Red, White, and Black Made Blue,” by Andrea Feeser; “Scarf and Dress Designs by Frankie Welch: Highlighting Georgia Through Her Americana,” by Ashley Callahan; “Georgia’s Textile Connections: Imports, Homespun and Industry,” by Madelyn Shaw; “Weaving History: The Yeoman, the Slave, the Coverlet,” by Susan Falls and Jessica R. Smith; “Capitalism and Revolution: A Staffordshire Mug and Its Anti-Monarchial Message,” by Lauren Word; “Sumptuous Goods: The McKinne-Whitehead-Rowland Collection at the Georgia Museum of Art,” by Julia N. Jackson; “Valley View: Reflecting on a Place, Its People, and Its Furnishings,” by Maryellen Higginbotham; “Mexican Silver in an Antebellum Georgia Household,” by Carolyn Shuler; “From London to Shanghai, 1780 1920: How Five Generations of Yonges and Brownes Brought Their Silver to Columbus, Georgia,” by Sandra Strother Hudson; and “Shopping from London to Naples for a Future Country Palace in Macon: William and Anne Tracy Johnston on the Grand Tour, 1851 1854,” by Jonathan H. Poston, as well as a foreword by museum director William Underwood Eiland and acknowledgments and a focus on a recent acqusition by Dale L. Couch, curator, Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts. Full-color illustrations throughout.
Dan at Boston Public Library in a RESTRICTED AREA, December 2014
The Savannah History Museum
303 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Savannah-Downtown
phone 912-651-6840
http://www.chsgeorgia.org/
AND from DoSavannah:
Dan and Rita Elliott from the LAMAR Institute will present “You Say You Want a Revolution: 18th Century Conflict Archaeology in the Savannah River Watershed of Georgia and South Carolina,” which explores the Battle of Savannah from an archaeological perspective, along with other Revolutionary War battles in the area and the archaeology, and how they are all inter-related. The lecture takes place in the theater at 7 p.m., with refreshments served at 6:30 p.m. Free and open to all. Learn more at http://www.chsgeorgia.org.
Tuesday October 13, 2015 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Savannah History Museum Auditorium (303 MLK Jr. Blvd.)
And From heyevent.com:
Revolutionary Perspectives 2015: DANIEL ELLIOTT & RITA ELLIOTT
On October 13th, DANIEL ELLIOTT & RITA ELLIOTT from the LAMAR Institute will explore the Battle of Savannah from an archaeological perspective! Lectures begin at Savannah History Museum at 7:00pm with a preceeding reception starting at 6:30pm.
YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: 18th Century Conflict Archaeology in the Savannah River Watershed of Georgia and South Carolina.
DANIEL ELLIOTT, M.A., R.P.A., has 38 years of experience in historical archaeology. He has served as president of the LAMAR Institute since 2000. Mr. Elliott is an expert on the archaeology and history of the Savannah River watershed having working throughout the region since 1979. His expertise in battlefield archaeology has developed since the late 1980s and he has explored battlefields and fortifications in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Puerto Rico, Saipan, South Carolina, the Virgin Islands, and Virginia. He has directed archaeological research projects on the Revolutionary War sites of Carr’s Fort, Fort Morris, Kettle Creek, New Ebenezer, and Sunbury, Georgia, and provided expertise on the study of the Battle of Brier Creek. He is currently finalizing a battlefield survey report on the Battle of Purysburg and Black Swamp, South Carolina, through a National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program grant. Mr. Elliott also directed multiple historical research projects throughout Ireland, Scotland, and England, as well as in archives and repositories throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.
RITA FOLSE ELLIOTT, M.A., R.P.A. is the Education Coordinator and a Research Associate with The LAMAR Institute. She earned an M.A. in Maritime History and Underwater Research from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. She is an archaeologist, exhibit designer, and former museum curator. She has 30 years of archaeological experience in 13 states, the Caribbean, three U.S. territories, and several countries. Ms. Elliott led crews in the archaeological discovery of the 1779 Savannah Battlefield. She authored over 80 monographs and articles, and served as a guest editor and reviewer. She has sat on committees for museum and archaeology organizations at the state, regional, and national level and is former Vice Chair of the Georgia National Register Review Board. Ms. Elliott was named an Honoree by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation/Georgia Commission on Women, and received the Joseph Caldwell Award for Georgia Archaeology, the Georgia Governor’s Award in the Humanities, and a life-time achievement award in archaeology education from the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution.
http://www.thelamarinstitute.org
This project is supported by the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.
http://www.georgiahumanities.org/abou…
https://www.facebook.com/georgiahuman…
[Rita and I hope that you can make it to the lecture. We will post our presentation online at thelamarinstitute.org at a future date. Most of the archaeological work described in our lecture was funded by the National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program and Preserve America Program and the usual disclaimers apply. Thanks also our other supporters to Cypress Cultural Consultants, LLC, the City of Sylvania, the U.S. and Georgia Departments of Transportation, Coastal Heritage Society, Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, Plum Creek Foundation, The LAMAR Institute, Southeastern Archeological Services, Bruker Corporation and many private individuals for making it all possible.]
Rita at work, December 2014
Click here to read today’s news story in the Jasper Sun Times:
http://www.jaspersuntimes.com/news/2015-08-05/breath-life-battle-purrysburg
SAVANNAH, Ga. – The long-buried life of the Confederate ironclad CSS Georgia is being resurrected and will be discussed in a free lecture given by two of the lead archaeologists preserving the ship’s artifacts. Speakers will bring recently recovered artifacts to the free event June 2 at 7 p.m., at the auditorium of the Savannah History Museum, 303 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in Savannah, Georgia.
Underwater archaeologist Stephen James, M.A., with Panamerican Consultants is a principal investigator on the project. He and underwater archaeologist Gordon Watts, Ph.D., of Tidewater Atlantic Research, co-principal investigator, will share the discoveries about the CSS Georgia in a free public presentation. Topics will include the unique ship’s construction, its funding, and life aboard the civil war gunboat. Attendees will also learn how divers are documenting and recovering the vessel, the laboratory work involved, and what happens next in this complex project.
The Savannah History Museum will be open at no charge from 6-7 p.m. and light refreshments will be served in the auditorium lobby before the lecture. The lecture is sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District and is free of charge and open to the public. The lecture and museum entry is hosted by Coastal Heritage Society.
This lecture was previously announced for an earlier date. The date of the lecture has changed.
Quick Facts:
• Deepening the Savannah River channel for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project would damage the vessel; therefore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing archaeological excavation of the CSS Georgia to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act.
• Divers have been excavating the 150-year-old wreck since January and are preparing in June to recover cannons and large portions of casemates.
• This lecture marks the first of eight public outreach efforts focused on the CSS Georgia.
Follow the project and discover additional outreach opportunities at http://1.usa.gov/1G6S2Hn
| People of Earth, particularly southeast Georgia:
Ponder the Palmetto Pipeline. Remember the last time a bunch of Yankees came and cut a swath through Georgia? It did not turn out so pretty. Déjà vu Kinder Morgan (KM) and its Infernal Palmetto Pipeline—a proposed conduit for a witch’s brew of volatile and toxic liquid petroleum products that will completely cross our delicate coastal marshes and ravage wetlands and swamp ecotones along two thirds of the Savannah River valley. Does anyone out there like the taste of Georgia shrimp, and do you prefer it with or without the petrochemical flavorings? And what about drinking water along the Georgia coast? My tap water already tastes funny from all the folks flushing upstream, so perhaps the Devonian fern flavoring will give it the needed twist. And if there does happen to be a big flood of oil on our coast, perhaps these same pipes can be retrofitted to bring us fresh drinking water from Lake Ontario or Nome, Alaska. Has KM considered that fallback possibility, it could be quite lucrative? Folks in California could use a water pipeline too. Is it too late for Kinder Morgan to declare a do-over? Can the people of the State of Georgia control their own destiny? Has our beloved Republican Governor switched political sides, or is this some carefully crafted maneuver to create a smokescreen for his DOT underlings? We shall see. Imagine if we had a 300 mile long by 50 feet wide solar farm instead, has anyone done a cost benefit comparison? Maybe we could tint the panels so that all the woodstorks are not blinded by the reflection. And maybe we could raise it up about 10 feet so all the quadrupeds could crawl or walk underneath without bonking their collective heads. Or is there no good solution to our energy problems? This week my wife and I attended the public meeting on the proposed pipeline and KMs request for Eminent Domain authority. We were greatly impressed by the wide mix of Georgians who had rallied to oppose the pipeline. We may not stop this confounded pipeline, but at least we can make it wiggle a little, sort of like General Sherman made Georgia Howl. Stand up Georgia. Stand up to the largest pipeline company on the planet that wants to shove this stuff down our throats. Push back the Palmetto Pipeline!  Public meeting on the Palmetto Pipeline. Hastily submitted, Daniel T. Elliott, Citizen of Rincon, Effingham County, Georgia and fan of Coastal Georgia and the Savannah, Ogeechee, Altamaha and Satilla River watersheds. |
Article by Zach Murdock, 1-9-2015. same article also published in “The State”, “Beaufort Gazette” and “News Packet”.
PRESS RELEASE
The LAMAR Institute
For release Wednesday, January 8, 2015
Public invited to archaeology presentation about ongoing search for sites of Revolutionary War Battles of Purysburg & Black Swamp, South Carolina
LAMAR Institute archaeologists will offer information about this project to the public and invite participants to share information as well. The presentation will include information gathered from historical documents during a recent research trip to Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston. The presentation will examine how archaeologists are conducting the survey on the colonial town of Purysburg, South Carolina in search of key elements of the Revolutionary War battle there in 1779. Researchers will apply systematic battlefield archaeology techniques to discover elements of the town and its battlefield. Archaeologists are focused on the American Patriot headquarters at Purysburg and Black Swamp and the soldiers garrisoned there.
A second presentation at this time by the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust will detail that organization’s work to identify historic earthworks, roads, and other landscapes in Jasper and Charleston counties. The presentations will be at the Bluffton Branch Library (843) 255-6490, 120 Palmetto Way, Bluffton, South Carolina, 29910 on January 17, 2015, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
Quick Facts:
• This is a two-year project with various phases of research, field work, lab work, and report writing.
• Purysburg, South Carolina became an important location in the American Revolution following the 1778 British shift to the southern theater of the war in Georgia and South Carolina.
• Following the British taking of Savannah, Georgia in 1778, American Major General Benjamin Lincoln established his headquarters at Purysburg to regroup Patriot forces and hold the Savannah River as the front line.
• The Patriots established its secondary headquarters at Black Swamp, north of Purysburg.
• For the next several months, thousands of Patriot troops in the area held a stand-off with thousands of their British counterparts located across the Savannah River at New Ebenezer, Georgia.
• Prior to the British attempt to take Charleston, South Carolina, British Major General Augustin Prevost’s troops engaged the Patriots in a brief battle at Purysburg.
• Patriot troops commanded by General Moultrie retreated to Charleston to fortify that town in advance of Prevost’s expected attack there.
• The 32-year-old LAMAR Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the mission to promote archaeological research and public education in the southeastern United States.
• The LAMAR Institute and its associates have been awarded and/or involved in eight NPS American Battlefield Protection Program grants since 2001.
For more information or to schedule an interview with archaeologists, please contact Dan Elliott at dantelliott@gmail.com or (706) 341.7796. For more information about The LAMAR Institute visit http://www.thelamarinstitute.org
This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior. The Bluffton Branch Library is not a sponsor of this program.
Rita’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Archaeo-Education
Dan’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Archaeology
Caledonia Inspects the Brier Creek Battlefield, Photo by Rob Pavey, Augusta Chronicle, 2014.
From the Savannah Morning News:
Looking for Pearls:
Spanish mariners leave mystery on Tybee
By Ben Coggins, Savannah Morning News, October 10, 2014
Do you remember the Uncle Remus story about Brer Rabbit and his misadventures with the silent Tar Baby? One after another of the aggravated Brer Rabbit’s hands and feet got hopelessly stuck until he tricked Brer Fox into getting him loose.
Since 2006, Tybee Island resident Frank Drudi has been captivated by a different sort of Tar Baby — one that is 500 years old and from Trinidad.
When Frank’s neighbor was digging a swimming pool, Frank said he could put the sand from the hole onto his empty lot. When the sand was spread, he found three heavy rough discs, clearly man-made. On the edge of each was an impressed seal that Frank recognized as a Spanish Cross.
That started the research wheels turning. What were these artifacts, dug up barely a hundred yards from the Tybee lighthouse? And what clues did the four letters S-O-C-G in the quadrants around the cross provide?
Daniel Elliott of the Lamar Institute performed an exhaustive archaeological survey of Frank’s lot, now described as the Drudi tract. He used ground-penetrating radar and systematic sampling to look at Frank’s property, but nothing else turned up.
Frank discovered that the discs were made of tar that Spanish mariners of the 16th century used to seal leaks in their ships’ hulls. Tar that came from a huge pitch lake at La Brea, Trinidad, discovered by Columbus in 1498.
From poring over history books and talking to experts on early Spanish exploration of the Southeast coast, Frank has arrived at a persuasive theory of when and how the tar objects came to Tybee.
In 1521, two navigators sailing together out of the Caribbean, under contract to different aristocrats, both claimed land surrounding Winyah Sound near Georgetown, S.C. Claiming land for the crown and the sponsor involved performing a standard ceremonial ritual and recording the event by ship’s notary.
A legal dispute followed over who had rights to explore and settle the vast coastal area. The king of Spain, Charles of Ghent, decided in favor of Luis Vasquez de Ayllon, whose captain had performed the ritual hours ahead of the other claimant.
Having the authority to explore this barely-charted coast, in 1525 Ayllon sent Pedro de Quejo to do further reconnaissance and double-check the desirability of Winyah Bay for settlement. Taking no chances on establishing claims this time, Ayllon instructed Quejo to place stone markers with the king’s name and the date.
Not a single one of those stone markers has been found. But according to Quejo’s logs, his first stop was at latitude 32.0 degrees.
Sound familiar? That’s Tybee.
This means that on May 3, 1525, the first Europeans to set foot on Georgia soil did it on Tybee sand. And the river that Quejo named the Rio de la Cruz on that date is the Savannah River.
Frank figures that, when no stones were around to erect as markers, Quejo formed markers of his own. A composite of sand, grass, and the caulking tar he had on board. And what more natural point for the claim than the location that was later chosen in Oglethorpe’s day for the lighthouse?
In July 1526, Ayllon set sail from Hispaniola with six ships and 600 settlers straight to Winyah Bay. But the mother ship foundered on a sand bar before landing. Many supplies were lost, the area was not as suitable for agriculture as described and there were too few Native Americans with whom to work and trade. So, Ayllon improvised a Plan B.
His expedition sailed south searching for a better location. On Sept. 29, 1526, they established the settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape. Somewhere along the Georgia coast, maybe on Sapelo Sound, and named perhaps for the Guale Indians of the area. Ayllon himself died of illness there. The colony lasted about six weeks before the survivors sailed home, and its site has never been found.
Maybe Frank Drudi’s markers hold a clue. Frank has looked long and hard at these tar babies, trying to coax more answers from them. But like Brer Rabbit, now he’s a bit stuck.
When he heard about the West Chatham Middle School students who were studying early Spanish missions along the Georgia coast, he decided to see if their young minds could bring new eyes and ideas to answer some of his questions. Why haven’t more of these tar objects been discovered elsewhere? What do the letters S-O-C-G mean?
Frank deputized me to carry the tar markers, almost 60 pounds each, like they were Faberge eggs, to show to the students. It was a good move.
The students and their teachers, Mrs. Jacquelin Harden and Mr. Josh Wonders, were very interested to see these old relics that are, so far, one-of-a-kind.
And they offered fresh insights. Samantha Jenkins suggested searching for references to “rough asphalt cylinders” in explorers’ narratives and that the letters may be initials for a church. Francheska Gonzalez suggested that there are more and larger markers nearby and always on the southern shores of their rivers.
Several of the students speak Spanish, so they may discover Spanish-language journals, diaries or records that refer to the markers or the voyages. Regan Gayadeen said she has family in Trinidad and would get them involved to look for similar tar objects in museums and collections around La Brea.
Diamond Folston and Sade Baker had experience making charcoal rubbings of cemetery headstones, so they took rubbings of the Spanish crosses to study more closely. Jack Steuwe commented on the markers’ plasticity, and Nicholas Bergeron on their symbolism.
Some students were intrigued whether the seals stamped in the markers were made ahead of time in Hispaniola or on board the ships as situations changed. All three of the Drudi objects have the same imprint, but in other locations might different letters be used? And maybe we should search for the wooden stampers that were carved to impress the seals — like searching for the branding iron and not the brand.
Could the markers have been moved at all by Indians? Are the letters really S-O-C-G, or are they D-O-C-G? Does C-G stand for Carlos de Gante (King Charles of Ghent) as Frank assumes or for something else? Could the G stand for Gualdape? The S for San or Santa?
Students Cameron Myers, John Winters, and John Tyner lingered to look at the markers from all sides. They pointed out the wood impressions on the undersides and holes that might have been for lifting them. They suggested X-raying the markers to see if they contained medals or coins put in by the seamen who fabricated them.
