Once the Metropolis of Maryland: Celebrating 50 Years of Archaeology at Historic St. Mary’s City

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

This symposium celebrates 50 years of archaeology conducted at Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC), a museum of history and archaeology at Maryland’s first capital. In 1966, the newly-formed Historic St. Mary’s City Commission established a Research Department by hiring preeminent Chesapeake historian Lois Green Carr and began to gather resources related to Maryland’s past. The following year, Orin Bullock, and later J. Glenn Little and Stephen Israel, surveyed the 18th-century Captain John Hicks site, initiating the first museum-sponsored archaeological work at St. Mary’s City. In the decades since these efforts, HSMC staff members have conducted fieldwork around the museum’s property and analyzed the material culture they recovered, pioneering innovative archaeological techniques and revealing new details about life in early Maryland. The papers presented in this symposium honor this rich legacy of work while also sharing recent research conducted by the staff of HSMC’s Department of Research and Collections.

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  • Documents (4)

Documents
  • Exploring "Clocker’s Acre": The Architecture of a Colonial Period Building (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ruth M Mitchell.

    In 2013, archaeologists at Historic St. Mary’s City excavated a newly discovered building within the Governor's Field. The remnants of this colonial period structure survived below Anne Arundel Hall on the campus of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The large 1950’s period classroom building had been demolished in preparation for new construction. Likely dating to the late 17th century, this structure underwent numerous repairs and analysis of the post holes will aid in the understanding of the...

  • From Bore to Bowl: An Analysis of White Clay Tobacco Pipes from the Anne Arundel Hall Replacement Project (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessica E Edwards. Erin N Crawford.

    From 2009 to 2014, archaeologists at Historic St Mary’s City performed excavations around and beneath the 1950’s academic building known as Anne Arundel Hall at St Mary’s College of Maryland in preparation for the building’s demolition and replacement. During the survey, a variety of features and artifacts were uncovered, including a large collection of white clay pipe fragments, a number of which are decorated or marked. Our analysis of the white clay pipe fragments found at the Anne Arundel...

  • Recent Research and Future Plans at the Leonard Calvert House Site (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Travis Parno.

    In 1981, the archaeological staff of Historic St. Mary’s City began a period of intensive survey designed to uncover portions of the 17th-century city. Ultimately their efforts revealed the city’s historic core, an intersection at the beating heart of early Maryland governance. One of the anchors of the town’s center was the Leonard Calvert House. Home to the colony’s first (and later third) governor, the Calvert House was one of the largest wooden structures in colonial Maryland that at varying...

  • A Retrospective Look At The Material Culture Of The Leonard Calvert Site (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Silas Hurry. Donald L. Winter.

    Since Historic St. Mary’s City began its investigations at the Leonard Calvert site in 1980, a remarkable suite of material culture has emerged from this premier colonial site. This presentation looks back over some of the artifacts recovered and provides some context for a number of the more remarkable objects. Ceramics, tobacco pipes, small finds, and glassware are all represented.  Ceramics include Dutch tin glazed earthenware, Rhenish stoneware, and tiles, while glass includes façon de...