A Reevaluation of the Excavations at George Washington's Blacksmith Shop
Author(s): Lily Carhart
Year: 2018
Summary
The blacksmith shop at George Washington’s Mount Vernon is situated roughly 200 ft. north of the mansion house and was extant in that location from at least 1762 through Washington’s death in 1799. This period featured multiple reorganizations of the grounds and dependencies, in particular the area between the mansion and the blacksmith shop was converted from a work yard to the formal North Grove. The remains of the blacksmith shop and related archaeological features have been excavated on five separate occasions from as early as 1930 through 2007. The most extensive excavation occurred in 1987, but it was of limited scope. This study seeks to reevaluate these excavations focusing on the spatial and temporal relationships between the blacksmith shop and the surrounding landscape, including the impact of changing production methods and whether the archeological evidence supports our current interpretation that the North Grove was transformed to a formal space.
Cite this Record
A Reevaluation of the Excavations at George Washington's Blacksmith Shop. Lily Carhart. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441458)
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Keywords
General
Blacksmith Shop
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George Washington
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reevaluation
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
18th Century
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): 686