They suggested that 3-D scans be made of the markers, so that they could be 3-D printed and examined by other researchers. And they suggested that, with high definition, perhaps the wood grain and grass imprints might help tell the story.
Tybee DPW Superintendent Danny Carpenter is equally fascinated. He has found hundreds of artifacts from the Civil War, the Fort Screven era, and even from the lost Martello Tower.
He says, “These tar markers are a Tybee mystery, like the Tybee Bomb. But I think they are far more significant.”
He and Frank are hopeful that the West Chatham students make a breakthrough, crack this Da Vinci code and get the tar babies to reveal their secrets.
*******
For more background information on Frank Drudi’s discovery, read and learn at:
Click to access publication_127.pdf
127. Archaeological Reconnaissance at the Drudi Tract, Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia. [With Supplement: Identity of the Drudi Objects, 2009]. By Daniel T. Elliott, 2008. (2.6 MB).
Kettle Creek Battlefield to develop conceptual plan
(Flash! From The News-Reporter, October 9, 2014)
The Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, Inc. (KCBA) recently signed an agreement for development of a conceptual plan for a Kettle Creek Battlefield Park. The plan would be developed by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia (CVIOG), and was signed by Walker Chewning, president of KCBA and Jere Morehead, president of the university.
[dan says, “Great! The more the merrier.”]
AND this story from October 2nd:
Walter Cook, a trails-developing forester, studies requirements for handicap-access trails before tackling a route for the Summit Trail in the Kettle Creek Battlefield. On his fourth trip to the Kettle Creek Battlefield site, Walter Cook, PhD, spent a recent morning on the Summit Trail. In earlier visits, he refined positions of the War Hill Loop Trail which Allen Burton, Joe Harris, and Richard McAvoy’s county crew had cleared.
Cook, retired from the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, has located and designed more than 80 hiking and interpretive trails in Georgia and South Carolina. “It is what I like to do in retirement,” he said. He used a machete to hack his way through blackberry thickets and other undergrowth on earlier visits under 100-degree conditions.
“The trail must follow the shoulder of the ridge and never allow more than a ten degree incline,” he said. He charges no fee and brings his own lunch so as “not to waste time.”
The two highest priority trails, identified by the Kettle Creek Battlefield Park Master Plan, are now open and identified for hiking, having only a few rough spots. The War Hill Loop Trail is less than half a mile and the Summit Trail is somewhat longer. The Loop Trail provides a view of Kettle Creek, all sides of War Hill, and allows a review of battle events and topography. It is rich in natural history. Public school lesson plan developers Katy Meeks and Al Dawkins toured the trail.
With adequate clearing to the west, the Summit Trail will offer a panoramic view of both Settlement Hill and War Hill. Thus, it is an easy visitor experience of the troop movement from the Hammett Settlement and battle sequences as the engagement moved southward to what is now New Salem Church Road.
The battlefield development project involves a partnership between the Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, Inc. and Wilkes County. It envisions economic development based on the rich history of Wilkes County and the city of Washington. It is supported by funding from Federal, state, and local sources as well as that of many private organizations and individuals who value the lessons of history.
Modern aerial view of Purysburg, South Carolina
NPS-pressrelease-Purysburg-7-2014
The LAMAR Institute has been awarded a research grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program to document the Purysburg (S.C.) Revolutionary War battlefield and American headquarters complex. To learn more:
http://www.nps.gov/abpp/grants/battlefieldgrants/2014grantawards.htm
Caledonia is a Rock Star!! Brier Creek! Brier Creek! Caledonia! Caledonia!
Efforts underway to preserve Revolutionary War battlefield | The Augusta Chronicle.
Efforts underway to preserve Revolutionary War battlefield
Dan and Caledonia at Brier Creek finding a truck’s chrome tailpipe!
SYLVANIA, Ga. — More than two centuries after a daring British surprise attack routed American forces at Brier Creek, new efforts are underway to preserve one of Georgia’s least explored Revolutionary War sites.
“This battlefield has all the components very rarely seen in preservation,” said archaeologist Dan Battle, who has spent the past year assessing the Screven County historic site to determine what secrets it might still hold.
The Battle of Brier Creek unfolded March 3, 1779, when a British force of 1,500 men led by Col. Marc Prevost circled back on Gen. John Ashe’s encamped Patriot army, which included about 1,700 soldiers.
The late afternoon attack was a complete surprise. About 150 Americansdied, while hundreds of others were captured. The fleeing survivors left behind their arms, food and supplies.
The British victory was so decisive scholars believe it prolonged the American Revolution by a year, changing the course of U.S. history.
Today, much of the site lies within the 15,100-acre Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area owned by the state of Georgia and managed for hunting and fishing – but not specifically for historic preservation. Portions of the battlefield and related camps sprawl onto private tracts. Although the area is marked by a bronze historical commission marker erected in 1956, little has been done in terms of formal archaeology.
Battle’s company, Cypress Cultural Consultants, began evaluating the area last year with funding from a Transportation Enhancement Act matching grant obtained by the city of Sylvania.
Objectives of the cursory assessment include pinpointing certain battle features – and possibly graves of the soldiers who died there.
Although a final report isn’t due until later this year, the results are encouraging.
Using technology known as LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, three-dimensional maps were used to identify the defensive line hastily arranged by the Patriot forces. Further studies helped locate other key areas, which are remarkably intact.
“The American camp is still in good shape – not pilfered,” Battle said. “We’ve also come across a site where the Patriots were manufacturing musket balls, which is unique in its own right.”
Teams extracted about 600 items that were carefully preserved and recorded and will undergo curation and analysis at University of Georgia. “There are things from the camp, from the American lines – and we even know where the exchange of gunfire occurred,” he said.
As historic battle sites go, Brier Creek’s remoteness is part of its charm – and also its curse.
“The only thing that happened out there was the battle – then it got left alone,” he said. “It’s one of the best preserved sites in the country.”
Its secluded setting, however, makes it vulnerable to tampering by relic looters, and possible degradation through land management programs, such as timber harvesting.
Lee Taylor, regional game management supervisor for Georgia’s Wildlife Resources Division, said state officials are doing all they can to protect the resources at Tuckahoe, but will need a final report with hard data and recommendations.
“We are anticipating getting the final report from the surveyors by the end of the year, so Wildlife Resources Division and the Historical Preservation Division can develop a comprehensive management plan for the WMA,” Taylor said. “To date we have received no information from the survey.”
In the meantime, DNR keeps the area patrolled and under the watch of its officers, who will arrest anyone caught digging or looting. The area is also posted to warn against using metal detectors.
Maintenance at Tuckahoe, including road scraping, is conducted carefully and will not include any excavations deeper than past activities, Taylor said.
Any proposed logging activity will be screened by the Historic Preservation Division’s Archaeology Section, he said. Currently, however, “no timber operations have been proposed for Tuckahoe WMA.”
The ultimate objective, he said, will be to preserve the area’s cultural resources while also making sure Tuckahoe remains available to the public for hunting and fishing – the purposes for which most of the site was purchased in 1989, using license fee revenues from Georgia’s anglers and hunters.
“The Georgia DNR will continue to rigorously protect intact portions of the site and ensure the entire battlefield is managed appropriately,” Taylor said.
One of the biggest mysteries of the Battle of Brier Creek involves where the American soldiers killed in battle were buried, and by whom.
Based on details from comparable battles of the Revolutionary War, the dead were likely moved into piles, near where they fell, and are probably in mass graves, Battle said.
As far as who buried them, one piece of the puzzle turned up in an unlikely place: the archival records of the Dallas (Texas) Historical Society.
It was there that references were found that the British Army’s 71st Highlanders ordered Loyalists from nearby South Carolina to bury the casualties, starting the day after the battle. Other clues emerged from maps and regimental records identified in the New York Public Library.
Efforts to locate graves have included the use of “cadaver dogs” specially trained to detect the scent of human remains, even if those remains are centuries old. The surveys yielded positive hits, but further studies would be needed to confirm what lies beneath the surface soil.
Battle believes the presence of Patriot casualties should earn the site more attention in the future.
“Over 150 U.S. soldiers and militia are buried on the battlefield, not found or ever celebrated by America,” he said, adding that George Washington is believed to have visited the area during his Southern tour and said prayers for the killed Americans.
“The forces at Brier Creek were a multinational force that included soldiers from almost every state of the 13,” he said. “Many of Georgia’s Continentals were actually recruited from Pennsylvania and Virginia.”
Preliminary findings will likely recommend more detailed explorations in the future, but such projects are expensive – and tend to move slowly.
“That’s why one of the most needed things at the site is a management plan,” said Dan Elliott, president of The Lamar Institute, a non-profit group that works with universities and state and federal agencies to conduct archaeological research.
The findings so far indicate the battlefield was impacted by farming – in particular plowing – in the past, but is still relatively intact.
“In the bigger picture, things aren’t too bad,” Elliott said. “Plowing disturbs things, but even if some of the site was farmed over the centuries, it doesn’t move things too far.”
Many artifacts discovered by the teams were left “in situ,” or in place, without being disturbed. Items were removed only from the shallow surface layer of disturbed soil, or “plow zone,” he said, and deeper items that were identified and left alone were mapped for future reference.
Although the lead musket balls and decaying metal fragments buried in the sandy soil have little monetary value, they have a tremendous value in their ability to tell a compelling story if properly extracted, Battle said.
“It’s really rare to be able to put things you find in the ground into a particular day and year,” he said. “Usually, you’re lucky if you can even get the right century. We have a chance, right here in this battlefield, to study that.”
Great News from Wilkes County!
Kettle Creek battle site expands with KCBA’s 60-acre purchase.
Below are links to several recent newspaper articles about archaeology projects in coastal Georgia where LAMAR Institute researchers have been active. Both of these projects, the Brier Creek Battlefield Survey and the Isaiah Davenport House Museum excavations, are ongoing. The Brier Creek project is directed by Cypress Cultural Consultants, LLC with archaeologist Daniel Battle serving as the project’s field director and Daphne Owens as Principal Investigator. The LAMAR Institute has assisted at Brier Creek with skilled labor, loan of equipment. The Davenport project is a LAMAR Institute project with Rita Elliott serving as its PI. Both projects are telling us great things about the past and we look forward to bringing more of these discoveries to the public eye.
BRIER CREEK BATTLEFIELD STORIES
Archaeologists zero in on Revolutionary War battle site in Screven County, Ga.–article by Rob Pavey, Augusta Chronicle, January 19, 2014:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/node/572243#.UtyXQ2Ksc-4.gmail
http://chronicle.augusta.com/sports/outdoors/rob-pavey/2014-01-18/archaeologists-zero-revolutionary-war-battle-site-screven
History in Screven County can be Revolutionary- article by Enoch Autry, January 17, 2014, Sylvania Telephone:
http://www.sylvaniatelephone.com/news/history-screven-county-can-be-revolutionary
ISAIAH DAVENPORT HOUSE MUSEUM ARCHAEOLOGY STORIES
Archaeology at the Davenport House, Professional excavation happens Saturday in the courtyard– article by Jessica Leigh Lebos, January 15, 2014, Connect Savannah:
http://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/archaeology-at-the-davenport-house/Content?oid=2327564
Archaeological excavation underway at Davenport House– article (with video clip) by Dash Coleman, January 19, 2014, Savannah Morning News:
SAR Samuel Elbert Chapter Presents Award to Daniel Elliott, December, 2013.
End of the year report on our Revolutionary War research in Georgia! The big gators were out on New Years Eve (2013) at Brier Creek. The LAMAR archaeologists are busy finding our Revolutionary War history in the ground. A recent Associated Press news story highlighted our archival research on the Revolutionary War in Georgia, which appeared in many news outlets. We are busy writing grant proposals for other revolutionary War battlefields in the Carolinas. Next week my colleague P.T. and I are giving a paper in Quebec at the Society for Historical Archaeology meeting on our 100+ horseshoes from the Carr’s Fort battlefield landscape in Wilkes County, Georgia. Busy times here in south Georgia. We look forward to writing up some of these stories for the public in 2014. Happy New Year!
Trip uncovers records of Revolution-era Georgia – WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports.
AP ARTICLE BY RUSS BYNUM ON LAMAR INSTITUTE PROJECT.
Follow this link to a short Archaeology magazine article on Carr’s Fort by Mike Toner:
Here is a link to today’s article in Augusta’s Metro Spirit about our Carr’s Fort Battlefield discovery:
http://www.metrospirit.com/?p=7122
The News-Reporter, Washington, Georgia also had a feature story on the find in this weeks paper. It is free to subscribers at:
And freely released to the general public in two weeks.
The story also ran in the online version of Spiegel magazine in Germany at this link:
I guess a little got lost in the translation. Carr’s Fort is in Georgia, not Virginia.
A version was posted in the e-zine PastHorizons.com in England yesterday.
Russ Bynum’s Associated Press story appeared in well over 300 media outlets in the U.S., as well as Algeria, Ghana and Australia. And probably hundreds more that I am not aware of.
Wilkes County, Georgia – Archaeologists with the LAMAR Institute discovered the location of Carr’s Fort, a significant frontier fortification that was attacked on February 10, 1779. The discovery was funded through grants from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program, Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, and The LAMAR Institute. The month-long search by a team of six researchers encompassed more than 2,700 wooded acres of the Beaverdam Creek watershed. Battlefield archaeology at Carr’s Fort yielded about a dozen fired musket balls, several musket parts and several hundred iron and brass items from the 18th century.
Robert Carr was a Captain in the Georgia Patriot militia and by 1778 his frontier home became a fort for more than 100 soldiers. In late 1778, the British launched a campaign to reclaim the southern colonies, which included a major recruitment effort among the frontier settlers. On February 10, Carr’s Fort was occupied by 80 Loyalists (Tories) led by captains John Hamilton and Dougald Campbell. Almost immediately, 200 Georgia and South Carolina Patriot militia, who had been hot on the trail of the Loyalists, laid siege to the fort in an attempt to take it back. An intense fire fight raged for several hours, in which more than a dozen were killed or wounded on each side. Patriot forces, commanded by Colonel Andrew Pickens, were ordered to break off the siege after he received word of that larger party of 750 Loyalists advancing from the Carolinas. The Patriots rode off taking the Loyalist’s horses and baggage with them. The Loyalists marched several hundred miles back south to rejoin the main British invasion force. Several weeks later, Captain Carr was killed at his home by a raiding party of Loyalist Creek Indians, while his wife and children escaped.
“The search for Carr’s Fort was like looking for a needle in a haystack, only harder. We had no map and few descriptions of the fort, so its location was entirely unknown. Historians and land surveyors provided some clues to about a dozen potential target areas, which helped narrow the search. The LAMAR field team discovered Carr’s Fort on the last hour of the last day of the field project. Although our funds were depleted, I had no trouble convincing my crew to return with me to volunteer with me for another day or two to better establish the identity of the archaeological finds as Carr’s Fort”, stated Daniel Elliott, President of the LAMAR Institute. The archaeological team used metal detectors to systematically comb the woods for any evidence of the fort and battlefield. Each find was labeled and carefully plotted using GPS technology. More than a dozen 18th century settlements were located, but none of these proved to be the fort.
Wilkes County was a hot-bed of revolutionary fervor during the American Revolution. The discovery of the archaeological remains of Carr’s Fort indicates great potential that remnants of more than 30 other forts in Wilkes County may still exist. The identification of such resources can provide important new information on Georgia’s role in the American Revolution and how this international conflict affected remote frontier settlements.
Researching, locating, identifying, and interpreting fortifications and battlefields is one of The LAMAR Institute’s research focuses. This includes the Colonial, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War periods. Prior investigation of Revolutionary War sites has included the battle fields of Kettle Creek, New Ebenezer, Sansavilla Bluff, Savannah, and Sunbury. A complete report on the Carr’s Fort Battlefield project will be available to the public in early 2014.
Supplemental: And I forgot to note, thus far we have seen zero evidence for cannibalism at the site. Metadata: cannibalism
A Georgia State University field school and archaeologists have been looking into the grounds where the old Troup Factory mill once stood to piece together its history. The field school director…
via Students and archaeologists looks into the old Troup Factory site.
CAVE SPRING — The history books about Floyd County will have to be rewritten: An archaeologist says the oldest known structure in the county sits in Cave Spring. That building turns out to be the…
via Cave Spring cabin revealed as oldest structure in Floyd County.
Rita Elliott is giving free tours at this interesting archaeological site near Savannah, Georgia.
Life in the Queensborough Township
Life in the Queensborough Township: Data Recovery at Hannah’s Quarter (9Jf195), Jefferson County, Georgia. Report prepared by Southern Research Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc., Ellerslie, Georgia.
Rita Ann Veronica Folse Elliott, M.A., R.P.A., G.C.P.A. has yet another publication under her garter. It is an edited volume by Todd Andrlik, entitled “Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It was History It was News”. On sale now at Amazon.com and other fine book vendors. Follow this link:
On Sale Starting November 1, 2012
UPDATE 8/6/2014
HERE IS THE LINK: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365255141/
This link goes to an online version of the upcoming Time Team America episode on the search and discovery of Camp Lawton Confederate prisoner of war camp near Millen, Georgia. I was a part of the team, I got the hat and the minimum wages from Oregon Public TV. We did our GPR and other remote sensing work over about 10 acres the days before the circus began. Rita Elliott and I drove up to see the circus but carefully avoided getting in front of the camera. We were there the day that the stockade wall was discovered (I got some rare video footage of that on my iphone). Our LAMAR Institute colleague, Daniel E. Battle, was part of the circus. Dan Battle actually discovered the juicy archaeological stuff at Camp Lawton back in December, 2009. That is all documented in our LAMAR Institute report number 161
http://thelamarinstitute.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=58
Dan Battle also made the first discoveries of the Confederate guard’s camp, which I think is a MAJOR find too. Congratulations to Dan Battle!
