Rising from the Dark Marshes: Investigations of an Elite Homestead on Mulberry Island, Virginia

pete regan

Rising from the Dark Marshes: Investigations of an Elite Homestead on Mulberry Island, Virginia

Author(s): pete regan

Year: 2017

Summary

Mulberry Island, a peninsula on Virginia’s James River and home to Joint Base Langley-Eustis’ Fort Eustis, is a trove of cultural resources. Among its more than 230 archaeological sites are dozens of indentured, enslaved, and tenant laborers’ ephemeral homesteads. Relatively few sites associated with its economically advantaged minority have been discovered on Mulberry Island, leaving a gap in the archaeological record compounded by the loss of antebellum public records during the Civil War. Recent Phase II investigations at 44NN0178, the mid-eighteenth to nineteenth century home of a prosperous Mulberry Islander, offer a glimpse into the lives of this class. This paper presents our investigation’s results, which revealed intact features and a diverse artifact assemblage that speaks to socioeconomics, domestic relationships, and some of the historic period’s earliest forms of folk art. Such research opportunities enrich this Chesapeake community’s narrative and contribute to the broader sphere of its historic context.

Cite this Record

Rising from the Dark Marshes: Investigations of an Elite Homestead on Mulberry Island, Virginia. pete regan. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435464)