Historic Homestead Survey of Versailles State Park

Summary

The Applied Anthropology Laboratories (AAL) at Ball State University was awarded a FY2019 Historic Preservation Fund grant (Grant # 19FFY-07) to survey (Permit # 2019032) sections of Versailles State Park (VSP), Ripley County, Indiana. This Historic Preservation Fund grant project investigated the archaeological resources of VSP with a focus on developing the histories of house sites within the park. This project conducted Phase Ia shovel testing survey, and select Phase Ib intensive shovel testing survey on 13 potential house locations (~13 acres), which located 10 new archaeological sites and expanded the boundaries of one previously recorded site. In addition, Phase Ia visual survey identified an additional eight archaeological sites, two cemeteries, new features at three previously investigated archaeological sites, and verbal documentation of additional information for two previously documented archaeological sites. This year’s survey investigated a total of 26 historic archaeological sites including four resurveys and two cemetery locations. During this year’s survey eight pre-contact artifacts and 871 historic artifacts were recovered from 13 survey areas in VSP. Between the work during FY2018 and FY2019 a total of 41 new archaeological sites and two new cemeteries were recorded. Of the 41 new sites 31 are house/homestead sites that are recommended as potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and could constitute a National Register of Historical Places Archaeological District. These 31 house/homestead sites date to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when residents were moved off the property between 1934 and 1943 when the area became VSP.

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1800 to 1930

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Christine Thompson

Principal Investigator(s): Christine Thompson

Project Director(s): Christine Thompson

Landowner(s): Dept. of Natural Resources, State of Indiana

Sponsor(s): Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology

Repository(s): The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, Indiana

Record Identifiers

Grant Number(s): 19FFY-07

Permit Number(s): 2019032

File Information