Meg, the blonde lady with the red cart, was the boss of the geophysical team, of which I was part back in October 2012. That was about four days of craziness where we covered a huge area, probably the largest acreage of geophysical work ever done in Georgia. Meg did a masterful job in pulling it all together. Congratulations to everyone who played a part in this important discovery! I hope you enjoy the movie.
You may also watch the Time Team America discovery on your regular television set via your local PBS affiliate. Just check their schedules for time and dates.
UPDATE 3/6/2013, James K. Chapman’s M.A. Thesis, entitled, COMPARISON OF ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY TECHNIQUES AT CAMP LAWTON, A CIVIL WAR PRISON STOCKADE, is mirrored at the following link: Tchapman_james_k_201201_mass
2012 Post:
Over the past week a team of archaeologists converged on the CSA Camp Lawton prison site at Magnolia Springs, near Millen, Georgia determined to make major discoveries. Their goal was realized on Thursday and Friday when three walls of the prison stockade were confirmed by excavation. Earlier in the week a smaller team of geophysicists scurried over the landscape with high-tech tools busy making maps of the subsurface environment. Ground Penetrating Radar, Electro-magnetics and Flux gate gradiometers were among the tools used to search for remains of the Civil War prison. Excavations ended today (Friday Oct 5) with several major finds capping a week of many grand discoveries. The Time Team America episode on the Camp Lawton investigations will air next year. Meanwhile, readers may wish to read the writings of John Derden, Daniel Elliott, or Daniel Battle. The LAMAR Institute’s report is available online for free download at
Searching for the Camp Lawton prison stockade wall.
Click to access publication_162.pdf
Raw video footage of the discovery may be seen on Youtube.com (shown below):
UPDATE:
Stockade Wall Found at Camp Lawton
Article by Bryan Tucker, State Archaeologist
Preservation Posts, November 2012, Issue 42,
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e6c3a4351838f93c43cd740be&id=c5da2357fd&e=d6fa022296
The LAMAR Institute Inc. (Georgia) $68,527
During the American Revolution, Georgia was the scene of vicious fighting between Loyalist and
Patriot forces. One such engagement was the little known siege of Carr’s Fort which began February
11, 1779. The LAMAR Institute intends to locate Carr’s Fort archeologically and delineate the
battlefield boundaries around it. It is hoped that by identifying this site they will be able to shed some
light on this turbulent time.
Front Page News of The News-Reporter (Washington, Georgia) for August 23, 2012, written by the editor of the newspaper:
Calling the Wilkes County battle site at Kettle Creek “the most pristine Revolutionary War site left in the United States,” a new advisory committee met recently to kick off a study to formulate a land use plan for the site.
Led by the Community Affairs Department of the Central Savannah River Area Regional Commission and funded by a state grant, the plan will provide a working foundation for economic use and development, said committee member Tom Owen. “In addition to Kettle Creek, Wilkes County has a watershed of Revolutionary and Colonial assets. Directly associated with the Kettle Creek battle was the siege at Carr’s Fort. In July 2012, the Lamar Institute was awarded a federal grant for the archeological study of this Wilkes County Revolutionary War asset, which in the long term will bind the two locations.”
The Kettle Creek project has been the primary objective of the Kettle Creek Battlefield Association (KCBA), which is working towards the preservation and educational development of the historic site. “The battlefield area is recognized as perhaps the most pristine Revolutionary War site left in the United States,” Owen said, “and as a strategic untapped economic asset for Washington-Wilkes and Georgia.”
Project lead from the CSRA Regional Commission’s Planning Department will be Christian Lentz with Jason Hardin as research and plan developer, along with Anne Floyd, Director of Local Government Services at CSRA RDC. The Kettle Creek Advisory Committee will hold additional meetings in 2012 on October 16 and December 11, as well as a final meeting on February 13, 2013.
Owen said that a public meeting and open house is being planned for a date yet to be determined. The Kettle Creek Battlefield Association has provided the primary leadership toward driving this project and for the preservation efforts. The KCBA membership has been joined by the state organizations of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution from Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as members in 15 states as far away as the West coast, he said.
In addition to the CSRA personnel, the committee members in attendance included Joseph Harris, KCBA; Thomas Owen, KCBA; Betty Slaton, KCBA; David Tyler, Wilkes County administrator; Jim Rundorff, Plum Creek Forestry director; Walker Chewning, KCBA; David Jenkins, City of Washington economic development director; Jenny Clarke, executive director, Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce; Stephanie Macchia, Washington Historical Museum director; Emory Burton, KCBA, and Steven Rauch, U.S. Army command historian, Fort Gordon.
DAR members hear program about Kettle Creek site archaeological finds.
Dan Elliott of the Lamar Institute in Savannah presented the program to members of the Kettle Creek Chapter NSDAR and guests at the meeting Monday, January 19, at the Washington Woman’s Club.
Mr. Elliott, who resides in Rincon, spoke on the topic “Archaeological Finds at the Kettle Creek Battle Site.”
Introduced by the January program chairman, Nancy Sisson, Mr. Elliott presented the interesting program on the results of an indepth research study of the Kettle Creek Battle site conducted by the Institute. The study, funded by the National Park Service and the City of Washington, included archaeological finds as well as genealogical information and other studies of the site. The Battle of Kettle Creek took place on February 14, l779, in Wilkes County and was a moral victory for the Patriots. Much of the findings and collections will be placed in the Washington-Wilkes Historical Museum.
Prior to his presentation Anneice Butler, co-regent, presided. Ginny Broome, chaplain, led the chapter in the opening rituals and offered the blessing for the delicious lun- cheon.
After the luncheon and program, Mrs. Butler conducted the business meeting. Milly Arnold gave the National Defense message on the upcoming celebrations being planned for the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Carol Faz, co-regent, reminded the club of the recognition of the Founding of Washington to be held at Fort Washington on January 23 at 1:30 p.m.
Other items of business were conducted before the meeting adjourned.
Members present were Ginny Broome, Nancy Sisson, Oleta McAvoy, Laura Toburen, Anneice Butler, Carol Faz, Louise Burt, Lou Singleton, Mary Ann Bentley, Edith Lindsey, Milly Arnold, Maxine Singleton, Anna Gunter, Phyllis Scarborough, Michelle Smith, Paula Butts, Debra Denard, Rosalee Haynes, Joanne Pollock, Linda Chesnut, Kathryn Sanders, Suzette Kopecky, Jane Burton, Carol Crowe Carraco, Betty Slaton and Kathy Dinneweth. Guests included David Denard, Stephanie Macchia, Jennifer Atchison and Dan Elliott.
Dedication for graves of the unknown held at New Ebenezer | savannahnow.com.
By DeAnn Komanecky
Prayers for those who died long ago filled the sanctuary and grounds of Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church on Saturday during services held for those buried in at least 250 unmarked graves outside the walls of the church’s cemetery.
Many of the graves belong to slaves, buried just south of the church cemetery that contains generations of the area’s descendants, the Salzburgers.
Other unmarked graves are also located outside the cemetery’s brick walls, on the side nearest the New Ebenezer Retreat Center. The graves may contain those of soldiers and civilians who died during the Revolutionary War.
The graves were identified by a team, led by Dan Elliott, with the LAMAR Institute. The work was done with the support of the Georgia Salzburger Society. The institute is a nonprofit archaeological research organization. The team used ground-penetrating radar to find the graves with no disturbance of the soil. The work was done in 2010 with the purpose of determining the cemetery’s lines.
A British-built Revolutionary War fort was also built in 1779 at Ebenezer and its octagonal shape has been previously marked by Elliott. According to unit rosters from the time, some 500 soldiers died of natural causes while at Ebenezer.
In Elliot’s report of the archaeological findings, he noted that the earliest marked grave in Jerusalem Cemetery is dated from 1813 and very few engraved markers exist prior to 1830. Elliot also reports that while burial records for New Ebenezer exist from 1736 through the 1800s, they are inconsistently documented.
Saturday’s services were led by the Jerusalem Church, and their sister church, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Savannah. Holy Trinity is the only Black Lutheran Church in Savannah, member Ditric Leggett said.
Leggett said he spent time as a child coming to Ebenezer and to be back for this event was memorable.
“It’s like coming home for us (the congregation),” Leggett said.
Being a part of a cemetery dedication for so many slaves that were in Effingham County made Saturday a special day, for Eva Goldwire of Clyo.
“Our family name came from John Goldwire, a slave owner in Guyton,” she said. “It gives me chill bumps to be here.”
Bishop H. Julian Gordy of the Southeastern Synod of the ELCA, told those attending any differences in life among those buried at Ebenezer are gone.
“In death they are the same. Whatever differences in life, they were miniscule and they are reconciled in Christ. We are all free,” Gordy said. “We are all loved, treasured and welcome at the banquet tab le of the kingdom of God.”
The LAMAR Institute is proud to sponsor the May 12th event in Savannah!
from Connectsavannah:
May 08, 2012
The History Underneath
City explores need for an archaeological ordinance
By Jessica Leigh Lebos
If you own a building downtown and you want to paint it fuschia, there’s an app for that.
Same if you want to demolish it, add a sign to the front or attach a flagpole: You’d have to file an application for approval through the Metropolitan Planning Commission.
It’s because of the city’s rigorous rules concerning the renovation of its old architecture that Savannah remains one of the largest and most glorious landmark historic districts in the country. But you may be surprised that there are no such stipulations for the archaeological sites buried beneath those historic homes and offices.
There was no obligation to examine the old shipyards layered in the banks of the Savannah River as Hutchinson Island was developed, nor was there any archaeological methodology applied to the massive dugout of the underground parking garage near Ellis Square. Those are only two recent examples—there’s no telling how many other sites have been lost throughout the decades.
Fragile remains of Colonial–era homesteads, indigenous campgrounds, slave housing and other historic sites have “literally been bulldozed over” as Savannah has been developed, but the good news is that there is plenty left to explore.
Ellen Harris, the MPC’s cultural resource and planning manager, wants to investigate the possibility of incorporating archaeology into its own zoning ordinance, if not into the complex Unified Zoning Ordinance the commission has been drafting for years.
“The historic preservation of buildings tells only one part of the story,” explained Harris. “The under–represented people, Native Americans, slaves, soldiers—their stories are buried underneath those buildings.”
Digging in old records, Harris found that the MPC had received unilateral support for a code written in the late 1980s that would have required government projects to perform archaeological research before breaking ground, but the initiative fizzled with personnel changes. She hopes to revive the mandate for city and county projects and provide significant tax incentives for private entities.
Acknowledging that an ordinance applied citywide needs current community input before it can be written, Harris has organized a free introductory educational session open to the public. “Perspectives in Archaeology: Digging for the Truth, A Panel Discussion,” will be held at Trinity Methodist Church on Telfair Square this Saturday, May 12 at 2 p.m. A reception will follow.
While research shows that archaeological preservation has economic benefits for cities such as boosted tourism and reduced blight, it can be a scary topic for developers, for whom the discovery of a historic homestead or cemetery can mean the shutdown of a worksite. Harris encourages them to join the conversation.
“This is about dispelling myths and educating the community,” she said. “We’re just beginning to look at what it would take to include archaeology in the code and find out what other cities have done it.”
The nearby city of Beaufort, S.C. has laws mandating archaeological study before any development, and Florida has a statewide network of local archaeology ordinances. But Harris counts Alexandria, VA as the model for archaeological preservation. The city adopted an ordinance in 1989 that protects sites within the city’s center while acknowledging the needs of developers.
Dr. Pamela Cressey, the archaeology guru who helped author the Alexandria ordinance and continues to head the city’s museum devoted to locally–excavated artifacts, will visit Savannah to sit on the upcoming panel.
While Dr. Cressey promises to provide insight into the process that resulted in Alexandria’s ordinance, she counsels that Savannah must develop its own model.
“Every community has its unique characteristics and individual perspectives that will inform what comes out of it,” mused Dr. Cressey over the phone last week. “My goal is to talk about what’s possible.”
It can be challenging to convince people of the value of archaeology, she admits, “because it’s hidden. But down in the ground can be a wealth of materials that can tell us a lot about who lived there.”
Dr. Cressey will be joined on the panel by local architect Neil Dawson, U.S. Fish and Wildlife archaeologist Richard Kanaski and Georgia Southern anthropology professor Dr. Sue Moore. Local historian and filmmaker Michael Jordan will moderate.
Jordan calls the panel “more than just an opportunity for scholars to lecture about what they do. It’s a chance for Savannahians who care about history to start a conversation about what’s worked in other places and what could work here.”
Jordan was present when Lamar Institute archaeologist Rita Elliot excavated the Spring Hill Redoubt, the site of the bloody 1779 Revolutionary War battle now commemorated as Coastal Heritage Society’s Battlefield Park. There Elliot found gun parts and markings for the original fortification wall—factors that add layers to the history of the soldiers who died there. She has also found ditches, flints and other Revolutionary War debris in Madison Square, “steps away from where hundreds of people walk every day.”
Elliot, who will be in attendance at Saturday’s panel, looks forward to a time when Savannah’s buried sites will be as valued as its buildings.
“Archaeology goes in tandem with the preservation of standing structures,” she posits. “That’s how we find the whole story. There is tremendous potential here to expand the horizons of what we know about Savannah’s history.”
Adds Jordan, “Obviously, it will never be feasible to leave every archaeological discovery in Savannah completely undisturbed. That’s not realistic.”
However, even minor construction projects and home renovations “could peel back priceless pages of Savannah’s historic fabric” if policies are in place to preserve archaeological finds.
“That’s why it’s so important for us, as a community, to address the issues of how we preserve the past that’s buried just beneath the surface.”
Perspectives in Archaeology: Digging for the Truth
When: Saturday, May 12, 2 p.m.
Where: Trinity Methodist Church, 127 Barnard St.
Cost: Free and open to the public
The LAMAR Institute is proud to be a co-sponsor of the upcoming discussion on Archaeology in Savannah on May 12, 2012 (2PM) at Trinity Methodist Church on Telfair Square. Interested folks may wish to attend.
The pictured Rita Elliot looks a lot like a Rita Elliott that I know.
I’d like to invite you to attend a panel discussion on archaeology on May 12th at 2:00 at Trinity Church on Telfair Square- please see attached flyer. There will be a reception afterwards. Also please forward to others who may be interested.
Thank you,
Ellen
Special thanks to our reception sponsors: The LAMAR Institute and Coastal Heritage Society.
Our partners in the project are: Metropolitan Planning Commission, Chatham County Resource Protection Commission, Trinity Church, Chatham County, The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic District Board of Review, City of Savannah and the Chatham County Historic Preservation Commission, The LAMAR Institute and Coastal Heritage Society.
Ellen I. Harris, LEED A.P., AICP
Cultural Resource and Urban Planning Manager
Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission
110 East State Street
Savannah, Georgia 31401
Tel.: (912) 651-1482
Fax: (912) 651-1480
Past Perfect in Savannah:
Rita Folse Elliott lectured on the subject of Savannah’s underground. The talk on April 17, 2012 began with a free reception at 6:30PM at the Kennedy Pharmacy at 323 East Broughton Street. For more information:
http://www.myhsf.org/advocacy-education/lectures-and-workshops/
Here is a link to a recent television news story on Frank Drudi and his discovery of the “Drudi Objects” at the mouth of the Savannah River on Tybee Island, Georgia:
http://video.wsav.com/v/53242624/the-drudi-objects.htm?q=DRUDI.
For additional info, consult my report on the subject at:
127. Archaeological Reconnaissance at the Drudi Tract, Tybee Island, Chatham County, Georgia. [With Supplement: Identity of the Drudi Objects, 2009]. By Daniel T. Elliott, 2008. (2.6 MB).
http://thelamarinstitute.org/images/PDFs/publication_127.pdf
CLICK HERE TO READ GOVERNOR DEAL’s DEAL
GovernorDeal_HPDFY2012
Write, Call, Email, Telegraph, or Otherwise Contact Your Guy on This Vital Topic
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has introduced a proposed budget that will slash Historic Preservation in Georgia to mortally wounded levels. Here is my email: “I am emailing you to renew your awareness of my interest in historic preservation in Georgia and to urge your support to maintain funding levels for the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) in the upcoming budget. I have 35 years experience in historic preservation in Georgia and I have witnessed operations at the state government at greatly reduced funding levels compared to that currently enjoyed. It was not a pretty sight! The current staff at HPD has done a commendable job in advancing historic preservation issues in Georgia over the past decade, in spite of the drastic budget cuts of the past couple of years. To even further cut their budget, as Governor Deal recommends, would be a death sentence for this important part of our state government. The guidance from the HPD office is the catalyst that keeps many construction projects flowing. If their funding levels are reduced, then the permitting process for upcoming development projects will be slowed considerably. Or, projects will proceed on their own terms and face the potential violation of state and federal permitting regulations. Historic Preservation need not be a negative force in Georgia government but this is the potential if historic preservationists are shut out of the discussion. Many organizations, such as the LAMAR Institute, the Coosawattee Foundation and the Archaeological Conservancy, operate in Georgia outsite of direct government funding, but these organizations are too meager to handle the needs of the entire state. A modest budget for HPD will go a long way in maintaining responsible stewardship of our past. I hope we can count on you to be a voice in favor of recognizing and honoring Georgia’s architectual, archaeological and historical past.”
