Data Recovery Investigations at 38BU165, Bloody Point, Daufuskie Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina

Summary

Data recovery investigations were carried out by Brockington and Associates, Inc., at archaeological site 38BU165 during January 1992. This work was conducted in compliance with federal and state legislation regarding impact to cultural resources as a result of development. Site 38BU165 is located at Bloody Point on the southern end of Daufuskie Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The proposed selling of lots for development would have resulted in impact to 38BU165. Mitigation of the adverse effects of this impact was achieved through data recovery.

Site 38BU165 is a multicomponent site. A small prehistoric shell midden is eroding from the beach front at 38BU165. It is possible that the prehistoric component at 38BU165 was once more extensive. Erosion is very active at Bloody Point, and only a small area of this component remains. The prehistoric component is a small shell midden from which Wilmington/St. Catherines and Irene/Savannah phase ceramics were recovered.

The historic component of the site consists of two loci. Locus 1 was characterized by an earth bank and depression. Locus 1 was transit mapped, shovel tested (10m interval) and investigated with a metal detector. No cultural materials were recovered. No further work was considered necessary for Locus 1 following the survey and testing activities conducted at the site.

In contrast, Locus 2 was characterized by a dense late eighteenth/early nineteenth century midden deposit, the remains of a late eighteenth/early nineteenth century occupation at Bloody Point. Data recovery investigations were conducted at Locus 2.

The main plantation house at Bloody Point was built sometime after 1814 and is no longer extant. Site 38BU165 is probably the remains of an earlier domestic structure, occupied between 1760 and 1816.

Site 38BU165 is the remains of a well built dwelling, measuring about 11 by 13 meters, which stood on ballast stone piers, and possibly had a red brick chimney. Such a structure would have been occupied by a middle to upper class individual during the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century. Archival data suggest that Robert Watts, a shipbuilder, built the house. Robert Watts and his family probably lived at Bloody Point Plantation during his ownership. The house was unoccupied from 1775 until 1790. Sarah Watts and John David Mongin, whom she married in 1790, and their children resided at the house full time for several years, and then probably occupied it on a seasonal basis after building a house in Savannah. The Mongins were very wealthy.

The prehistoric component at Locus 2 consisted of a very small remnant of a shell midden. Two main phases of occupation were indicated by the ceramic data (i.e., Wilmington/St. Catherines, and Irene/Savannah).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Brockington and Associates, Inc.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)

Contributor(s): Linda Kennedy; Marian Roberts; C.S. Butler; Connie Huddleston

Principal Investigator(s): Paul E. Brockington, Jr.

Landowner(s): The Melrose Company

Sponsor(s): The Melrose Company

Record Identifiers

Brockington and Associates, Inc., report number(s): 0260

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