The Castro Colonies Heritage Association's Living History Center: An Introduction to the Archaeological Project
Author(s): Ruth Van Dyke
Year: 2017
Summary
In the 1840s, empresario Henri di Castro brought Alsatian settlers from the Rhine Valley to south Texas, where the new arrivals joined established Mexican families, German immigrants, and displaced Apache. Today, the Castro Colonies Heritage Association (CCHA) is transforming a 19th-century property into a Living History Center, intended as a focal point for Alsatian heritage tourism. In partnership with the CCHA, Binghamton University archaeologists have completed three excavation seasons at the Biry/Tschirhart property. Our archaeological findings contribute a narrative that confirms, complicates and challenges written and remembered histories, illustrating how seven generations of house inhabitants constructed and contested Alsatian identity.
Cite this Record
The Castro Colonies Heritage Association's Living History Center: An Introduction to the Archaeological Project. Ruth Van Dyke. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435329)
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Keywords
General
Alsace
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heritage
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Identity
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Memory
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Migration
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Texas
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
19th-20th Centuries
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 157