Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY

Summary

Phase III data recovery and subsequent investigations for Section 106 compliance in Albany, NY. The project focused on recovery of archaeological data from three colonial and early federal contexts. The first two were a brickyard and brickmaker's house from the 17th century. The house was built in the 1630s to lease to a brickmaker; it was burned and rebuilt in the 1650s and finally abandoned about 1686. The brickyard operated from about 1654 until the late 1680s. The third context was a rum distillery in operation by several different owners and operators from the late 1750s until the 1820s. During this time, the distillery went through several modernizations and expansions to suit the growing market for rum following the Revolutionary War. Stemming from this data recovery were several microscopic and macroscopic analyses including a study of heavy metal contents in privy nightsoil deriving from contemporary medicines.

Cite this Record

Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY. ( tDAR id: 381338) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8WQ058Z

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
Historic

Material
Building Materials • Ceramic • Dating Sample • Fauna • Glass • Macrobotanical • Metal • Pollen • Shell • Wood

Site Name
Quackenbush Square Parking Facility

Site Type
Brickyard • Commercial or Industrial Structures • Distillery • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Historic Structure • House • Non-Domestic Structures • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation • Historic Background Research • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan

General
17TH CENTURY OCCUPATION • 18TH CENTURY OCCUPATION • 19th Century • alcohol • Brickmaking • Bricks • Colonial Settlement • Dutch • Faunal Analysis (Historic) • heavy metal analysis • Macrobotanical • Parasite Analysis • Pollen Analysis • Production • Trade

Geographic Keywords
Albany, New York

Temporal Keywords
17th Century • 18th Century • 19th Century

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1759 to 1823 (Rum distillery)

Calendar Date: 1630 to 1686 (Brickyard and brickmaker's house)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -73.765; min lat: 42.636 ; max long: -73.738; max lat: 42.672 ;

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

Source Collections

New York State Museum

Resources Inside this Project (Viewing 1-13 of 13)

Documents

  1. The Archaeology of 19th-Century Medicine in Troy and Albany, NY (2011)
  2. Archaeoparasite Analysis of Sediments from the Niagra-Mohawk Power Corporation State Street Site, the Quackenbush Square Parking Garage Site, and the Court of Appeals Site. (2002)
  3. Beyond the North Gate: Archeology on the Outskirts of Colonial Albany. Archeological Data Retrieval, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility, Broadway, Albany, New York (2005)
  4. Pollen Analysis of Sediments from the Niagra-Mohawk Power Corporation State Street Site, the Quackenbush Square Parking Garage Site, and the Court of Appeals Site (2002)
  5. The Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Site Faunal Analysis and Interpretation (2002)
  6. Trace Element Analysis of Quackenbush Soils (2002)

Images

  1. Artifacts from Occupation 1 (Contact-1654), Brickmaker's House, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY (2001)
  2. Artifacts from Occupation 2 (1654-1686), Brickmaker's House, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY (2001)
  3. Brickmaker's House, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY (2002)
  4. Detailed Vat Photos from the Douw-Quackenbush Rum Distillery, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY (2002)
  5. Rum Distillation Vat Removal and Conservation, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Site, Albany, NY (2002)
  6. Site Photographs and Figures, Quackenbush Square Parking Facility Historic Archaeological Site, Albany, NY (2001)

Datasets

  1. Artifact Inventory, Quackenbush Parking Garage Archaeological Site, Albany, NY (2002)