Searching for the "Lighthouse Fort and the Refugee Town" on Sandy Hook, Public Archaeology at a Storied Historical Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community-Based Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since 1764 the Sandy Hook Lighthouse has guarded the treacherous approaches to New York Harbor. During the American Revolution Continental forces unsuccessfully tried to deny the British control of the lighthouse. British troops and partisans captured Sandy Hook early in the war and, despite repeated raids by Continental forces, retained control of the sandy peninsula until the end of the conflict. Indeed, the British fortified the lighthouse and Loyalists, many of African descent, constructed a Refugee Town near the lighthouse which served as a base of operations for raiding parties along the Jersey shore. Monmouth University’s 2016 archaeological field school was a cooperative endeavor between a private university and the National Park Service, designed to investigate the lighthouse property while providing local residents with an opportunity to participate in archaeological fieldwork at a significant local historic site. The project resulted in an improved understanding of the site and built local interest in regional archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative and Community-Based Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24357