Evaluating the Chronology of the Joiner’s Shop in a Changing Monticello Landscape

Summary

The Joiner’s Shop at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello was the structure in which highly-skilled free and enslaved craftsmen manufactured decorative woodwork and furniture for Jefferson’s mansion during the late-18th and early-19th centuries.  While the Joiner’s Shop is the largest structure on Mulberry Row, the center of work and domestic life at the Plantation, little is known regarding its construction history, whether the space was divided based on work and domestic activities, or how the building was used after Jefferson’s death in 1826. Developing and evaluating archaeological chronologies for artifact assemblages from recent excavations within and around the structure may delineate temporal trends and site-specific variation.  This level of analysis can provide a better idea of how the Joiner’s Shop fit into the constantly changing Monticello landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• "The task of making improvements on the earth:" Perspectives on plantation landscape archaeology.

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 446