"There’s nothing of their house but the ruined foundation": History and Archaeology at the Manton Farm and Primus Collins House Sites

Summary

This presentation highlights an ongoing collaborative, community-based archaeological project at two sites in Little Compton, Rhode Island associated with eighteenth and nineteenth century Native/Afro-American families. Primus Collins, a freed black man, purchased his property in 1836 and his daughter Lucy Collins remained in the house until her death in 1893. Henry Manton’s enslaved mother sent him north in the 1860s and he and his Native American wife raised twelve children in the home Henry built. At numerous times in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Manton and Collins families were the only Afro-Native American family in Little Compton. The results of testing at both cellar holes and detailed local historical research are providing important information about Little Compton’s history that is not as well documented as it’s EuroAmerican past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow