Page 118 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

figure 1
Modern aerial photograph of Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park showing the approximate location of Charles Town period structures based on historical and archaeological research.
A) Church, courthouse, and jail
B) Charles Tracy’s ordinary
C) Thomas Hollyday’s store
D) Structure with cellar
E) 18 x 24 ft dwelling/ ordinary
F) 10 x 20 ft quarter associated with Structure E
G) Probable outbuilding associated with Structure E
H) 20 x 40 ft store/ dwelling
I) probable domestic structure
J) dwelling/ordinary with cellar
K) unidentified structure
L) James Stoddert’s house at Beall’s Gift
questions. When the archaeology project began at Mount Calvert in 1996, we developed several basic questions that spawned more narrow ques- tions and research avenues. The core questions were: What was the layout of Charles Town? How many town lots were taken up? How many of those lots were improved? What kinds of build- ings were constructed? Who were the individuals who took up lots or speculated on land around the town? Who lived in the town or immediate vicinity year-round? What kind and volume of businesses operated in the town? Who operated those businesses? and How did Charles Town function as a place within the county, region, and Atlantic worlds? These basic questions guided the documentary and archaeological research.
Charles Town was defined by three ele- ments common to courthouse towns throughout the Chesapeake region during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. First, politics al- ways guided the choice of courthouse location and often the decision to move. Understanding the politics of location requires defining the in- dividuals who were in a position to benefit from the designation of a courthouse at a particular
locale. Second, the most prominent individuals at courthouse towns were merchant politicians and ordinary keepers. These individuals took up most of the lots in towns, strategically situated their in- terests, and were a constant presence at these sites. Third, the activities at the ordinary and courthouse and the movement between these institutions define the courthouse town as a unified form. Each of these components is examined through available historical and archaeological data.
Courthouse Towns: Charles Town
and the Politics of Location
It is difficult to imagine the bucolic setting of Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park as a once thriving public meeting place on the Patuxent River. The site of Charles Town, of- ten simply called Mount Calvert, was once part of a 1,000-acre tract called “Mount Calvert Manor” granted to Philip Calvert, brother of second Lord Baltimore Cecil Calvert in 1657.3 Philip and his wife, Anne, never lived on, or improved the prop- erty, before selling it to William Groome, Sr. for 30,000 pounds of tobacco in 1667. Groome died
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MAP BY SUSAN WINCHELL-SWEENEY.