The Real Value of an 1853 Dollar: A Foundation Rite Date Coin from the Levi Jordan Plantation House in Brazoria County, Texas
Author(s): Douglas Boyd
Year: 2017
Summary
The Levi Jordan plantation house in Brazoria County, Texas, is a two-story, antebellum house made of cut lumber on a pier-and-beam foundation. It is currently a state historical park run by the Texas Historical Commission. The house underwent a full structural restoration between 2010 and 2012. It was raised above ground on steel beams and cribs to allow for repairs to the fireplace and wall foundations. Prewitt and Associates, Inc. archeologists investigated the original brick chimney bases and all of the original brick and wood piers under the house. An 1853 US one-dollar gold coin was found between the bottom layers of brick in one of the corner pier pads. It was probably a date coin placed during a foundation-laying ritual conducted by Freemasons. Finding of this coin also answered one of the critical historical questions for the Jordan plantation by confirming that the house construction began in 1853.
Cite this Record
The Real Value of an 1853 Dollar: A Foundation Rite Date Coin from the Levi Jordan Plantation House in Brazoria County, Texas. Douglas Boyd. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435348)
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Keywords
General
date coin
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Plantation
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Ritual
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1850s
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): 584