AND below is a repost from Tom Crawford’s blog that displays the sad state of affairs in Georgia:
The makeover of the DNR board is completed
By Tom Crawford | Published: January 27, 2012
The state Board of Natural Resources completed a historic changeover this week as it said goodbye to an environmental advocate and installed in one of its top positions a lobbyist whose firm’s clients include a utility that is one of Georgia’s largest sources of air pollution.
Board members voted formally on Tuesday to elect Philip Watt, a non-practicing physician from Thomasville, as their new chairman. They also elected Rob Leebern, a lobbyist with Troutman Sanders Strategies, as the new vice chairman.
Watt replaces Earl Barrs, the board chairman in 2011 who was removed from the panel when Gov. Nathan Deal decided not to reappoint him. Warren Budd, last year’s vice chairman who normally would have rotated to the chairmanship, was also ousted from the panel when Deal refused to reappoint him to another term as well.
Budd was booted from the board after he spoke out against two initiatives that are important to Deal.
Budd expressed skepticism about Deal’s proposals to build more reservoirs in North Georgia and he also criticized the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for imposing a miniscule fine of only $1 million on a textile company that discharged chemicals into the Ogeechee River, causing the largest fish kill in Georgia’s history (the company could have been subject to fines of more than $90 million).
“I was told to hush up on both of them,” Budd said. “I was warned and I didn’t do it, and that is why I’m off.”
When reporters contacted the governor’s office about Budd’s removal from the board, Deal’s spokesman issued this reply: “If anyone on any board considers himself indispensable, this is what educators call a ‘teachable moment.’ It takes an eyebrow-raising amount of self-regard for someone to suggest publicly that, out of 10 million Georgians, only he or she brings a diverse viewpoint to a board.”
He added that the governor wanted to appoint board members “who are excited team players ready to carry out his agenda for our state.”
The removal of Budd from the Board of Natural Resources is a watershed moment, if you’ll pardon the expression, for the board that oversees and sets policy for both the Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Division.
Budd was one of the few remaining board members who could realistically be considered a conservationist dedicated to protecting the state’s environment and natural resources.
Deal has made it clear that environmental protection is not the primary mission of either DNR or EPD anymore. Both agencies are now expected to advance the cause of economic development and job creation, even though state government already has a Department of Economic Development headed by Commissioner Chris Cummiskey.
The change in mission is vividly illustrated by the installation of Rob Leebern as the new vice chairman in place of Budd.
Budd is considered to be an environmentally sensitive conservationist. Ogeechee Riverkeeper Diana Wedincamp described him as a “friend of the rivers.”
Leebern is a skilled political operative who’s been working inside the Washington beltway for years, first as chief of staff for Sen. Saxby Chambliss and a top fundraiser for George W. Bush, and more recently with the Washington office of Troutman Sanders.
One of Troutman Sanders’ biggest clients over the years has been Georgia Power, which operates two coal-fired power generation facilities in Georgia, Plant Scherer and Plant Bowen, that are ranked by the EPA as America’s largest sources of greenhouse gases.
Whenever Georgia Power goes to the Public Service Commission to secure a rate increase or fight off demands for a risk-sharing mechanism to minimize cost overruns on their nuclear plants, Troutman Sanders partner Kevin Greene is the man who argues their case.
“It is outrageous to make a lobbyist for the biggest polluter in Georgia and the biggest user of water an officer of the DNR board,” said Mark Woodall of the Sierra Club of Georgia. “I’ve been going to these meetings for 25 years and this is by far the worst board, in terms of balancing the public and private interests of the state of Georgia, that I’ve ever seen.”
The changeover on the DNR board has been happening gradually since Sonny Perdue took office as governor in 2003.
When Perdue was first sworn in as the state’s chief executive, there were three prominent environmental advocates on the DNR board: former lieutenant governor Pierre Howard, Columbus attorney Jim Butler and Sally Bethea, director of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. All three of those people were removed from the board during the course of Perdue’s administration.
Howard was the first to go. In 2003, the Republicans who assumed control of the Georgia Senate refused to confirm nearly 180 people who had been appointed to state boards and commissions by former governor Roy Barnes, a Democrat, during his last year in office (2002). Howard was among that mass of people removed from state boards.
Perdue tried to replace Butler on the DNR board in 2003 before Butler’s term had expired. Butler promptly sued the governor in Fulton County Superior Court, where a judge ordered Butler’s reinstatement to the board. When Butler’s term expired two years later, Perdue then was legally allowed to appoint a replacement.
Perdue did reappoint Bethea to the DNR board, but she was removed from the panel in the same manner as Howard when the Republican majority in the Georgia Senate declined to confirm her reappointment.
Perdue also appointed Budd, a Newnan insurance agent, to the DNR board in 2005.
“He knew where I stood,” Budd said of Perdue. “He allowed a diversity of people on there. He appointed people that were pro-conservation. Gov. Barnes did that, too.”
Budd is a lifelong Republican who invokes Teddy Roosevelt as the kind of Republican who believed in conservation. He says his interest in environmental issues was sparked as a young man when his father, Methodist minister Candler Budd, gave him copies of the Rachel Carson books Silent Spring and The Sea Around Us.
“That’s true conservatism,” Budd said. “Conservatism is conserving what’s good.”
There was another indication this week of just how deeply involved lobbyists are going to be in setting environmental policy for the state over the next few years.
One of the most talked-about social events of the week among capitol observers was a dinner sponsored by several lobbyists Wednesday night for members of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee.
The dinner took place at the Parish restaurant in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood and the event was staked out by several environmental activists, as well as by an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter and a photographer. At one point, we’re told, an environmentalist attempted to give Rep. Lynn Smith (R-Newnan), the committee chair, a list of Georgia’s “Dirty Dozen” polluted waterways.
According to an email invitation sent to committee members, the event’s sponsors included Georgia Power, the Georgia Association of Manufacturers, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Joe Tanner and Associates, the Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Chemistry Council, the Georgia Agribusiness Council, the Georgia Forestry Association, the Georgia Poultry Federation, AGL Resources, the Georgia Mining Association, and the Georgia Paper and Forest Producers Association.
On the same day that the elegant dinner was held for the legislators, the new vice chairman of the DNR board, Leebern, proposed that Georgia’s top environmental regulator be given a $20,000 bump in his annual salary.
Leebern made a motion for the DNR board to increase the salary of EPD Director Jud Turner — a former lobbyist — to $175,000 a year. His motion passed by a unanimous vote of the board.
© 2012 by The Georgia Report
Fort Hawkins’ outer wall is goal of archaeology dig – Local & State – Macon.com.
Today’s news in Macon, Georgia. $0.75
Breakfast at the H&H $12.90 for two
Resumed excavation on South Outer Palisade #1 at Fort Hawkins $XXX
Found a small uniform button of the Regiment of Rifles $Not for sale Francis
Soldiers in the Regiment of Rifles dug the outer palisade in 1809 $???
Sudden violent thunderstorm hit the site at 3:45PM $Costly
Drove the the Macon Flea Market and bought some stuff imported from China $7
Back in our motel room $PRICELESS
The LAMAR Institute, the Society for Georgia Archaeology, the Fort Hawkins Commission, the Friends of Fort Hawkins and volunteers will team up and return to excavate at Fort Hawkins in Macon, Georgia this October. Here is a link to a short article about it by Josephine Bennett on Georgia Public Radio (GPB):
http://www.gpb.org/news/2011/09/06/archeologists-returning-to-fort-hawkins
The upcoming project will target the fort walls on the western side, and a portion of the southern wall. A team of volunteers is shaping up and the project will end with ghost tales of Fort Hawkins on Halloween. It does begin on a sad note, however, with the death of Bob Cramer this past weekend. Dr. Robert Cramer had served as chairman of the Fort Hawkins Commission for several decades. He was the one who first lured me to the fort in the early 1990s. He was a friendly man who truly loved Georgia archaeology and history.
Special thanks to Marty Willett, the Peyton Anderson Foundation, the Fort Hawkins Commission, the City of Macon, New Town Macon, the Friends of Fort Hawkins and other tireless backers for making this project happen. See also, http://forthawkins.com
The results of the present project should wind up the first excavation phase under the Fort Hawkins Commission’s Master Plan. We expect our report on the work to be available to the public in 2012, in time for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. I am wrapping up a study of the New Orleans battlefield (December 1814-January 1815) for the National Park Service and the St. Bernard Parish Government in Louisiana, so my mind is in the correct decade for a fitting return to Fort Hawkins.
Here is a link to listen to a podcast of the radio broadcast:
Good article in the Savannah Morning News by Chuck Mobley on Pin Point Museum at:
Heritage museum to bridge Pin Point’s past and future | savannahnow.com.
Article regarding Fort Hawkins by Jim Gaines from Macon Telegraph newspaper, June 23, 2011:
Legal question complicates Fort Hawkins funding – Local & State – Macon.com.
Follow up article:
Fort Hawkins Commission backs Willett’s reappointment – Breaking News – Macon.com.
Lisa O’Steen searches for early Georgia fort in Oconee County.
Grant will fund dig at Oconee site || OnlineAthens.com
By Erin France, May 10, 2011
Grant will fund dig at Oconee site || OnlineAthens.com.
An archaeologist will use grant funding this year to pay for investigating what may be the remains of a fort along the Oconee River east of Watkinsville.
The Watson Brown Foundation Athens’ Junior Board of Trustees recently awarded Athens Land Trust a $6,250 grant for an archaeological study of a site near the Oconee River and Barnett Shoals Road that some experts believe once housed a fort on the border between United States territory and Native American lands.
Archaeologist Lisa O’Steen likely will launch the study this summer, though much of the work could wait until fall and winter after the area’s heavy vegetation dies off, said Nancy Stangle, the Athens Land Trust’s executive director.
“We’re glad it’s happening now,” Stangle said.
O’Steen will explore the site and likely will find artifacts from both early Georgian settlers and Native Americans, she said.
Stangle’s also curious about the fort’s name, she said.
The ruins could be Fort Matthews or Fort Henry – there’s not enough evidence to prove either name at this time, she said.
“We have the additional mystery that we are trying to solve with which fort it was,” Stangle said.
The property owner, Celestea Sharp, also is curious about the name and history behind the fort, and already has agreed to help preserve found artifacts as well as the site, she said.
Sharp directed and distributed “Carving Up Oconee,” a documentary about grassroots activism in development issues. She’s also written a book about the history of Oconee County’s town of Bishop.
“Having her historical expertise … it’s just an excellent asset to the project,” Stangle said.
Junior board of trustees member Glenn Reece toured the site and was impressed with Athens Land Trust’s enthusiasm for the project, he said.
“It shows that they’re really interested and they really care about what they’re trying to get money for,” Reece said.
Reece is a junior at Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School, and this is his second year on the junior board of trustees, he said.
Board members sometimes disagree about which projects they should fund, but most members agreed about funding the archaeological study, he said.
“It’s hard to divvy up who gets what because we’re on a limited budget,” Reece said.
This is the second time the Athens Land Trust received the grant, said Shannon Hayes, the junior board of trustees’ adviser.
“The original grant would have gone through with no problems, but the property owner (at the time) decided to put the property up for sale,” said Hayes, who also works as the program coordinator at the T.R.R. Cobb House in Athens.
Members awarded the grant in 2008, then took the money back when the archaeological study wasn’t completed, she said. Sharp bought the land after that and OK’d the study.
On October 9, 1779 American and British armies clashed on the west side of Savannah, Georgia. The armies and their allies, including Haitian, Irish, Scottish, German, African-American, Polish, and Danish officers and private soldiers, engaged in a deadly conflict that proved to be one of the costliest for the Americans in the American Revolution. The war in the South was pretty much a civil war, as neighbors split between Patriots and Loyalists. Savannah contains the forensic evidence of this battle, as unearthed by archaeologists. Come hear this story on February 1, 2011 in Savannah. The LAMAR Institute is proud to be one of the sponsors of this important work.
Archaeology Press Release January 14 2011by Savannah Under Fire on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 5:35pm
What ever happened to all that Revolutionary War archaeology being done in Savannah? What did archaeologists discover? How can people who live, work, and play in Savannah and Chatham County become involved with archaeological sites? Can preserving sites help the area’s economy and quality of life? Come to an archaeology presentation and public meeting Feb. 1, 2011 to find out and to offer suggestions. Coastal Heritage Society will reveal Revolutionary War discoveries in Savannah stemming from the two “Savannah Under Fire” projects conducted from 2007-2011. The projects uncovered startling discoveries, including trenches, fortifications, and battle debris. The research also showed that residents and tourists are interested in these sites. Archaeologists will describe the findings and explore ways to generate economic income and increase the quality of life of area residents. Following the presentation the public will be invited to offer comments and suggestions about such resources. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to provide input. The meeting is sponsored by the Coastal Heritage Society, through a grant from the National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program. It is free and open to the public. Time: 6-7 p.m. Location: Savannah History Museum auditorium, 303 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Savannah, Georgia (same building as the Visitors’ Center on MLK). Date: Feb. 1, 2011. Thanks!!
On Saturday, February 5, a team of archaeologists, historians, veteran land surveyors and interested laypersons will venture into the forests of Taylor County, Georgia in search of Fort Lawrence on the untamed Flint River. This United States Army fort was an important post in the War of 1812 period. Its archaeological remains have yet to be located. We are excited at the prospects of locating this important place so that it can be studied and properly interpreted to the public. This is a pro bono project by the team members. Any support (or additional information about the site) is appreciated!
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DONATE TO LAMAR INSTITUTE–Support Our Research for 2013!
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New Old Fort Jackson Artifacts Discovered | WSAV TV.
Click link above for TV news story on Rita Elliott’s excavations at Fort Jackson, Savannah, Georgia. She found some cool stuff, artillery related, not shown in the news story.
Several recent archaeological reports have been uploaded for free public distribution on the LAMAR Institute’s website. These include:
The Search for Redoubt Number 6 at New Ebenezer
Click to access publication_138.pdf
Smith House Site, Valdosta, Georgia, GPR Survey
Click to access publication_146.pdf
Archaeological Reconnaissance of Civil War Resources on Rose Dhu Island, Chatham County, Georgia
Click to access publication_154.pdf
GPR Survey at Behavior Cemetery, Sapelo Island, Georgia
Click to access publication_155.pdf
Archaeological Reconnaissance of Pennyworth Island, Chatham County, Georgia
Click to access publication_163.pdf
Fort Perry Reconniassance, Marion County, Georgia.
164. Fort Perry Reconnassaince, Marion County, Georgia. By Daniel T. Elliott, Mike Bunn, Don Gordy, and Terry Jackson, 2010 (0.7 MB).
GPR Survey at Gascoigne Bluff, St. Simons Island, Georgia.
165. GPR Survey at Gascoigne Bluff, St. Simons Island, Georgia. By Daniel T. Elliott, 2010 (1.7 MB).
GPR Mapping fo the Adler Plot, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.
166. GPR Mapping of the Adler Plot, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia. By Daniel T. Elliott, 2010 (3 MB).
GPR Mapping of Lot K-207, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.
GPR Survey at the Copeland Site (9GE18).
168. GPR Survey at the Copeland Site (9GE18). By Daniel T. Elliott, 2010 (2 MB).
TO NAME A FEW, FOR MORE VISIT:
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1794 Sheriff’s Sale of Ossabaw
In 1794 Chatham County Sheriff advertised the public sale of Ossabaw Island.
GeorgiaGazette01091794p2_Ossabaw
1799 Middle Place Plantation on Ossabaw for Sale
Advertisement for Sale of Middle Place at Ossabaw
ColumbianMuseum04161799p4_Middleplace
1810 Ossabaw Wreck
The Charleston Courier for November 14, 1810 (page ) reported on the wreck of the sloop Defiance off of Ossabaw Island
CharlestonCourier11141810p3_Ossabawwreck
1819 Middle Place Plantation on Ossabaw for Sale Again
Advertisement for Sale of Middle Place at Ossabaw
AugustaChronicle03131819p4_middleplace
1820 Shipping News and Ossabaw
Shipping news in theJune 9, 1820 edition of the American newspaper (page 3) noted the arrival of two ships from Ossabaw. These were the brig Patriot, commanded by Tucker, and the sloop Driver, commanded by Ramsey. Both the vessels completed the voyage in 15 days. The news of the arrival of the Patriot noted that the ship was loaded with live oak timber, destined for Ogden Day and Company, and seven passengers. One of the passengers, David M. Leavitt of Northhampton, New Hampshire, died on the voyage.
