The Social and Material Lives of the Agricultural Elite: The18th-Century Tyngs of Dunstable, Massachusetts

The Tyngs were a wealthy family in Dunstable (now Tyngsborough), Massachusetts in the late- 17th and 18th centuries. They were descended from a Boston merchant, and maintained many commercial connections. Some members of the family became rural storekeepers in Dunstable. Historical research and archaeological data from Eleazer Tyng\u27s house site show the different ways in which the Tyngs related themselves to the urban coastal elite, and participated in the culture of gentility and refinement. Through architecture, social connections, and material goods such as tea wares, they lived as rural elites with connections to the coast. Rather than directly mimicking the life of Boston elites, the Tyngs adapted gentility to their rural life and agrarian base

Book Review: Everyday Religion: an Archaeology of Protestant Belief and Practice in the Nineteenth Century, by Hadley Kruczek-Aaron

Everyday Religion: an Archaeology of Protestant Belief and Practice in the Nineteenth Century, by Hadley Kruczek-Aaron, 2015, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 237 pages, black and white figures, references, index, $79.95 (cloth)

Recursive Use of GPR, Excavation, and Historical Maps at Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts

Gore Place is the early 19th-century house and estate of Massachusetts governor Christopher Gore and his wife Rebecca. The Gores were active in scientific agriculture and cultivated grains, fruits, and vegetables on the property. As part of the landscape restoration, the Gore Place Society wished to know the exact location and preservation status of Gore’s stable and greenhouse. To determine these, we recursively combined historic map georeferencing, ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey, and excavation. We used an initial GPR survey to guide our excavation, then using the GPR-slice images and data from the excavations, a series of historical maps were re-georeferenced, allowing for much better interpretation of the GPR-slice images. Interpreting GPR, excavation, and documentary data in this integrated, sequential package yields more information with less excavation than traditional methods

Archaeological Site Examination of the Field East of the Grapery/Greenhouse, Drive Circle, Straight Walk, and South Lawn at Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts

A landscape restoration plan for the 45-acre historic estate of Massachusetts governor and United States senator, Christopher Gore and his wife Rebecca, recommended archaeological investigations to identify the location, character, and integrity of Gore-period features that could potentially be included in restoration efforts. Investigations began in 2004, focusing on better known landscape elements including the carriage drive, carriage house foundation, greenhouse, vegetable and flower gardens, and the site of the grapery/fruitwall (Smith and Dubell 2006). The 2008 investigations focused on the new site of the carriage house (reported under separate cover) and on lesser known elements of the estate that functioned in the daily running of Gore’s farm. Transects of staggered shovel test pits at 5, 10 and 20 meter intervals, along with 1×1 m excavation units and trenches, were employed in the archaeological site examination. Investigation of the drive circle north of the mansion showed the centrally-located well to have a wide builder’s trench of large cobblestones covered at the ground surface by a hard-packed layer of silty sand with gravel and clay, potentially to prevent contaminants in the immediate vicinity from entering the water. Identified by subsurface testing and ground penetrating radar was a well access walk that joined a straight-edged carriage drive south of the well. Also revealed was a possible square fieldstone feature that surrounds the well. The bedding of Gore’s historically documented straight walk east of the library was also found. A possible landscape feature of unknown form or function was found at the east terminus of the walk, and the walk’s eastern extension was determined to have been removed in the 1930s during mining of topsoil. Testing of the field east of the grapery identified additional boundaries of the 1930s soil removal and an area measuring approximately 60 × 100 m that is not archaeologically sensitive that is suitable for planting crops to interpret Gore’s agricultural use of the property. Examination of the south lawn revealed much of the area to have been plowed in the past and to have been subjected to fertilizing during the Gore period. A number of Gore-period and non Gore-period features were identified, including two dry wells, drainage pipes, post holes, buried fieldstones of unknown association, a deposit of reddened soil and stones of unknown function, golfing features associated with the use of the property by the Waltham Country Club during the 1920s, and a possible cellar or cesspool filled with Gore-period masonry from late 19th-century cellar and chimney alterations. Investigation of a known cistern revealed similar surface treatment to the drive circle well. Results of the south lawn work also identified an area on the flat, central section of the lawn that is not archaeologically sensitive and can be used for interpretative crop cultivation. An EM-31 conductivity meter survey identified a zone of the south lawn that appears to be the site of numerous anomalies, possibly related to the house’s heating, cooling, or water systems. Recommendations specific to each area consist of examining the square feature surrounding the well in the drive circle and determining the nature of drive bedding that adjoins the well access walk, exploring the east end of the straight walk to determine the nature of the feature at that location, further investigating the south lawn cellar or cesspool feature to determine its function and age, and testing several other south lawn features to determine age and function

Loring-Greenough House, North Yard Archaeogeophysics, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

