Page 56 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

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A structural posthole from Smith’s Ordinary. This plan view shows the hole excavated down to about 5 inches above the bottom with the circular, charcoal- filled postmold clearly visible.
called “the Plundering Time” by Marylanders.32 Turmoil lasted until late 1646 when Governor Leonard Calvert was able to return from Virginia with hired troops and recapture Maryland. Six months later, he died in his house, prompting him in his last act to turn over vital financial af- fairs of the colony to a remarkable woman named Margaret Brent. She saved the colony from fur- ther chaos and should be recognized as one of the most amazing women in 17th-century America. Finding Pope’s Fort is significant because it rep- resents one of the most dramatic events in Mary- land’s early history. But even more significant is the fact that it is the only archaeological evidence that can be directly tied to the English Civil War in the Americas, and the artifact rich moat is a veritable time capsule from “the time of troubles” in 1640s Maryland. It also was the final piece of evidence needed to confirm that we had indeed discovered the home of Maryland’s first governor.
Locating the Calvert House was a major achievement, but by itself was not sufficient to
reveal the configuration of the city center. The next major clue came south of the Calvert House where excavators uncovered a large posthole from an earthfast building. What was unusual about it was that the timber stain or mold was not made of dark organic soil as is typical but was filled with charcoal and ash. This might have been an unusu- al instance of a post being pulled and someone using the resulting hole to dispose of a bucket of fireplace ash. But when a second and then a third similar postmold were found with charcoal, that theory had to be discarded. Instead, the most like- ly explanation was that the building had burned down.
Recovery of burned pottery fragments, melt- ed bottle glass and handmade nails in perfect condition helped to confirm this theory. The mu- seum historian, Lois Carr, was consulted and she knew of only one building that had burned down in the city center — William Smith’s Ordinary. It was built by Smith in 1666–1667 as a public inn and was destroyed by fire in March of 1678. Being occupied for only about a decade was very useful because that provided a clear fact that we could test with the artifacts to support or reject its identification as Smith’s Ordinary. Examining the materials from this area shows an occupation over a relatively brief period in the1660s and 1670s. While precise dating is difficult with 17th- century artifacts, the artifacts do match what one would predict to find at Smith’s Ordinary. Documentary analysis had tentatively placed the Smith’s tract to the west of the Calvert House lot when it was in fact south of that structure. This completely altered our understanding of the city center’s form and allowed two other buildings, the ca. 1670 Lawyer’s Messuage and the 1674 Cordea’s Hope to be accurately identified.
The final clue confirming the Smith’s Ordinary identification came from a rather un- likely source — underwater archaeology. A survey of the St. Mary’s City shoreline was led by James Embrey in 1998 and the divers found a high volume freshwater spring about 50 feet off the current shore at the city center. This was of inter- est because the 1666 layout of Smith’s Townland on which the ordinary stood used a spring as the marker for the northwest corner of the tract, with the spring described as being on the beach. It is likely this served as the major water source for the city center residents, since there is no evidence of wells or other springs in the vicinity. Over the ensuing 330 years, sea level rise and erosion have
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