1821 Shipping News and Ossabaw
The New York Daily Advertiser for May 16, 1821 (page 1) noted that the schooner Two Sisters, commanded by Captain Haskell, arrived after a 13 day voyage from Ossabaw, “with ship timber, to J&C Bolten”. That same news article noted the departure of the schooner Penobscot Packet, Snow, of Orington, for New-York, in 6 days”
The May 26, 1821 edition of the New York Daily Advertiser (page 1) noted in its Shipping News that the schooner Penobscot Packet , commanded by Captain Snow, had cleared the Port of New York. No details of the cargo were provided. Shipping news for Portland, Maine, dated July 3, 1821, noted the arrival of the Penobscot Packet, under Captain Snow, with a shipment of ship timber from Ossabaw, Georgia after an 11 day voyage. (Gazette, July 3, 1821, page 4).
The schooner Mars, commanded by Captain Hill, made port at New York from Ossabaw, Georgia. No other details were noted in the shipping news (Boston Commerical Gazette, March 19, 1821, page 2).
1822 Shipping News and Ossabaw
The Connecticut Mirror on March 25, 1822 (page 3) noted that the schooner Driver was loading at Ossabaw, Georgia for New York.
1824 Hurricane and Ossabaw
Daily National Intelligencer reported on October 2, 1824 (page 2) about the 1824 hurricane that impacted coastal Georgia, including Ossabaw Island, Beaulieu, and Burnside Island:
DailyNationalIntelligencer10021824p2_hurricane
1829 Abandoned Sloop on South End, Ossabaw
The Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser reported on November 4, 1829 (page 2) of the abandonment of a small sloop Eliza Ann that as towed to Dr. Cuyler’s plantation on the south end of Ossabaw Island. The captain of the vessel was deranged. The vessel was gotten off safely.
1838 Shipping News and Ossabaw
The March 23, 1838 Commerical Advertiser (page 2) contained in its shipping news for vessels arriving in Boston, Massachusetts on March 21, one vessel from Ossabaw, which was the Orbit, commanded by Captain Robinson. No other details about the ship or its cargo were given.
1843 Preacher John Jones at Ossabaw
Augusta Chronicle for January 30, 1843 (page 2) contained a list entitled, “Stations of the Preachers in the Georgia Annual Conference, 1843”, which listed, “Ossabaw–John Jones” in the Augusta District.
AugustaChronicle01301843p2_JonesOssabaw
1846 Bryan Morrell’s Barn Burns on Ossabaw
From page 2 of the January 23, 1846 edition of the Times-Picayune, which I had found earlier, tells of the burning of Bryan Morel’s barn on Ossabaw Island, which consumed his entire crop of sea island cotton on December 14, 1845. The article states: “The barn of Bryan M. Morel, Esq., of Ossabaw Island, Ga., was consumed by fire on the 14th inst. and his sea-island cotton consumed. Loss about $2500”. The link to this one is below.
TimesPicayune01231846p2_BryanMorelbarnburns
Another version of this news story noted that, “The barn is supposed to have been set on fire” (Spectator, January 24, 1846, p.4).
1846 Nautical Description of Ossabaw Bar
TimesPicayune07231846p2_Ossabaw
1854 Hurricane on Ossabaw
I recently located an article on page 2 of the October 2, 1854 issue of The Daily Intelligencer, which details the devastation in the coastal Georgia caused by the 1854 hurricane. Of particularly note is the mention of destruction on Ossabaw Island and at the plantation of Jonathan Morel. An excerpt follows: “On …Ossabaw Island, Messrs. T.N. Morel, Jno. Morel, N.G. Rutherford, and Bryan Morel, are all sufferers—nearly or quite all, the entire crop being gone, together with a number of barns, negro houses, &c…Mr.Jno. H. Morel’s plantation in Bryan county, is a complete wreck….”. To read the complete article click on the link below.
DailyNationalIntelligencer10021854p2_Hurricane
1858 Wreck on Ossabaw
New York Herald on March 25, 1858 (page 8) reported that the
Bark Actress, commanded by Catain Hopkins from Glasgow, was bound for Savannah when she went ashore on March 24 on Ossabaw Shoals.
1860 Shipping News and Ossabaw
The Boston Daily Advertiser on December 27, 1860 (page 1) noted of the arrival at Ossabaw Island, Georgia on December 21, 1860 of the schooner Roswell King. The schooner was commanded by Captain Swift and was bound for New Bedford, Massachusetts.
1863 Fort Seymour on Ossabaw
The Milwaukee Sentinel on June 25, 1863 (page 1) reported on a Confederate raid intended against Fort Seymour on Ossabaw Island.
MilwaukeeSentinel06251863p1_FtSeymour
1863 Sailing Directions include Ossabaw Improvements
Below are “Sailing Directions” for portions of the Ogeechee River delta from the 19th edition of The American Coast Pilot (Blunt 1863:370). Note the references to the Indian Mound and the plantation houses:
THE NORTH CHANNEL TO VERNON RIVER.—When in from three and a half to four fathoms water, bring the S. end of Great Wassaw Island to bear N. W. 4 N., and the N. E. point of Ossabaw Island W. N., the course over the bar is W. N. W. 4 N. direct for the N. end of Raccoon Key, for two and three fourths miles, taking over eight feet water, until the S. point of Raccoon Key is on with the point of Ossabaw Island to the Northward of Indian Mound, and the mouth of Odingsell River opens out, in nine feet water, hard sand; thence the course is N. W. N. direct for the S. point of Little Wassaw Island, a mile and a fourth, until in a line between the N. E. point of Ossabaw Island and the S. point of Great Wassaw Island, and the S. point of Raccoon Key is on with the group of plantation houses, about one mile E. S. E. of Indian Mound on Ossabaw Island. The course is then in mid-channel, which here shows very plainly, as the shoals and banks arc steep to, and a rip forms on their edges.
THE SOUTH CHANNEL TO OGECHEE RIVER—When in from five to six fathoms water, bring the N. E. point of Ossabaw Island to bear N. W. t N., steer in on this coarse for one mile and a half, when, being in seventeen feet water, and the S. end of Great Wassaw Island bearing N. W., the course is N., about one fourth of a mile along from the W. edge of the outer bank, which is steep to, and easily seen, as it nearly always shows with a rip or breakers on the shoalest spots. Stand on this course for two and a half miles, until the N. E. point of Ossabaw Island is just on with the plantation houses about three miles up the river and one mile E. S. E. of Indian Mound on Ossabaw Island. The course is then N. W. i N. direct for the N. end of Raccoon Key, one mile and a fourth, until the N. E. point of Ossabaw Island is on with the S. E. end of Horse Hummock on Ossabaw Island, with from five and a half to seven fathoms water, when the course is W. t N. on this range, for one mile, taking over the bar thirteen feet water; thence the course is direct for the plantation houses on Ossabaw Island to anchorage.
Little Danny’s Camp Lawton Discoveries!
http://www.civilwarnews.com/archive/articles/2010/oct/lawton-101001.html
My pretty picture made it into the print version of this article, but so so sadly, not in the online edition. I need to check my cell phone more often. Oh, and the site was actually discovered by Daniel Battle, who is missed entirely by the press. But that’s O.K. because I specifically told him not to go over there. Good think he doesn’t listen!
Read about Jonathan McGlashan and his great big relic collection from Georgia, which is housed at the Smithsonian Institution.
Click on the link for the archaeological testing report for the Fort Howard Paper Mill project in Effingham County, Georgia by Garrow & Associates.AR_0720
National Park Service News Release
Press Release_MonteithSwamp07072010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JULY 7, 2010
David Barna: (202) 208-6843
Kristen McMasters: (202) 354-2037
Monteith Swamp Battlefield Receives $40,000 Grant
National Park Service supports preservation efforts
WASHINGTON – The LAMAR Institute, Inc. has received a grant of $40,000 from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) to complete the first archeological survey and investigation of the Battle of Monteith Swamp site in Georgia.
“We are proud to support projects like this that safeguard and preserve American battlefields,” said Jon Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service. “These places are symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage that we must protect so that this and future generations can understand the struggles that define us as a nation.”
This grant is one of 25 National Park Service grants totaling $1,246,273 to preserve and protect significant battle sites from all wars fought on American soil. Funded projects preserve battlefields from the Colonial-Indian Wars through World War II and include site mapping (GPS/GIS data collection), archeological studies, National Register of Historic Places nominations, preservation and management plans.
Federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions are eligible for National Park Service battlefield grants which are awarded annually. Since 1996 more than $12 million has been awarded by ABPP to help preserve significant historic battlefields associated with wars on American soil. Additional information is online at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp. To find out more about how the National Park Service helps communities with historic preservation and recreation projects please visit http://www.nps.gov/communities.
-NPS-
Editors Note: For additional information about this project, please contact Daniel Elliott, LAMAR Institute, Inc., at (706)341-7796 or dantelliott@windstream.net.
Please download and enjoy our presentation, “Dawn of American Industry: Ebenezer Silk” by Daniel Elliott, President, The LAMAR Institute and Rita Elliott, Curator of Exhibits and Archaeology, Coastal Heritage Society. This keynote address was presented before the Georgia Salzburger Society at their Landing Day celebration that was held at the Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 2966 Ebenezer Road, Rincon, Georgia, USA on March 13, 2010. Here is the link: DawnofAmericanIndustry_EbenezerSilk
Archaeological field research documenting the various Civil War engagements near Lovejoy, Georgia will resume in December, 2009. The research is spearheaded by the Georgia Department of Transportation and Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., Athens, Georgia. This effort will focus on a proposed highway corridor for improving traffic on Jonesboro Road. Preliminary survey work revealed that this path crosses many Civil War battlefield resources.Battles took place along this strip of land in August, September and November, 1864. The upcoming research will serve to better document these resources and to recover data from the highway corridor. This should prove to be an enlightening retelling of the final days in the struggle for control of Atlanta, and the very beginnings of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea campaign.
Translations of Two Letters from Ebenezer to the SPCK, 1739
A Translation of a Letter out of High Dutch, from the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer to their Benefactors in Europe.
WE, whose Names are underwritten, the Saltzburgers and all the Members of the Communion of Ebenezer in Georgia in America, present our mos t humble and most dutiful Respects, and good Wishes to all our kind Benefactors and Benefactresses in England and Germany, of all Ranks and Conditions whatsoever. To the Praise of Almighty God we often call to remembrance all the spiritual and temporal Kind- nesses and Favours which we have received from many Thousands of true Protestant Christians, since our going out from Saltzburg our native Place, and sojourning in Protestant Countries ; and therefore we think it our bounden Duty, as long as we live, humbly to implore our gracious Lord, in the Name of Jesus Christ, through the Assistance of the Holy Ghost, who has inclined their Hearts to Charity and good Will towards us, that He would be pleased according to his great Mercy to reward all their Works of Love with abundant Blessings in the Life that now is, and in that which is to come. The wonderful and all-wise Providence having open’d a Way for us to go to Georgia, a new Colony, begun in good measure for the Refuge and Support of persecuted and distressed Protestants ; and we, after a previous due Consideration of the Will of God, having gone thither with a full Inclination and Chearfulness of Mind: The Love and Benevolence- of our ever honoured Benefactors towards us despised People has not been altered in the least, but we have had the comfortable Experience of it ‘ in many Instances, as well at our Departure from ‘ Europe as also ever since at Ebenezer ; the Place, where, by God’s Assistance and Blessing, we have taken up our Abode. Before we left Germany we were provided with necessary Protestant Books, and such as we still wanted have been sent after us in such plenty, that we cannot sufficiently praise the ‘ Lord for those Blessings. Upon our Arrival in ‘ this Country, wherein we were quite Strangers, we found the want of Linnen and other Necessaries for the cloathing of our Bodies ; but God Almighty has beyond our Expectation so graciously order’d it, that from Year to Year, by the kind Contributions of several Benefactors, a good Stock thereof has been sent to us, which has filled our Hearts with Praise and Thanksgiving : And tho’ an uncultivated Country, in a new Climate, together with a Way of Living quite different from what we were accustomed to before, could not but occasion various ‘ Diseases and Distempers, as did likewise the Want of Shoes and other Necessities among our Poor ; yet the merciful God has inclined the Hearts of our worthy Benefactors, to make Remittances from time c to time for these Purposes into the Hands of our Ministers, and more particularly we have been sufficiently provided with excellent Medicines, which have often had their desired Effect. Besides the liberal Charities in Money given to the Third Transport, as also to some of the Second, who came from Lindau to Ebenezer, and since that, to the seven new Colonists ; the All-sufficient God has likewise continually blessed us with such Supplies, that we 1 have been able both to erect and support an Orphan- ‘ House or Hospital among us ; which has been very ‘ much to the spiritual and temporal Advantage of’ the whole Congregation ; and will continue to be so, if, as we wish and pray, the Fountain of God’s Mercy mall still flow upon us. We cannot also but esteem it to be a very acceptable Benefit, and worthy of our most sincere Thanks, that so many good and pious Persons in Europe go on to promote our Welfare with their earnest Prayers, Intercessions, good Wishes, Counsels and Christian Exhortations-, but above all we acknowledge, with the deepest Sense of Gratitude, that the Lord, according to his loving Kindness, has largely provided us with his holy Word and Sacraments, together with all things necessary for this Life, particularly with a plentiful Harvest last Year; as also that He has disposed the Honourable the Trustees of Georgia, and the Society for Promoting Cbristian Knowledge, together with other Benefactors in England, to favour and assist us in a singular and extraordinary Manner; for which the Name of the Giver of every good and perfect Gift be for ever praised by us and all our Posterity. In order, therefore, to shew our most worthy Benefactors the real Sense we have of the charitable Gifts and Kindnesses we have receiv’d from them, we think ourselves bound both in Duty and Gratitude to write this Letter in order to be published, wishing from the bottom of our Hearts, that the God of eternal Truth, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, (who is pleased with Sacrifices of Mercy) may abundantly reward all their Charities bestowed upon us, and so bless this their Seed that they may reap a plentiful Harvest of eternal Joy and Happiness in the Life to come, for our Lord and Saviour will not forget his gracious Promise : Matt. xxv. 34. 36. Then shall the King say unto them on his right band, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World: for I was an hungry , and ye gave me Meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was ‘ a Stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye cloathed me, &c. but will fulfil it to the eternal Satisfaction and Comfort of all such as are not weary in well doing : As long as we live we shall not cease, by the ; Assistance of the Holy Spirit, humbly to implore, in our publick and private Prayers, our heavenly Father, that he would encompass them with his Favour as with a Shield ; and make good to them and their Children all his precious Promises, more; especially that in Psalm xli. I. 3. Blessed is be that considereth the Poor, the Lord will deliver him in the time of Trouble: the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and be shall be blessed upon the Earth ; and thou wilt not deliver him unto the Will of his Enemies, the Lord will strengthen him upon the Bed of Languishing; thou wilt make all his Bed in his Sickness. And as we do further humbly conceive, that it will not be unacceptable to such our Friends and Benefactors to be acquainted with our present Circumstances in this new Part of the World; we beg leave to inform them, to the Praise of the living God, who has done all Things well, that we at Ebenezer live in the happy and comfortable Enjoyment of a pure, and plentiful Instruction in the holy Gospel ; of many temporal Blessings ; of all Christian Liberty; of external Tranquility, and good Success in our Undertakings, and also in brotherly Love and Charity to one another: the Sense of which Mercies, even whilst it convinces us of our great Unworthiness, does at the same time make us wish, out of Love to our Brethren and Countrymen in Germany, that they also might be Partakers with us of these Blessings. Our new erected Town, Ebenezer, is situated so very conveniently on the River Savannah, as to be far enough removed from the noise of the World and worldly minded Men. The Land granted for our Plantations is very good, and has even this Year given us a full Proof of its Fertility, and what it is able, by the Blessing of God, to produce. Our Cattle increases; the keeping of Herdsmen to look after them is made easy to us, by their being for the most part maintained by Charity Money sent over from Europe to our Ministers. As to the blessed Effects of the Ministry of our loving Teachers, and what the most gracious God is pleased to do by them for our Souls, Eternity will make appear. The Eyes of many amongst us have been opened in this Wilderness, so that Ebenezer has been to several the Place of their spiritual Birth. Our Place of Divine Worship has been hitherto in a Hut, which in Winter and rainy Seasons is very inconvenient ; nor have we any Place for the Education of our Children ; but we trust God will also therein hear our Prayers, and by the charitable Contributions of well disposed Christians, enable us to build a Church and ‘ School-House. We have already signified these our Wants to some of our Friends in Europe; and may God Almighty so stir up the Hearts of some who « abound in the Blessings of this Life, that they may c give out of their Abundance, what will be sufficient towards railing so necessary and useful Edifices. We conclude this our Letter with commending you, our ever renowned Benefactors, to the everlasting Love of God the Father, to the tender Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the comfortable Fellowship of the Holy Ghost, now and for evermore; and at the same time assuring you of our constant and earnest Prayers for your true Happiness and Welfare, we remain, with the profoundest Respects,
Your most bumble, (and for so many spiritual and temporal Benefits, in Love and Gratitude) Most obliged Servants,
The Inhabitants of Ebenezer.
Ebenezer in Georgia, 26th Octob. 1739.
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A Translation of a Letter out of High Dutch from the Minister of the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer.
