Page 126 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

figure 5 (top)
Location of structures at Terrace Site C near
the confluence of the Patuxent River and the Western Branch. I) Probable domestic structure; J) dwelling/ordinary with cellar; K) unidentified structure.
figure 6
West profile of cellar of Building J at Terrace Site C.
“roundhouse” were located near Moore’s half-acre lot on Beall’s Gift. Darnall still owned his im- proved lot in Charles Town at his death in 1713. It is unclear what this shed was used for, although it was rented by ordinary keeper Joseph Addison in 1708. It appears that this is the only lot and building that Darnall owned within the town. The roundhouse was a public jail used for temporarily holding individuals accused of minor offences and was probably used for this purpose until a formal jail was constructed in 1710.27
A shovel test survey and block excavations in the area uncovered structural elements of two buildings and an artifact scatter suggesting at least one additional building nearby. This collection of structures was identified as “Terrace Site C.” The most prominent feature uncovered was a 10.5 by 13 foot cellar dating to the early eighteenth cen- tury.28 This cellar was situated beneath a 20 foot wide structure (see figure 5, Building J), with ac- cess via a 4 foot wide bulkhead entrance located on the south side of the building. Structural posts for the exterior walls and bulkhead entrance were documented during the excavations. Plank walls were used to fortify the perimeter of the cellar and a layer of packed clay was used for the floor. The shape of the structural post holes suggests that the builders employed bents to frame the struc- ture, but more of the structure would need to be excavated to confirm the construction techniques. There also appears to have been some damage to the cellar from erosion of the loose sandy loam soils surrounding the structure.
Very few artifacts were uncovered that can be reliably assigned to the structure while the cel- lar was in use. A thin lens of ashy soil lying on the clay cellar floor contained about 500 artifacts including a small sample of prehistoric artifacts, tobacco pipes, bottle glass, drinking vessel glass, ceramic sherds, and straight pins. Two distinct layers of fill above this thin lens of soil contained early 18th-century artifacts deposited after the cellar was abandoned. A small sample of ceramics, pipe stems, and a 1700 William III half penny or farthing suggest an abandonment of the build- ing in the 1710s or 1720s. Mass fill layers were deposited in and over the cellar during the late eighteenth century and again in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
This structure most likely functioned as or in conjunction with Moore’s ordinary and perhaps subsequent keepers such as Joseph Addison who rented Henry Darnall’s shed in 1708
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PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL T. LUCAS, COURTESY OF THE MARYLAND-NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK AND PLANNING COMMISSION. MAP BY SUSAN WINCHELL-SWEENEY.