Material Culture of an 18th-Century Gulf Coast Plantation; the Augustin Rochon Plantation, ca. 1750s-1780, Baldwin County, Alabama.

Summary

Southwestern Alabama's colonial history is represented by the sites of native settlements and colonial forts, villages, and river plantations that spanned the French (1699-1763), British (1763-1780) and Spanish (1780-1813) periods. In the eighteenth century, over 60 plantations were established along the major waterways around Mobile, but fewer than ten have been identified as archaeological sites, and excavation has occured at only four. Unfortunately, many of the historic sites around Mobile Bay now lie beneath waterfront developments, and on the periphery of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta large industrial plants now sit on the river bluffs once occupied by colonial plantations. The Augustin Rochon Plantation site (1BA337) contains archaeological remains of a plantation home and associated buildings occupied primarily during the British colonial period (1763-1780) by the Augustin Rochon family. When discovered in 1996 this site was threatened by residential construction in the modern town of Spanish Fort. Archaeological investigations began at the Augustin Rochon Plantation site that year, as a field school project by faculty and students from the University of South Alabama, and continued through 1999 with grant support from the Alabama Historical Commission and with volunteers from the community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Augustin Rochon Plantation (1BA337), Baldwin County, Alabama

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1759 to 1780

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Gregory Waselkov; Bonnie L. Gums; University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies

Record Identifiers

1999.005(s): Accession Number

File Information