Dear and Honoured Benefactors and Friends in Christ our Lord,
We think it our Duty to accompany this Letter of our Congregation with a few Lines, as being, by your Will and Pleasure, intitled to a Share in the many Favours you have bestowed upon them; and, consequently, being obliged to unite with them in Praises and Thanksgivings to God for his Mercies, as well as in humble Intercessions for your Welfare and Happiness. We can assuredly testily of our Saltzburgers, that they have received all the Benefactions sent and distributed to them, with the greatest Humility and Thankfulness, express’d in the most obliging and respectful Terms -, and have made use of them agreeably to the Intent of the Givers, to the Glory of God, and the Relief of their own Necessities. As often as they join with us in Prayer (as we do not only every Day at Evening Prayer, but several times a Week besides, either in our own Houses of theirs when we go to visit them) the Benefactions received are always mentioned with Praise to God, and Wishes for his Blessing on all their Benefactors. They beg of God Almighty to give them Grace to apply all such Benefactions to the End? they are sent for, and that they may be led by this his Goodness towards them to Repentance and Holiness of Life. Altho it is too common for many to spend what is bestowed on them even in Charity in an irregular and sinful Manner, yet we cannot say. this of any one of our Saltzburgers; nay we should ourselves even on any Suspicion of this kind-, have rather kept back the Benefactions designed for such Persons till their Amendment should appear, than to allow a wrong Use of them; in doing which we hope that we act nothing contrary to the Will and Intention of our Benefactors. We can therefore assure all our Patrons and Friends upon our best Knowledge and Conscience, and we hope to their great Satisfaction, that they have not sown the Seed of their Charities upon a barren, but in a fertile Ground at Ebenezer, where it will blossom and bring forth Fruits unto everlasting Life: And since according to the Testimony of the Holy Spirit, this is the Portion of the Righteous, that it mall be well with them, and that they mall eat the Fruit of their Doings; we never mall cease to make our hearty Supplications before our most faithful and merciful Father in Heaven, that He may fulfil on them this and all his other precious Promises; that in return for what they h.ive given so liberally to the poor Saltzburgers, or rather lent unto the Lord, they may receive a thousand fold, through the Merit and Mediation of Jesus Christ. Part of the Charities in Money and other Gifts has been, according to the Pleasure of the Benefactors, a great help to both of us Ministers, in the first settling our Families; for which we humbly ‘ praise the Lord, and return them our most grateful Acknowledgments. The Lord grant unto them, that they may find Mercy of the Lord in ‘ that Day ; and as they have refreshed us so often, they may together with their worthy Families be refreshed in the Presence of the Lord for ever, yea that Goodness and Mercy may follow them all ‘ the Days of their Life.
These, dearest Benefactors, are the hearty Wishes and daily Prayers of Your very obliged humble Servants,
John Martin Boltzius, Minister of the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer. ISRAEL CHRISTIAN GRONAU, Catechist and Assistant to the Congregation of Saltzburgers at Ebenezer.
Ebenezer in Georgia, 26th Octob. 1739.
Source: Thomas, John 1740 No. IV. A Translation of a Letter out of High Dutch, from the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer to their Benefactors in Europe. [and] No. V. A Translation of a Letter out of High Dutch] from the Minister of the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer. A Sermon Preach’d in the Parish-Church of Christ-Church, London; On Thursday May the 8th, 1740…To Which is Annexed, An Account of the Origin and Designs of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Pp 51-57. M. Downing, London, England.
Guten Tag Bubba: Germans in the Colonial South
Daniel T. Elliott and Rita Folse Elliott
SHA 2000, Quebec
Abstract
“As American as hot dogs and apple pie”…could have easily have become “as American as bratwurst and strudel”. During the colonial period numerous German settlements populated the Carolinas and more than one-third of Georgia consisted of German immigrants. Where were these settlements and how did they affect the American south? This paper presents an overview of these settlements while examining some of the more germane results of archaeological excavations among them. It highlights the site of New Ebenezer, in colonial Georgia, to provide a more specific view of German life in one such settlement. How did the British government, other colonists, and German settlers define colonial German culture in southern America? When and how did the parameters of German culture change? Is “Germaness” reflected in the material culture recovered archaeologically and can the process of German acculturation or non-acculturation be isolated in the archaeological record?
Guten Tag Bubba: Germans in the Colonial South
Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology
January 2000, Quebec
Daniel T. Elliott and Rita Folse Elliott
Southern Research Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc.
Columbus, Georgia
Written Draft Version
King George I was a German, as was George II and George III. The ethnicity of England’s 18th century monarchs is often overlooked, yet it undoubtedly played a role in stocking the American colonies. Historians estimate that at least 65,000, and perhaps as many as 100,000 Germans immigrated to colonial America (Moltman 1982:9). The most well-known example of such German settlement is the Pennsylvania Dutch, although German Lutheranism was firmly established in Georgia eight years prior to Pennsylvania’s Lutheran beginnings (Bernheim 1872:ix). The Southeastern colonies, especially Georgia and the Carolinas could boast as much as one-half of their populations as German. Political boundaries in Europe in the 18th century were dynamic and contained no specific country called “Germany”; so who were these Germans? The British government defined ethnicity according to language spoken. Immigrants from Alsac, Austria, Bohemia, Herrnhut, Hungary, Moravia, the Palatinate region (that is the area of Heidelberg by the Rhine River), Salzburg, Saxony, Swabia, Switzerland, Wurttemberg, and Wurzburg, were lumped into the category “German” because they spoke the German language. This commonality was cosmetic on one level, however, as the language was divided into High and Low German, and contained Bavarian, Silesian, Rhenish-Franconian, and many other dialects. When the German Lutheran minister Johann Boltzius met his new German congregation prior to their trans-Atlantic voyage to Georgia, he could not understand their dialect, nor they his, even though all were “German”. So where did these British-defined German immigrants to the colonial Southeast settle and how did they: define themselves; interact with each other; acculturate; and thrive or perish? How did they affect southern culture and what markers of ethnicity did they leave in the archaeological record?
Colonial German settlement in America began in earnest in 1709 and ended in 1783, and included areas of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and what is now North and South Carolina. This paper will focus on the Germans who settled pre-Revolutionary War Georgia and the Carolinas. Towns settled by German immigrants were established for one or more of the following reasons: as a haven from religious persecution; as a place of economic opportunity to provide trades, land, farms, and freedom from enormous European tax burdens; as a place of civil freedoms; as a buffer from Spanish and Native American aggression towards already established settlements; and as a place to produce raw materials for the British empire. From a German perspective, the freedoms were highlighted in a recruiting statement made by Johannes Tobler who told Germans contemplating emigration to America, “People are free and everyone, so to speak, a little king, a fact which cannot be changed…” (Tobler 1740).
The areas of settlement in much of Georgia and the Carolinas offered to German colonists were often inferior to areas provided for English settlement. This is obvious in Georgia trustee’s policy of reserving settlement along the prime lands of the Savannah River for the English, rather than Germans. Also, the English were first into much of the central South Carolina region and were able to choose the choicest properties. Later influx of Germans, however, resulted in decreased English settlement. This decrease was not due to any ethnic hostilities, but rather to the fact that later areas of settlement lacked the natural resources that the English deemed necessary for habitation. The Germans could not be so particular.
From the establishment of New Bern, North Carolina in 1709 to the beginnings of the later Moravian towns in the 1770s, nearly two dozen predominantly German settlements were located in colonial Georgia and the Carolinas. Some settlements encountered a swift demise, or were not populated by a German majority. The earliest documented settlement was in 1674, when a small group of Deutsch Lutherans established the settlement of Jamestown on James Island, South Carolina. It was unsuccessful and was abandoned within a few years. Germans came into Charleston after 1708 and successfully settled that city, in addition to English, Irish, and other ethnic immigrants. Many other settlements consisted of greater percentages of German colonists and became successfully established in the Carolinas and Georgia.
A total of 1,500 Swiss and Palatinate Germans established the town of New Berne on the North Carolina coast in 1709. There, Swiss Baron Christopher de Graffenreid purchased 10,000 acres and established the settlement at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers. The Tuscarora War of 1711 resulted in Indian attacks and at least 60 German deaths in New Berne (Bernheim 1872:72). The New Berne settlement survived the war by remaining neutral and in 1714 its residents successfully petitioned for more land. Although New Berne represents the single largest influx of German settlement, the settlers quickly dispersed and most German aspects of the town, other than its name, are gone. One faction of this settlement splintered and established a town in interior Virginia.
In 1732 the town of Purysburg was established in South Carolina, across the Savannah River from where New Ebenezer would be located four years later. This large, planned town contained 450 lots, of which only 200 at most were ever occupied. Germans constituted one quarter of the 500 Purysburgers, with Swiss and French making up the remainder (Meriwether 1940:35). The urban architect of Purysburg, Jean Pierre Pury, died within a few years of the town’s founding. Purysburg suffered for lack of leadership, although the town persisted as an urban center into the early 19th century.
In 1734 a group of persecuted Lutheran pietists who were expelled from Salzburg by the Catholic princes journeyed to the colony of Georgia where they settled the town of Ebenezer, on a tributary of the Savannah River. After two grueling years at an ill-suited location that did not allow access to river transportation, and the deaths of one-third of the original Salzburger settlers from dysentery, typhus, and other illnesses, the colonial trustees allowed the survivors to relocate to a bluff on the Savannah River a few miles away. It took the Salzburgers two years to convince the Georgia Trustees and James Oglethorpe to disregard their stated ethnic policies reserving the Savannah River for English settlers (Jones 1969:6). New Ebenezer was peopled with several more transports of Germans consisting predominantly of non-Salzburgers. By the 1760s Ebenezer was a thriving township of 800-1,000 Germans and townspeople helped establish the satellite communities of Abercorn, Bethany, Halifax, Goshen, New Gottingen, and Zion. Religious and political infighting and alternating occupations of British and American forces during the Revolutionary War permanently crippled the town of New Ebenezer.
In 1735 the Lutheran settlement of Orangeburg was established on a tributary of the Edisto River, adjacent to the town of Amelia in South Carolina. This tributary lacked navigability due to its narrowness and many obstacles. Thus, Orangeburg settlers suffered the same riverine transportation problems as did colonists at Ebenezer. In spite of this major hurdle, by 1753 Orangeburg was reportedly as densely occupied as Saxe-Gotha, and inhabited mostly by Germans (Tobler 1753). An estimated 800 settlers resided in the township by 1759 (Meriwether 1940:46). The present-day town of Orangeburg, which has shifted from the original site, exhibits no obvious signs of its German beginnings.
In 1735 the Moravians, led by August Spangenberg, established a foreign mission in coastal Georgia at the Irene settlement on Pipemaker’s Creek. Their goal was to proselytize to the Native Americans. The increasing threat of Spanish attack in the Savannah area and Savannah’s citizens efforts to bolster the town’s defenses led to friction with the Moravians, who were avowed pacifists. After five years the dozen families living there grew tired of local attempts to force them into military defense of the colony, and they “…saw no other prospect…but to forsake their flourishing little settlement and emigrate for the North” [that is, Pennsylvania] (Henry 1859:103).
In 1737 New Windsor was established in South Carolina, southeast of Augusta, Georgia, on the Savannah River. The township was settled predominantly by Swiss Germans, and it maintained a steady total population of around 300 people between 1738 and 1760 (Meriwether 1940:67). This population also included a number of Indian traders who influenced the local economy.
The township of Saxe-Gotha was established in 1737. An observer named Riemensperger reported back to Germans in Europe that “no township as yet is reported its equal for good land…[It] is only 125 miles from Charleston and on the Great Santee River, and people can go from here at will with heavily laden boats to trade by water when enough boatmen come here to settle and establish themselves…The trail here is cut through the forest wide enough so that people can travel by land in wagons back and forth to Charles Town” (Riemensperger 1740). Riemensperger’s recruiting was a success and between 1744-50 a large influx of settlers arrived, mostly from the Rhine area. Documents indicate that the Saxe-Gotha congregation consisted of about 280 people in 1750 (Bernheim 1872:142). In 1759-60 the Cherokee War affected townspeople and later the American Revolution destroyed the town’s church (Bernheim 1872:147.)
Between one-half to two-thirds of Germans immigrating to the colonies did so through indentured servitude. This practice was encouraged by tracts being circulated across Europe. Riemensperger, for example, returned to Europe from the Carolinas in 1740 with testimonials signed by German colonists. Riemensperger’s tract encouraged emigration by explaining indentured servitude in this fashion: “Also it is well known that in Germany and Switzerland there are poor, unemployed hardworking people who would delight themselves in this gift of land [that is, the 50 acre headright], but who cannot afford the expense of the passage across the sea. Arrangements are such that laborers and tradespeople of all sorts and kinds who scarcely know how to make a living in Germany or Switzerland can live in plenty here [in what is now South Carolina] and in a short time make themselves well-to-do” (Riemensperger 1740). Such marketing of the colonies by Riemensperger and others was successful. Recruits who survived the voyage and their five to seven years of indentured servitude were free to establish a household on their own.
One example of this is the Georgia coastal town of Vernonburg, settled by Swiss-German indentured servants who had worked off their five-year indenture. At Vernonburg such “redemptioners” were given land and some tools by British colonial trustees to facilitate their independence. Established in 1742, Vernonburg was also a planned settlement that later evolved into a primarily ethnic British village.
Fort Frederica was a major British outpost located on Georgia’s St. Simon’s Island. One lesser known section of the settlement was called the “German Village” and was home to a small contingent of about 70 Germans. These Germans built most of the houses in Frederica. By 1747, however, all but two families had left Fort Frederica after the fort’s military regiment was removed. Presumably, the German Village was abandoned at the same time.
By 1750 German colonists, including Lutherans and Reformed Germans, were emigrating from Pennsylvania in a steady trickle via the Shenandoah River valley, to settle in the southeast. In 1753 the Moravians established themselves in an area of the Yadkin River valley called “Wachovia” or “Wachau” near present-day Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They established the town of Bethabara that year and then constructed Bethany and Salem nearby in the ensuing 13 years. The Moravians established three additional settlement in Wachovia between 1769-1772 (Bernheim 1872:159). All of these pacifist communities suffered during the American Revolution, but the Moravian element remains vibrant in this region today.
Londonderry was a settlement of several hundred Palatines that was established in the South Carolina Piedmont, near the French town of New Bordeaux, northeast of Augusta, Georgia. The town did not prosper and it is one of the least known German settlements.
How did these Germans, dispersed across the colonial frontier, define themselves in this foreign land? Apparently there were two major criteria that colonial Germans used to define themselves. The first was geography, or the location of their motherland. Émigrés came from Austria, Bohemia, Herrnhut, Hungary, Moravia, the Palatinate, Salzburg, Saxony, Wurttemberg, and Wurzberg. The majority of Germans to America immigrated from the area that is now southern Germany. The second, and perhaps most important way colonial Germans defined themselves was by their religious theology. Some of the principal divisions were: Lutheran, Reformed (such as Calvinists and Presbyterian), Moravian, Episcopal, and Anabaptists (Mennonites and Amish). Among these were further divisions according to nuances of orthodoxy. For example, among the Lutherans were a pietist sect represented in its strictest form by Pastor Johann Boltzius and the New Ebenezer settlers. Germans of various denominations, or even among their own denominations, did not always condone each other’s habits. For instance the Lutheran pietists at New Ebenezer viewed the Moravians, who were the model for Lutheranism, as “disruptive innovators” because of the Moravian’s religious practices and communal living (Jones 1969:4). In spite of differences of opinion among various religious sects, there seems to have been a generally prevalent, over-riding attitude of ethnic cooperation. Johan Tobler wrote back to his countrymen in Switzerland that, “…there are Germans everywhere who are glad to advise and help new arrivals until they get on their feet (Tobler 1753)
In spite of the isolation of the frontier and the lack of communication technology that we so heavily depend upon today, the colonial Germans were surprisingly adept at inter- and intra-colonial and global communication. This network involved many of the major “movers and shakers” of the period, in Europe and America. The principal facilitators of missionary communication were European Institutions, including the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge; the Society for Promulgating the Gospel, the Moravian home church in Herrnhut, and the Francke Institute. For example, the Francke Institute in Halle (in the former East German Republic), encouraged their Lutheran missionaries to write long and frequent letters about the condition of their settlement. In turn G. A. Francke, aided by Samuel Urlsperger, who was the head of Evangelical Lutheran missions in Augsburg, read, edited, and published these accounts in Europe and/or redistributed them to their other missions in colonial America and around the world. This redistribution served multiple purposes: it allowed the leaders of the outlying missions to discover news on a local, regional, and global level; it allowed them to draw moral support from other missions; it helped raise financial support from benefactors in Europe and other areas; it allowed missionary leaders to petition for specific needs such as medicine, funds, and minsters; it kept Institute leaders current on mission status; and it enabled them to send advice and encouragement in return letters.
