Page 96 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

figure 1
Eight physically located Providence sites.
where the inhabitants were aligned with the local Algonquian — hated enemies of the Susquehan- nock. The rapid collapse of the beaver trade due to over hunting soon rendered the dream of capital- izing on this short-lived boom industry moot, and the Providence settlers remained concentrated on the tobacco-based economy they had learned in Virginia.
The discord between Providence and the co- lonial government reached its height in 1655 when Governor Stone set north with a military and naval force to compel the Puritans to recognize the authority of Lord Baltimore’s administration in St. Mary’s City. This resulted in the “Battle of the Severn,” the only known land engagement in North America associated with the English Civil War. It proved to be a particularly bloody loss for Governor Stone who himself was taken prisoner. The execution of four captured prisoners high- lights the depth of rancor between these groups of Englishmen. The end result was to leave the pro-parliamentarian Puritans in control of the colony until the restoration of Charles II in 1660 and the return of power to Lord Baltimore.
Although historians had pieced together the Providence story, and were even able to accurately locate town lands and other ca. 1660 plantations on the landscape, no physical remains associated with the Puritan settlement had been located until the 1989 discovery.2
The Archaeological Sites
Over the course of over a decade a total of eight sites were located that were clearly part of the early Puritan settlement.3 As stated, none had been pre- viously recorded prior to the Lost Towns Project field research. Although the town lands of Prov- idence certainly included parts of what is today Annapolis and Eastport on the south bank of the Severn River, figure 1 clearly illustrates that all eight Lost Towns Project sites are located on the north bank of the river and around Whitehall Bay. This is undoubtedly an artifact of site preservation. Today, both Annapolis and Eastport are densely settled areas that are not conducive to the preser- vation of small ephemeral 17th century home sites. Occasional mid-17th century artifacts are recov- ered in both Annapolis and Eastport, but no intact features have ever been encountered.4
The Broadneck Site
The Broadneck Site (designated 18AN818) is the
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increase its Protestant population.
Starting in 1649 at the Town of Providence on
the Severn River, the Virginia Puritans soon spread all along the coastline. By the early 1650s, this in- cluded an area stretching from what is now Calvert to Baltimore Counties on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Since the population of St. Mary’s City had greatly declined in the 1640s, the new Puritan settlement instantly became the main population center of the Maryland colony.1
Ultimately the Lord Baltimore’s attempt at secularizing Maryland did not work out as he had planned. The Puritan enclave and its inhabitants all but ignored the colonial government. Most importantly for future researchers, the Providence settlers kept their own records of land transactions for over a decade, records which do not survive today. Since Lord Baltimore legally “owned” all land in Maryland this was, quite obviously, not a popular move with the Proprietor or the colonial authorities at St. Mary’s City.
Leaving their homes in Virginia, in part to escape the discord they felt with the pro-royalist colonial government, the geographically advanta- geous choice of location for Providence is inter- esting. Not only is Providence near Kent Island (still occupied by some of the Protestant settlers placed there by William Claiborne in 1631), but they were also closer to the best available source of beaver skins at the northern end of the bay. Their interest in the latter is reflected in their 1652 trea- ty with the Susquehannock Indians. Both of these motives demonstrate a clear discord between the Puritans and the Catholics of St. Mary’s City,