Page 77 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

established at Mattapany. Inventories reveal a building stocked with muskets, pistols, carbines, powder, shot, and other weapons. From time to time, guards of up to 30 men were stationed at Mattapany to protect both the magazine and Calvert’s mansion. Calvert also ordered arms from the magazine at Mattapany to be stored at Notley Hall with military exercises carried out at “Notley Hall field.”39
No inventory survives for the proprietor’s house at Mattapany, although the regular meet- ings of the Council suggest the necessity for a large hall or chamber for accommodating the col- ony’s political elite. In a letter to his father, Gover- nor Calvert referred to a parlor in the house where he had displayed a portrait of his mother, Anne Arundel. As for Notley Hall, a room-by-room in- ventory taken in 1679 does survive and describes a veritable mansion probably not too different from the unrecorded Mattapany. The main house at Notley Hall had 10 to 11 rooms (and four pas- sages), including a “Great Hall,” “Best Room,” and “Counting House.” Seven of these rooms appear to have been heated. The furnishings in the Best Room, including a fully outfitted feather bed and bedstead, were valued at an astonishing 71 pounds sterling. The “Great Hall,” or what functioned as the council chamber, contained 22 leather and two “Turky worked” chairs, four tables (three covered in cloth), green “hangings,” and fireplace equip- ment. The walls were covered with a “Lookinge glasse” (or mirror) and three framed pictures, and a pewter cistern for rinsing dishes was located at one end of the room.40
Given the elite status of their occupants, it is not especially surprising that excavations at both sites have revealed dwellings with large footprints. What is surprising, however, is the extent of ma- sonry construction found for both. The dwelling house at Mattapany measured 25 by 50 ft in plan and was supported by a continuous masonry foundation two feet in width. Bacon’s Castle, a ca. 1665 house located on the south side of the James River in Virginia, is also supported by a two-foot wide foundation and includes a full cellar, two sto- ries, and a loft. Mattapany was probably not that different.41 The exposed portion of the foundation indicates that an internal central chimney heated two rooms on each floor, and an unheated lobby provided entrance for visitors. Fancy tin-glazed earthenware tiles decorated at least two hearths, most rooms were plastered, the windows were likely all glazed, and the roof was covered with
75
figure 16
Plan of Mattapany (18ST390). Note the palisaded courtyard with a possible defensive bastion at the corner.
figure 17
Bacon’s Castle, Surry County, Virginia, built ca. 1665.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PRESERVATION VIRGINIA.
IMAGE BY SCOTT STRICKLAND