“A Fair House of Brick and Timber”: Archaeological Excavations at Mattapany-Sewall (18ST390) Naval Air Station, Patuxent River St. Mary’s County, Maryland

Summary

Today, Mattapany is an 18th-century house known as Quarters A, located aboard the Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NASPAX) in St. Mary's County, Maryland (Figure 1). However, the history of this area is far older than that of Quarters A. Long the site of Native American settlements, the Mattapany area was first occupied by Europeans around 1637, when the Jesuits established a mission and plantation in the vicinity. Thirty years later, Gov. Charles Calvert, who would become the third Lord Baltimore (and the only Baron of Baltimore to reside in Maryland), moved to Mattapany following his marriage to Jane Sewall, and he continued to live there for nearly two decades. An arsenal established at Mattapany in the 1670s was seized by Protestant rebels in 1689, signaling the end of Calvert proprietary rule in Maryland for over 25 years. Clearly, Mattapany is extremely significant to the 17th-century colonial history of Maryland and of the United States.

The 1981-1982 archaeological discoveries, as well as historical documentation, strongly suggested that additional evidence of Lord Baltimore’s 17th-century house existed in the area. The study of this site would contribute significantly to the understanding of 17th-century settlement and occupation in the Patuxent River region and in Maryland, and would also permit NASPAX to manage and to preserve this valuable cultural resource for future generations. Towards this end, in 1993 Doug Lister and Kyle Rambo of the Natural Resources Branch at NASPAX secured funding from the Department of Defense Legacy Resources Program to investigate 18ST390.

This report was originally accessioned under the MAC lab number 1998.034.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Mattapany, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (1998.032, 1998.034, 1998.035)   •
• Naval Air Station Patuxent River (Main Complex), St. Mary's County, Maryland   •
• Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory   •
• Navy Collections for Colonial Encounters Project

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Michael Smolek; Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory Federal Curator

Principal Investigator(s): Julia King; Edward Chaney

Sponsor(s): Navy; Department of Defense Legacy Program

Repository(s): Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory

Prepared By(s): Southern Maryland Regional Center

Submitted To(s): Natural Resources Branch, Environmental Support Division, Department of Public Works, Naval Air Station, Patuxent River

Record Identifiers

MAC Lab Accession Number(s): 1998.034

Notes

General Note: The following physical records are held at MAC Lab: Field Notes, Lab Notes, Maps,Oversized Maps, Black & White Negatives, Black and White Contact Sheets, Kodachrome Slides, Photologs, List of Documentation, acid-free copy of all paper records stored in the secondary records storage room

General Note: Date Collected:1993

General Note: Mattapany Phase II DISCLAIMER: The following report is a very preliminary DRAFT. It has not been through the editing process and many of the figures have not been generated. Additionally, when the report was written in 1999, the inclusion of the figures and appendices in the final formatting were not easily done in one document because of technological limitations. In preparation for inclusion in tDAR, this document was therefore updated in 2014 so that complete components of the report could be incorporated into one file. Since many of the figures had not been created, placeholders or updated images were added as needed. The Mattapany collection is frequently accessed by researchers because of its political importance as the 1666-1684 residence of Charles Calvert, Governor of Maryland and Third Lord Baltimore. As a result, analysis of the collection is ongoing, and several studies have been done that expand on the content of this preliminary report. Many of those studies are available online through the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum website (www.jefpat.org). Sara Rivers-Cofield Curator, Federal Collections Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory July 23, 2014

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