An archaeogeophysical survey was carried out in May 2010 using Geonics EM-38 RT and a Malå Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system with a 500 MHz antenna over an 28x26 m grid immediately northeast of the Loring-Greenough house in Jamaica Plain, MA. Three major anomalies were identified. These anomalies have not been ground truthed, but they appear to be archaeological features. First, we suggest that there is builders trench just north of the house. Second, we suggest that there could be three east-west garden paths or other landscape features about 30 cm below the surface crossing the entire length of the survey grid. Third, we suggest that there could be a buried foundation or cellar hole 110 cm below the ground surface and 20 m north of the house. We recommend additional archaegeophysics be performed at the Loring-Greenough house, as well as a program of exploratory archaeological investigations with the goal of better understanding the past landscape around the house

Documentary Research and Archaeological Investigations at the Waite-Kirby-Potter Site, Westport, Massachusetts

Research on the Waite-Kirby-Potter house in Westport, Massachusetts, included mapping historical resources visible on the surface and excavating 25 test pits and units near the house foundations in the fall of 2009. Field investigations were complemented by extensive documentary research including a complete chain of title and genealogical research on the three families who have owned the property between the late 17th century and the present. The visible historical features include elements associated with the former stone ender (the standing stone end and chimney, an adjacent brick chimney, and a stone-lined cellar hole), stone walls, a 19th-century barn foundation, a family cemetery, and the standing Restcome Potter house. The excavations uncovered a clean gravel work yard in front of the stone end house and sheet trash scatters with artifacts from the mid-18th to early 20th centuries behind and west of the house, as well as the remains of post holes for an agricultural outbuilding or fence at the edge of the near-by agricultural field. A primary trash deposit from a space within the chimney complex was probably deposited c. 1860 and contained numerous reconstructable ceramic vessels and glass bottles. Several of the ceramic vessels date to the previous century and had been curated for some time before being discarded. The most significant contributions are to the architectural history of the property; the combination of archaeological and documentary research has suggested some new or more specific dates for events previously dated only by tradition. We suggest that the stone-end house, traditionally dated to 1677, may have been constructed in the early 18th century between 1707 and 1721 by Thomas or Benjamin Waite. The western addition to the house, attributed to David Kirby, was constructed during the period when David and his father Ichabod’s families both occupied the house (1763-1793). The construction of the Restcome Potter house has traditionally been attributed to Restcome in 1838, but the property’s previous owner David Kirby mentions his “new dwelling house” in his 1832 will, pushing the construction date of this house earlier. Finally, the modifications to the stone chimney took place after 1858, demonstrating the Potter family’s continued use and upkeep of the older house. Test pits around the foundations of the western addition to the stone ender uncovered stone foundations and sill supports intact immediately beneath the modern ground surface

Growing Things Rare, Foreign, and Tender : The Early Nineteenth-Century Greenhouse at Gore Place, Waltham Massachusetts

Excavations and ground penetrating radar at Gore Place in Waltham, Massachusetts, uncovered part of an early 19th-century greenhouse (ca. 1806 to the early 1840s) constructed by Christopher and Rebecca Gore. Documentary, archaeological, and geophysical data suggest that the greenhouse was a formal space intended to display exotic plants and that it was built in the relatively new lean-to style, with a tall back wall and a short front wall. The artifact assemblage included tools and small finds related to the greenhouse operation, as well as the remains of at least 149 planting pots. The greenhouse was constructed during a period of intense interest in agricultural experimentation by members of the Massachusetts commercial and political elite, including Gore. Scholars have argued that these men used the positive associations of agriculture to offset some of the contemporary negative connotations of commerce. This article examines the greenhouse in the light of this scientific agricultural movement but also argues that the greenhouse was an extension of the social space of the house and posits that Rebecca Gore may have played a significant role in managing it

Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey, Report on the 2014 Field Season, Burial Hill Plymouth, Massachusetts

