Rum Distillation Vat Removal and Conservation, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Site, Albany, NY

Summary

After the rum distillery site was buried beneath crushed stone fill to prepare for construction, plans were made to remove and conserve two of the more complete and intact vats. The vats were conserved with PEG at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in New York State and put on permanent display at an exhibit of Albany archaeology in the Charles L. Fisher Gallery at the New York State Museum.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1759 to 1823 (Rum distillery)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc.

Record Identifiers

New York State Museum Accession Number(s): A2003.23

Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc. Project Number(s): 1997

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Unique Site Number(s): 00

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Project Review Number(s): 00PR02006

Notes

General Note: Photos documenting the removal and treatment of rum distillation vat elements at the Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site. The wooden elements were conserved and treated by staff at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and reconstructed as part of a permanent exhibit on Albany archaeology at the New York State Museum. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 1: View of Feature 511 after half of the vat was removed. Wooden elements were marked with plastic ear tags used to identify dairy cows. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 2: An archaeologist hammering the ear tags into the vat staves. The crushed stone between the vats was fill deposited after the Phase III data recovery in preparation for construction, and subsequently graded away to allow vat removal. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 3: View of two vats and a conservation specialist wrapping a stave in burlap for transportation and treatment at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 4: Archaeologists removing crushed stone fill from the exterior of the vats. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 5: An archaeologist freeing the baseboards from a vat and examining the wooden pipe beneath. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 6: Feature 508 after removal of wooden elements. Remnants and impressions from the reed bands that encircled the vats are present in the profile. Archaeologists also sampled and screened the soil from beneath the vats, indicated by the dark soil on the right side of the vat in this photo. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 7: Vat elements awaiting conservation at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Qbush Vat Removal Photo 8: Features 508 and 511 after removal of all wooden elements.

Source Collections

New York State Museum

File Information