German missionaries took the task of communication seriously. Ebenezer’s Pastor Boltzuis wrote letters directly to General Oglethorpe and other trustees of Georgia, to Samuel Urlsperger, to the SPCK, who helped sponsor the settlers, and to other influential Europeans (Loewald et al 1957:219). Boltzius also maintained a diary at New Ebenezer throughout his life, sending entries back to the Francke Institute. These entries constitute 18 published volumes today, and offer a wealth of data to historical archaeologists about everything from who sinned to how much rain fell on a particular day. Frederica’s pastor Driessler also wrote letters to the Francke Institute, many a thousand lines long (Jones 1996:7). Driessler and Boltzius often wrote each other directly, as did Boltzius and Johannes Tobler of New Windsor. Written correspondence was also encouraged among the Moravians, whose missionaries kept detailed accounts of their work in the new World. The Moravian leaders Count Zinzendorf and August Gottlieb Spangenberg, who traveled between headquarters in Herrnhut, Europe and in Pennsylvania received communiques from the North Carolina missions and sent replies in return. The North Carolina Moravian records, written well into the nineteenth century, are published in a multi-volume series (Fries 1905, 1968).
German colonists were acculturated on one level but maintained their identity on another. Acculturation was rapid in practices dependent on survival, such as food and shelter, and much slower in matters such as religion and language. Numerous contemporary testimonials, accounts, and letters reveal that the New World was constantly compared to the old in terms of environment, botanical and animal specimens, weather, and geography. The limited and irregular shipment of supplies to the far-flung German settlements across the southern frontier, however, demanded that the settlers learn to use the natural resources available, no matter how foreign those resources might look or taste. Frederica’s Lutheran pastor Driessler wrote of brewing “small beer”, made by boiling a handful of roasted Indian corn in an iron pot with water, wood, sassafras, and molasses. English beer was too expensive and “as sour as vinegar” and the price of wine was “prohibitive” (Jones 1996:20). Driessler reported, “For lack of tea we have fetched cassina leaves in the forest…[for] cassina tea. My family has brewed Indian corn like coffee… (Jones 1996:21). But in true stoic, pietist Lutheran tradition Driessler admits that while, “Both [the tea and corn coffee] taste very bad, to be sure, yet we praise the Lord for not letting it harm us” (Jones 1996:21). Driessler reports that both, “The Germans and Englishmen eat raccoons and opossum meat like the Indians, but I can’t eat any of it because they look frightful like wild cats or half apes…” (Jones 1996:21). Frederica’s Germans also ate fish (though they were reportedly not as good as German fish), smoked mullet, raw oysters drizzled with orange juice, palmetto stalks, and sweet potatoes. They planted cabbage, greens, herbs, turnips, and watermelons, in addition to apple, orange and peach trees. The New Ebenezer Germans taught those at Frederica to “…boil Indian corn in water and afterwards put the dough on the fire” to make a bread (Jones 1996:21-22). Frequently the Frederica Germans survived on nothing but rice boiled in water with bear oil or lard, while awaiting word of provisions from England (Jones 1996:23).
In some ways, acculturation was encouraged by Germans. Johannes Tobler’s treatise encouraged other Germans not to “shy away from living among the English; they are, most of them, industrious people and good neighbors” (Tobler 1753). Interestingly, Tobler encouraged German settlement among the English rather than living among some Germans. Tobler told European Germans, “Whoever wants to come to America should not go to Pennsylvania. This place is good, to be sure, but it is a cold, wintry land so that the rivers [one and a half miles] wide freeze…Moreover, this province is as densely settled as Germany, and the land is expensive to buy…”(Tobler 1753). Obviously the intemperate weather and the price of land was viewed as a much larger problem than living among the English. The fact that Pennsylvania was heavily settled by Moravians also may have influenced the advice given by the Reformed Calvinist, Tobler. The relationship between the English and Germans could be seen in religion, as well. The Germans and English often shared minister. New Windsor lacked a minster, and made use of Reverend Zublin (or Zubly), who preached in both English and German to accommodate everyone in the area. Zublin’s father-in-law Tobler reported, “…many English people come here on Sunday, so that my living room…can hardly contain them” (Tobler 1753). Likewise, Orangeburg’s church record book was completed in German and English by two pastors, both named Giesendanner (Bernheim 1872:100-102).
The questions of acculturation and ethnicity are just two of the many fascinating subjects regarding German colonial sites in the southeast. Unfortunately, archaeology has been conducted on very few of these sites. This is one cause of the difficulty in determining German ethnic markers in the archaeological record. The only sites examined by archaeologists to date include: some of the Wachovia settlements in North Carolina; Dutch Fork, New Windsor, Purysburg, and Saxe-Gotha, South Carolina; and Irene, Old and New Ebenezer, Vernonburg, and Bethany, Georgia. Even this list is deceptive, as investigations conducted on some of the sites have been extremely limited in scope and often having consisted only of preliminary survey or reconnaissance data. The most intensive level investigations have been conducted at the following settlements: the Moravians at Wachovia’s Bethabara and Salem; the Swiss at New Windsor; the Lutheran Salzburgers at New Ebenezer; and the Swiss and Palatines at Vernonburg.
One marker of German ethnicity in the archaeological record may be found in ceramics. Jean Pierre Pury’s promotional treatise reported that in 1731, “There is not one potter in all the Province [of what is now South Carolina], and no earthenware but what comes from England, nor glass of any kind; so that a pot-house and a good glass house would succeed perfectly well, not only for Carolina but for all the other colonies in America” (Pury 1731). Pury’s wish was soon granted. A locally made coarse earthenware has been excavated at New Ebenezer from contexts as early as the 1740s. This pottery consists of a buff colored paste and either has no exterior treatment, or has a slip which is most often a yellow or yellowish green. Vessel forms include large cream pans, saucers, and jars. The New Ebenezer potter, George Gnann, was probably responsible for making some of the later vessels, but the maker of the earlier ware has not been identified. Archaeologists have recovered significant amounts of this drab coarse earthenware pottery from within a 10 mile radius of New Ebenezer but it is less common beyond that. Morphologically, the Ebenezer coarse earthenware resembles the Moravian slipware that was being manufactured in North Carolina during this period. The latter tended to be much more colorful and ornate than the plain, austere wares influenced by the pietistic Lutherans. Vessel forms were similar in some cases, however, such as the cream pans and plates.
Another potential marker of German ethnicity may involve architecture. The Moravians in Bethabara, North Carolina initially constructed hastily built log cabins. The following year, in 1754, they constructed the sleeping hall, a clapboard structure which was converted into a barn within a few years. They erected the dwelling house for strangers, or non-Moravian visitors, that same year built of log construction with a gabled end-chimney and a gabled roof (Idol et al 1996:2). Moravian drawings and diary accounts offer conflicting information as to what variation of the Alpine-Alemannic architecture was used at Bethabara. Diary accounts support a hewn-beamed and chinked structure. Drawings indicate that the structure would have had solid plank walls held at the corners by grooves in the corner posts (Idol et al 1996:3). Moravian architecture in North Carolina is marked by extensive use of stone in cellar construction, an attribute not seen in any of the German settlements in the coastal plain where stone is scarce. Orangeburg Germans also used wood and clay construction in the building of their original church, which fell into ruins by the 1770s (Bernheim 1872:124). In comparison, limited excavation at New Ebenezer has uncovered architectural elements that suggest in-ground posts structures with mud and stick chimneys (Smith 1986; Elliott 1990). The only surviving colonial house in Ebenezer, a 1750s timber frame and clapboard construction with sills resting on wooden piers. This house, however, has been relocated several times, so the foundation construction is altered. The house site excavated at New Windsor indicates post-in-ground architecture and limited use of brick (Crass et al 1997). A scarcity of brick is also a hallmark of New Ebenezer, except in the case of their main brick church, which was completed in 1769.
German ethnicity may be found in the reed stemmed, molded tobacco pipes made by the Moravians in the Wachovia settlements. These pipes are most commonly associated with potter Gottfried Aust, who was Bethabara’s potter from 1755. Similar pipes have been recovered from other German settlements in Pennsylvannia (Walker 1975:107). Only one example was excavated from New Ebenezer. While Moravian pottery also was popular with non-Germans, it may be that these specific pipes can still serve as ethnic German markers. This would be especially true if they are found to have been more popular among Germans than other groups.
A fourth indicator of German ethnicity may possibly involve medicines. Contemporary and modern historians have admitted that the Moravians were “ahead of their time in pharmacology and were quick to have their own apothecary and medicinal herb garden” (Moravian Museum at Bethlehem 1999). The colonists at New Ebenezer also had “…quite well prepared medicines from England and Halle”. In addition to these, they experimented with various herbs and medicines which they used among themselves and sold to other settlements. Their interest in remedies was apparent when Pastor Boltzius’ remarked that he wished an old Indian woman had waited to show him the plant of the root she brought him to cure his wife. Boltzius goes on to say that “Undoubtedly there are many such plants in these woods. My desire to collect some of these for our and our friends’ benefit is quite great” (Tresp 1963:23). The affinity towards understanding and producing medicines held by the Moravians and the New Ebenezer colonists may have been associated with their German background. Such proclivities may serve as ethnic markers, located in the archaeological record in the form of medicine bottles, pharmaceutical preparation aids such as mortars and pestles or other equipment, and ethnobotanical remains.
Obviously, German ethnic markers in the southeastern archaeological record are scant, at best. This is due to the lack of archaeological investigation on such sites and the rapid rate of acculturation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Acculturation appears to have happened swiftly by the late 18th century, based on several indicators. The 1790 census records 2,300 people in South Carolina and 7,400 people in North Carolina claiming German nationality (U.S. Population Census 1790). (Statistics are unavailable for Georgia.) These totals reflect less than one percent of South Carolina’s population and just under two percent of the total population in North Carolina. Such low percentages (compared to approximately 50 percent during the second quarter of the 18th century) suggest that second and third generation German immigrants no longer called themselves German.
Language is another indicator of acculturation. Before 1800 the inhabitants of the Dutch Fork area of South Carolina spoke German, but by 1824 none of the school children were able to converse in that language (Mayer 1982:6). By 1825 the congregation of New Ebenezer was worshiping in English (Jones 1967:98). This appears to have been a natural evolution, since English had been taught regularly to the school children of New Ebenezer during the 18th century. The older generation of many communities was not as quick to abandon its heritage. As late as 1891, a German Dutch Fork resident reported that gatherings of old ladies brought out the “mother tongue” in earnest.
The elderly German residents maintained their ethnicity through their clothing, as well. Historical accounts describe old German men in the Dutch fork area who, “..tottered about the yard in their tight knee breeches giving quite a bow-legged appearance to their nether limbs; and while displaying bright silver buckles on their shoes and broad brimmed hats…would revel in an overflow of German, -singing songs and telling anecdotes..” (Mayer 1982:6-7).
Having suggested that ceramics, architecture, tobacco pipes, and medicine paraphernalia may be markers of German ethnicity in the archaeological record, we must confess now that we are grasping at straws! Many factors conspire against identifying such ethnic markers. The lack of extensive archaeological investigation on German colonial sites is one over-riding factor. Another is the very fact that most of the Germans strove for rapid acculturation in the colonies, as indicated by primary historical documents. A third, and very strong factor against locating ethnicity on these sites is the nature of the sites themselves. At New Ebenezer, Germans owned both a house in town and a 50 acre farmstead outside of town. Excavations on the town lots and farmsteads–often on ones owned by the same people–reveal two drastically different material culture patterns (Elliott and Elliott 1992). One might assume incorrectly that the local pottery of the farmstead and lack of fancy tablewares was a product of German ethnicity, rather than a truer reflection of geography and site function. Likewise, intra-site patterning on these sites does not necessarily reflect ethnicity, as the British authorities dictated the layout of towns such as New Ebenezer and Vernonburg, even stating where on each lot the residence was to be built. German settlement of colonial sites involved a complex interplay of economic, geographic, political, military, and trade factors. As a result, no one “smoking gun” of German ethnicity exists, to date. We have not given up, however, and feel that when these factors are considered along with a much more intensive level of archaeological excavation on these sites, a clearer picture of German ethnicity will begin to emerge.
References Cited
Bernheim, G.D.
1872 History of the German Settlements and the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina. The Lutheran Book Store, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Crass, David C., Tammy Forehand, Bruce Penner, Chris Gillam
1997 Excavations at New Windsor Township, South Carolina. Savannah River Archaeological Research Heritage Series 3. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
Elliott, Daniel T., and Rita F. Elliott
1990 Seasons in the Sun: 1989 and 1990 Excavations at New Ebenezer. LAMAR Institute, Watkinsville, Georgia.
1992 “City House, Country House: A Comparison of Salzburger Material Culture in Colonial Georgia”. Annual meeting of the Society of Historical Archaeology, Kingston, Jamaica.
Elliott, Rita Folse and Daniel T. Elliott
1994 Vernonburg Village, An Archaeological Study. LAMAR Institute, Watkinsville, Georgia. Prepared for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Atlanta, Georgia.
Fries, Adelaide L.
1905 The Moravians in Georgia, 1735-1740. Edwards and Broughton, Raleigh, North Carolina.
1968 Records of the Moravians in North Carolina (ed., reprinted). State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Henry, James
1859 Sketches of Moravian Life and Character. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Idol, Bruce S., and Stephen T. Trage, and Roger W. Kirchen
1996 Report on Excavation at the Bethabara 1754 Sleeping Hall Site, Forsyth County, North Carolina. Wake Forest University Laboratories, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Jones, George F.
1967 “Colonial Georgia’s Second Language”, reprinted from The Georgia Review, Vol. XXI, No. 1, Spring 1967, The Georgia Salzburger Society, Rincon, Georgia.
1969 “The Secret Diary of Pastor Johann Martin Boltzius”, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. LIII, No. 1, March, Savannah.
1992 The Georgia Dutch; From the Rhine and Danube to the Savannah, 1733-1783. University of Georgia Press, Athens.
1996 The Germans of Frederica. The National Park Service. Fort Frederica Association, St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Loewald, Klaus G., Beverly Starika, and Paul S. Taylor
1957 “Johann Martin Bolzius Answers a Questionnaire on Carolina and Georgia” in The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. XIV, No. 2, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Mayer, O.B.
1982 The Dutch Fork. (Reprint) Dutch Fork Press, Columbia, South Carolina.
Meriwether, Robert L.
1940 The Expansion of South Carolina, 1729-1765. Southern Publishers Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee.
Moltmann, Günter (ed)
1982 “300 Years of German Emigration to North America” pp. 8-15 in Germans to America: 300 Years of Immigration 1683-1983. Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany.
Moravian Museum of Bethlehem
1999 “Historic Sites”. 21 Oct. 1999, <http://www.moravianmuseum.org/histori.htm>.
Pury, Jean Pierre
1731 “A Description of the Province of South Carolina”. 29 Oct. 1999 <http://www.netside.com/~genealogy/purry.htm>.
Reiemensperger, Hans Jacob
1740 True and Fully Dependable Good News From the English Royal Province Carolina. 29 Oct. 1999 <http://www.netside.com/~genealogy/remsb.htm>.
Smith, Marvin T., compiler
1986 Archaeological Testing of Sixteen Sites in the Fort Howard Development Tract. Garrow and Associates, Atlanta. Submitted to Law Environmental, Kennesaw, Georgia.
Tobler, Johann
1753 “A Description of Carolina.” Alter und vervbesserter Schreib-Calender. 29 Oct. 1999 <http://www.netside.com/~genealogy/toblr.htm>.
Tresp, Lothar
1963 “Pastor Bolzius Reports”pp.20-23 in The American-German Review, April-May, Vol. XXIX, No 4, National Carl Schurz Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
U.S. Population Census
1790 State Level Census Data. Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: U.S., 1790-1970. Anne Arbor, Michigan. 9 September 1999 <http://www.fisher.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/censusbin/census/cen.pl.>
Walker, Iain C.
1975 “The American Stub-stemmed Clay Tobacco-Pipe: A Survey of Its Origins, Manufacture, and Distribution” pp.97-128 in The Conference on Historic Site Archaeology Papers 1974, Vol. 9, The Institute of Archeology and Anthropology, Columbia, South Carolina.
In Late 1977, I took a solo drive in my hand-me-down Ford on an overcast Sunday evening from Greensboro to Maxeys, Georgia. Nature called and I stopped to listen along the dirt and gravel road at a kudzu jungle in thick piney woods. After listening to the message, I realized I was without any sort of cleaning apparatus. Through the dead kudzu, I spied a glint of white, only a few yards distant. Waddling to the spot, I finished my job–so much relieved. Then, my eyes told my brain what I had done. I had cleaned myself with the newly pressed sleeve of a 19th century man’s dress shirt. It started to drizzle as I glanced around at the pile of trash from whence I had procured the much needed rag. It was a dump-truck load of stuff, rising some 4 feet above the plain. Jars, books, clothes, jagged broken glass, plates, hats, and bric a brac galore. It continued to drizzle and darkness descended. I opened my trunk and filled it to the brim. I made a final glance around and realized that I had only scratched the surface of this veritable goldmine. Driving away, I vowed to return.
I made my way speedily back to the fieldhouse next to the funeral home, where I was the house mother, and I began unloading boxes from my trunk into the dining room. My fellow archaeologists, dumpster diving buddies, and curiosity collectors gazed in amazement. Where from this find, they inquired. Eyes were wide as I distributed my newfound wealth. Tomorrow, I will take you tomorrow.
The next afternoon, tired from a day of digging, we piled into Paul’s baby blue econoline van and drove back to the dump. Crunching glass and giggles, we filled the van to capacity with all sorts of tattered and slighly damp treasures. There were books and letters and tiny shiny things. A woven coverlet fragment for Leslie, gifts for the whole fieldhouse family. Joel grabbed stacks of letters and threw them in his duffle bag. Paul and I did the same. It was a sensation. And we made a few more trips in the days following as the pile dwindled and the mildew set in.
Months later, Jerald and Lisa returned to the dump on another pilgrimage, only to find another fresh pile. Dresses and hats from bygone days, enough loot to fill Jerald and Lisa’s haunted house on Wildcat Creek. It became the stuff of legends.
Decades passed, then I learned from Lisa, that the old Durham place, the source of the dumped material, had been robbed, around the time of my initial discovery in 1777. Was this the dump for the stolen items that could not be easily fenced?
The Maxeys’ Dump was a most exciting find. It was a living archaeological site that several presently active archaeologists were immersed in. We observed the deposition, the plunder, and the decay. Or at least part of the decay, as I have not returned to visit the site in over 25 years….
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Relevant References
Calhoun, Charles H., Sr., 1965. “Dr. Lindsey Durham, A Brief Biography.” and “The Durham Doctors, Biographical Sketches.” Privately published booklet, 53 pp.
Gay, M., 1892. Life in Dixie During the War, edited by J.H. Segars, Reprinted by Mercer University Press, Macon [See pages 303-304 for Durham discussion].
Lavender, Billy, compiler, 2005. A Pioneer Church in the Oconee Territory. A Historical Synopsis of Antioch Christian Chjurch. I-Universe. 436 pp. ISBN: 9780595797257
http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000082716
On October 15 and 16, we (Coastal Heritage Society and LAMAR Institute archaeologists and volunteers–the Morris family from Ogden, Utah, conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey of a portion of the Colonial Park cemetery in Savannah. We examined the southeastern corner in search of a British Revolutionary War fortification ditch. We also mapped in many unmarked human graves and crypts. The results will be published very soon. A good time was had by all. A few pictures of the project follow.
RAMAC X3M monitor display
The work was tedious but fruitful.
GPR Survey of Colonial Park Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia.
GPR Survey begins.
Stay tuned for the answer…
Sheldon Church Ruins, October 10, 2006
Graffiti on Sheldon Church Wall, 1826
October 10, 2006–Beaufort County, South Carolina
Sir Christopher Prevost and Daniel Elliott escorted their ladies to Sheldon Church on this fine day. A few images of this outing are shown below.
Lady Dolores Prevost and Sir Christopher Prevost
Pillars of Doom
Archaeologists seeking to solve Kettle Creek puzzles, asking for local folks’ help
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A group of archaeologists and historians have spent several days recently looking for missing pieces of the Battle of Kettle Creek puzzle, and they think the public can help them with the puzzle, too.
A team of archaeologists, historians, and students braved heat, thick woods, and impassable stands of thistles to explore the land around War Hill on a four-day fieldwork session June 12-17, hoping to locate artifacts from the Revolutionary War battle and, piece by piece, expand their knowledge of the battle.
On a previous visit to War Hill, archaeologist Dan Elliott of the Lamar Institute, Inc., and his teams had used metal detectors to find bullets and other metal objects that might have been left during the 1779 battle. They found some 32 possible battle relics, including round balls of smaller caliber bullets – buck-and ball load for non-military muskets. They also found, and recycled, modern artifacts including 15 pounds of shotgun shells, .22 shells, and beer cans.
“The way those battle relics were distributed on one particular side of the hill gave us a direction to search,” Elliott said Saturday as he examined the day’s first finds. “Based on that distribution, we got access from adjacent landowners so we could come back this week and explore areas we would expect to find the Patriot positions as they attacked the Loyalists.”
They have indeed found more bullets, and a distinctive shoe buckle from that period, part of a brass bell, and other objects. But the real value of the object is in the information that it gives about how it got there. “Each object tells us a little bit of the puzzle,” said Charles B. Baxley, editor and publisher of Southern Campaigns of the Revolution. “Dan Elliott is helping geo-reference with formal archaeology the history that has been passed down.”
Geo-referencing locates exactly the fall of bullets, for example, shot and unshot, to map exactly where the militia soldiers actually were during the battle.
That data will be combined with historical research, looking in library collections, deeds and plats, veterans pension applications and muster lists to form the most accurate history of the battle possible. “We’ll gather up all that archaeology and history can tell us,” Baxley said, “and hope that we have enough to tell the story.”
And neighbors in Wilkes County who have explored the area for years can help document the battle’s history. “We know folks have been out here with metal detectors for 40 years,” Elliott said, “and we’re not looking to prosecute anybody and we sure don’t need another bullet. But what we do need is information. We’d just like to know what you found, and where you found it, best you can recall. That information is what’s important to us, and any information could really be a great deal of help.”
To share information on old Kettle Creek finds, contact the City of Washington’s Main Street Manager David Jenkins in the City Hall Annex, or call 706-678-4654.
[EDITING NOTE: Elliott, not Elliot]
WASHINGTON – An archaeological dig in Wilkes County has opened a 229-year-old window to one of the pivotal points in the early years of the American Revolutionary War – and there’s evidence that it’s not exactly the way the history books tell it.
For centuries following the Feb. 14, 1779, battle at Kettle Creek, stories passed down through the generations pitted 350 Patriots against 700 Loyalists on only 12 acres of land.
But archaeologists have found evidence that the three-hour running battle stretched over at least 500 acres of property surrounding the traditional site where a monument and cemetery now stand.
Nine men and women working with The LAMAR Institute, a Savannah-based nonprofit archaeological research organization, last month unearthed dozens of musket balls, buttons, pieces of weapons and evidence of small farmsteads during a five-day dig on the 500 acres of property.
The study, funded through a $40,000, two-year grant from the National Park Service and the city of Washington, could lead to plans for a battleground park, city officials have said.
Each discovery in last month’s dig gave researchers a look into the day when the militiamen routed twice their number in new British recruits and made Southerners think twice about staying loyal to the Crown.
“This, by all accounts, was a guerrilla war,” said Dan Elliott, LAMAR Institute president and archaeologist. “This was neighbor against neighbor.”
And neighbors were definitely part of the battle – even if they didn’t want to be involved.
Evidence of at least three farmsteads – hand-wrought nails, collapsed chimneys and horseshoes – were found during the dig about 500 feet south of the battlefield monument, along with a few musket balls.
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MULTIMEDIA
 SLIDESHOW: Check out an audio slideshow as Dan Elliott with the LAMAR Institute talks about the Kettle Creek dig:
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“Right now, we’re getting a rough idea of what life was like for people when this battle was raging on around them,” Elliott said.
The Patriots lost only seven men in the Battle of Kettle Creek, but dozens were injured and taken to a location north of War Hill – the traditional battlefield site – for treatment, researchers found.
Archaeologists found evidence during the dig to back up their theory about the location of this field hospital.
At least 18 buttons, likely from clothing that was ripped off men in order to treat their wounds, were found in one concentrated area – an unlikely discovery in an area that over the years has been picked over by artifact seekers, Elliott said.
The Kettle Creek battle was a vicious fight between Loyalists recruited by Col. James Boyd in South Carolina to fight on the side of the Crown and Patriots who were not ready for Georgia to be claimed by the British.
Historical accounts of the battle say an army led by Col. Andrew Pickens, Col. John Dooly and Lt. Col. Elijah Clarke tracked Boyd on his way to Augusta as he circled around through Wilkes County to avoid a Patriot army encamped on the Savannah River.
Pickens split his men into three groups and tried to sneak up on Boyd’s recruits while they camped at Kettle Creek, but scouts saw them.
Boyd was able to muster about 100 men to meet Pickens’ 140 at the top of a steep hill. Boyd was mortally wounded, causing the new troops to panic and retreat back to the camp.
Dooly was stuck in a canebrake on one side of the camp, but Clarke charged in from the other side.
In the end, 20 Loyalists were killed and 22 taken captive. About half the rest went back to South Carolina and the other half went on to Augusta, Elliott said.
Archaeologists believe they found the location of the Loyalists’ last stand.
Southwest of the traditional battlefield, metal detectors uncovered musket balls and musket ball fragments from a secluded hill off of Salem Church Road.
The fragments likely are evidence that musket balls hit trees as the loyalists crouched behind for protection, said David Battle, assistant director of the LAMAR Institute.
Researchers hope to label the musket balls as Patriot- or Loyalist-owned by determining the caliber and amount of lead found in each bullet, Battle said.
The rough terrain obviously was no problem for the Patriots, he said.
“These were woodsmen,” Battle said. “They were good shots who were used to fighting behind stumps and trees.”
Elliott said researchers likely will release an officially report of the team’s findings later this year.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 070308
Glen Mary plantation is a shining white gem in the green landscape of piedmont Georgia. Its owner, Marilyn Meyers, secured a grant from the Save America’s Treasures program of the National Park Service to document and preserve this important cultural complex.
Initial archaeological investigations of the Glen Mary plantation in rural Hancock County, Georgia were conducted by the LAMAR Institute over one weekend in 2004. This limited effort identified several areas around the grounds of the manor house at Glen Mary that may have archaeological significance. Shown below is archaeologist and historic preservationist Tracy M. Dean uncovering a previously unknown walkway that lead to the main entrance of Glen Mary. In addition to her budding skills as an archaeologist, Tracy is an accomplished architectural historian. Recently, Tracy completed an extensive inventory of the built historical architecture of Hancock County for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The report of the Glen Mary plantation work is available for free online download as a .pdf file at this link. 84. Preliminary Archaeological Examination of the Glen Mary Plantation, Hancock County, Georgia. By Daniel T. Elliott, 2004 (0.7 MB).
The John Morrell family built a plantation on the northern end of Ossabaw Island in Georgia. Curiously enough, it was known as North End plantation. John Morrell was of Swiss ancestry and came to Georgia with his parents from Purysburg, South Carolina. That was in 1760, zoom forward to 2004. The LAMAR Institute was added to the historic preservation team to document, explore, and restore the remains of the North End Plantation. This project was funded by a “Save America’s Treasures” grant, other grants from the Robert Woodruff Foundation, my buddy the actress from Tybee Island, and others. Over the next three years a series of archaeological field visits documented aspects of this important barrier island plantation. That research was documented in two voluminous technical reports, authored by me with contributions from several others. The first of these reports is available online at the LAMAR Institute’s website in .pdf format. Visit http://lamarnistitute.org/reports.htm
The second report is not widely available yet. This particular project captured the interest of the local, state, and national media. Photo of dig at top right is by Stephen Morton, a great photographer! Photo below is credited to a famous Savannah photographer. Photo of the woodstorks is by me and taken in the morning at North End Plantation. More archaeology and history work at the North End plantation is in the works. And here are a few other links that give a different perspective:
Smithsonian Magazine, by Eric Wills
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/sea_island_strata.html
Associated Press (AP), by Russ Bynum (photos by Stephen Morton)
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/022705/nat_2915812.shtml
Preservation Online, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, by Rachel Adams (photo by Stephen Morton)
Getty Images, by Stephen Morton
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-105296560.html
Atlanta Journal Constitution, by Stacy Shelton
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/travel/southeast/ga_stories/2006/11/26/1127meshtabby.html
Atlanta Journal Constitution, by Mike Toner
http://www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/news0906/news0906.html
Connect Savannah, by Michael Jordan (no, not the basketball player)
http://www.connectsavannah.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A2504
The Ossabaw Oracle, by the Ossabaw Island Foundation
http://www.ossabawisland.org/oracle/Ossabaw%20Oracle%20Spring%202005.pdf
and
http://www.ossabawisland.org/oracle/Ossabaw%20Oracle%20Spring%202007.pdf
The LAMAR Institute’s archaeological team completed fieldwork of the Kettle Creek Revolutionary War battlefield this week. Now the fun part begins, washing, analyzing, mapping, etc. We found several areas related to the battle over about a 1,000 acre or more area. It was a dizzying assortment of metal detectors, GPS and GPR devices and bug spray. The ticks were only moderately bad and we only saw one copperhead and it was dead. A report is due in November. I have attached a photo of folks surveying a Revolutionary War cemetery with the GPR equipment. Shown here are project volunteers, Sheldon, Judy, and Gail. The cemetery, which was created in the 1970s, contains mostly cenotaphs and relocated grave markers but the GPR survey should indicate which markers are truly grave markers.
Yesterday, I conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey of a portion of the Theus plantation at Palmetto Bluff, Beaufort County, South Carolina. I was ably assisted by archaeologists Ellen Shlasko, Kris Lockyear, Katrina Epps, Heather Cline, Jessie Ann Larson, and others at Integrated Archaeological Services, Bluffton, SC. This study was also covered by the local news media (The Island Packet, see archives for 04/08/08 at islandpacket.com). The preliminary survey results look very intriguing. Stay tuned for more! Oh, and we had good press coverage, see photo below of Island Packet reporter Liz Mitchell and a typical GPRchaeologist
Text of article from Savannah Morning News, May 30, 2008, by Doug Wyatt:
Archaeologists dig into Palmetto Bluff’s rich history
By Doug Wyatt
Created 2008-05-29 23:30
Palmetto Bluff, near Bluffton, is a swanky place. On the community’s 20,000 acres, you’ll find plenty of stunning scenery, not to mention elegant homes, a spa, tennis courts and other trappings of modern affluent living.
It’s been highly-prized land for a long time, Mary Socci reminds us.
“What’s prime real estate now was prime real estate during the Civil War,” she says. “Not to mention 4,000 years ago.”
Socci is Palmetto Bluff’s archaeologist. In 2004, Palmetto Bluff contracted with Integrated Archaeological Services to dig into the area’s rich history. The community is in its “second phase” of construction, with much of the area still undeveloped.
Working alongside a team from IAS headed by Ellen Shlasko, Socci and her staff have spent the past several years finding and recording the area’s historical and cultural sites. Federal and state laws require developers to document such sites before they build on the land.
Plantation left few clues
The search for the sites often isn’t easy. Theus Plantation, for example, was once a 1,000-acre working farm in the area. Early written records are vague, but a British sea captain owned the property in the 1730s. James T. Theus bought the property in 1830; he raised livestock and harvested corn, peas, beans and cotton on the land.
Obviously there were structures on the estate, but archaeologists haven’t been able to find them. Their only clue was a series of faint fence-post holes.
“We basically have a field that has been plowed for centuries,” Socci said. “There are all sorts of artifacts lying on top of the group, but they’re jumbled up. It’s been plowed so much we’ve lost all context for what we’re finding.”
Among the numerous artifacts that have been discovered are handmade nails, animal bones, pieces of ceramic, buttons made from bone and glass. The items were crafted over millennia; the area has been inhabited, Socci said, since at least around 2000 B.C.
Bringing in the radar
The real story of the Theus Plantation era is found a couple of feet below the field’s surface. What the archaeologists needed was a gizmo that could see through the soil and tell them what might lie underneath.
Dan Elliott, fortunately, has such a machine.
Elliott is a research archaeologist and president of the Savannah-based LAMAR institute. Since 1982, the nonprofit group has conducted archaeological research across the Southeast, embarking on such wide-ranging projects as a study of the Oconee River Valley’s aboriginal mound sites and a survey of previously unstudied colonial period settlements in Georgia and South Carolina.
Elliott owns ground-penetrating radar equipment that sends pulses underground and detects “bounce-back” signals. His GPR machine, resembling a lawnmower with a computer screen atop it, can show and record objects up to 6 feet below the surface. With the device, he can detect foundations, walls, wells and small artifacts without disturbing the soil.
One day in April, Elliott donated his time and his machine to Palmetto Bluff, helping Socci and Shlasko unearth Theus Plantation’s long-buried secrets. In a few short hours, he detected underground post holes and what might be a well. Both would indicate structures, possibly even a house, on the site.
The GPR, Elliott said, “saves a lot of time and manpower. This technology makes us smarter and more efficient, but it will never replace people digging in the dirt.”
A slow process
On a recent warm day, archaeologists JaColeman Hutto and Jessie Lerson carefully scraped away at the earth, exploring the spot where Elliott thinks he detected a well.
“It’s a slow, painstaking process,” Lerson said. “But it’s great being outside. Working inside somewhere filing and collating would be a lot worse.”
About 30 sites of possible historical and cultural importance have been found at Palmetto Bluff, Socci said. “About half of them are Native-American sites; the others are plantation sites.” Her archaeologists, she said, are “down to the last few sites” requiring excavation.
The thousands of artifacts gleaned from the sites are being stored for future study by researchers; some are already on display in the community’s museum.
Many of Palmetto Bluff’s residents, Socci said, have shown a strong interest in learning about the area’s long history.
“It’s a fascinating place,” she said.
For photographs that accompany the article visit: savannahnow.com
The Ground Truth!
The true test of GPR is excavation, and Ellen and her crew tested several GPR anomalies that I recommended for study. The results were very good, in that the GPR anomalies proved to locate cultural features. Some were a little boring maybe, but cultural features none the less.
GPR Plan map of Theus Plantation 2008
Above is one of the GPR maps. Note the row of circular anomalies at about 20 m north. Below is what was located in the vicinity of one strong circular anomaly, which was located at about 20 m north and 23 m east of the 0 0 point.
GPR Anomaly Verified!
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Mister Soapstone 
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