In May and June of 2014, a field school from the University of Massachusetts Boston, in partnership with Plimoth Plantation, undertook a second season of work in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as part of Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey, a site survey and excavation program leading up to the 400th anniversary of New England’s first permanent English settlement in 1620, the founding of Plymouth Colony. This work was conducted under permit #3384 from the State Archaeologist’s office at the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The 2014 work focused on the eastern edge of Burial Hill along School Street in downtown Plymouth and consisted of ground penetrating radar survey and excavation (3 STPs and 9 EUs). Burial Hill, formerly Fort Hill, is understood as the location of the original fort built by the English colonists, and the walls that enclosed the fort and town stretched down the hill towards the harbor. The precise locations of any of these features have never been archaeologically identified. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the land on the eastern edge of the hill along School Street was sold to individuals who built houses and stables, all demolished by the early 20th century. Our test excavations were designed to see if any 17th-century features or deposits existed either under the floors of these buildings or in the strip of land between the backs of the buildings and the burials, which begin roughly 20 meters from the street. During the 2014 season, we did not locate any 17th-century features or deposits. The 2014 excavation units tested the footprints of 4 different 19th-century building lots (an 1827 school and three barn or stable buildings), all of which were demolished between 1882 and 1901. With the exception of the school, the buildings completely filled the 30 foot deep lots that existed along School Street. The excavations revealed that the buildings had been cut into the hill, destroying any earlier deposits that might have existed in those areas. Because of their particular construction and the area topography, there was almost no trash deposition behind the buildings, up the slope of Burial Hill. As each building was taken down, its footprint was filled, first to create a level surface, then to create a regular slope for this edge of Burial Hill. Each building appears to have been filled individually, since the deposits within each building footprint were quite different from each other. Material to fill these substantial building footprints must have been brought in from elsewhere; the slag in EU3 is the clearest evidence of this. Although we found flaked tools (a quartz flake drill, a rhyolite unifacial scraper, and quartz Small Stemmed points) in the topsoil and fill layers of EUs 8 and 9 and chipping debris (quartz and rhyolite) in all excavation units, we found no in-situ Native artifacts or features. With the exception of the large metal pieces in EU2 and some related deposits in EU9 which seem to be primary trash deposits, most other deposits contained either predominantly architectural materials (brick, nails, window glass), or a mixture of architectural materials and redeposited sheet refuse (ceramics and glass in small fragments). One of the only in situ, non-fill deposits that we encountered was the test pit that we dug below the building floor layer of EU2 which uncovered an associated late 18th or early 19th century pipe bowl and a dog skeleton, either a burial or an animal that died below the floor. From other units, there were a number of interesting small finds such as buttons, pins, an 1874 Indian Head penny, and buckles, including an early 20th-century Red Cross pin. Other notable artifacts include fragments of six possible gravestones in both slate and marble. One of these is decorated and appears to be a fragment of a slate Medusa style design from the Soule family of carvers, probably from the 1750s or 1760s. An analysis of all of the bone and tooth fragments recovered during the field season confirmed that the whole collection consisted of the remains of common animals (cat, dog, rat, duck, chicken, sheep/goat, pig, and cow) and included no human remains. EU7, located in the lot that held the 1827 school, yielded a significant collection of small finds related to the school including pen nibs, slate pencils, and a possible compass fragment. The report illustrates these materials and presents comparative research on the archaeology of school sites and artifacts

Data Recovery Excavations of the Carriage House, Greenhouse, and Greenhouse/Carriage House Well at Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts

Excavations and ground penetrating radar at Gore Place in Waltham, Massachusetts, examined the original 1793 carriage house site, the 1806 greenhouse, and the greenhouse/carriage house well, all associated with Christopher and Rebecca Gore. The carriage house was moved in 1968, and its cellar was filled at that time. Mechanical removal of the fill in a portion of the carriage house cellar revealed that the lower portion of at least the rear (north) foundation wall is well preserved along with the cellar floor. Documentary evidence indicated that the carriage house cellar had been used for manure (compost) preparation, while the first floor was used to house horses and to store gardening tools and firewood. Four excavation units set into the cellar floor revealed no evidence of its former use for manure production (such as organic staining) indicating that it had been thoroughly cleaned. The artifacts present in the floor units represent a considerable time period from that of the Gores through to the early 20th century. The majority of objects date to the Gore period, and the wide variety may reflect the incorporation of refuse into manure production. Investigations north of the structure showed that some of the soil in the parking lot constituting the western portion of Gore’s vegetable garden was removed and replaced with a uniform mixture of sand and gravel, probably at the time the carriage house was moved. While the gravel is at least 2 m deep close to the carriage house foundation, its depth lessens with distance northward, since shovel testing in 2004 showed intact dark brown loamy soil beginning at a depth of 35 to 50 cm below driveway gravel and sand bedding at 20 and 40 m north of the carriage house foundation. Early 19th-century maps indicated that the greenhouse was roughly 60 feet (18 m) long and 15 to 21 feet (up to 6.5 m) wide with a small extension on the west end. Fifty-two square meters were excavated at the west end, uncovering the trapezoidal brick fl oor of the extension and an associated stone drain, ground surfaces contemporary with the greenhouse, post holes for a fence that separated the greenhouse area from the carriage house, layers relating to the greenhouse’s destruction (early 1840s), and later landscaping features including a stone wall and two drains. Documentary, archaeological, and geophysical data suggest that the greenhouse was a formal space intended to grow and display exotic plants and that it was built in the relatively new lean-to style, with a tall back wall and short front wall. The artifact assemblage included architectural elements, tools and small finds related to the greenhouse operation (including the remains of at least 149 planting pots), and bone stockpiled for soil enrichment. The greenhouse was constructed by the Gores during a period of intense interest in agricultural experimentation by members of the Massachusetts commercial and political elite. Scholars have argued that these men used the positive associations of agriculture to offset some of the contemporary negative connotations of commerce. This report examines the greenhouse both as a space for the display of exotic plants in the context of this scientifi c agricultural movement and posits that Rebecca Gore may have played a signifi cant role in managing it