Household Artifacts from the Storm Wreck

Summary

When Loyalist families evacuated Charleston, South Carolina in December 1782, they carried with them all they could bring from their homes. Domestic artifacts recovered from the Storm Wreck include pewter spoons and plates, a glass stopper, ceramics associated with tea consumption, a variety of iron and copper cookware, fireplace hardware, clothing irons, straight pins, padlocks and keys, furniture hardware, a candlestick, and a door lock stripped from an abandoned home, wrapped in course cloth with its key for transport. These artifacts can give us a general idea of what typical British colonial subjects from a variety of social backgrounds used in their everyday lives, and what items were deemed critical for survival and for attempting to cultivate a sense of normalcy in what were certainly not normal times for these Loyalists forced to flee their homes and start new lives in an unfamiliar colony.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology, Conservation, and Interpretation of the Storm Wreck, a Wartime Refugee Vessel Evacuating Charleston, South Carolina at the End of the American Revolution and Lost at St. Augustine, Florida on 31 December 1782   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 831