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“Each one of us everywhere defines ourself through the place where we were born and raised. The sense of place shapes each of us in deep and lasting ways. Each of us carries within ourselves a “little postage stamp of native soil” (William Faulkner), and it is to this place that each of us goes to find our clearest, deepest sense of identity.”

Bill Ferris, Chair, NEH, 1998

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Yesterday my grandmother hosted a family reunion, with family and friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen since the last party, already one decade ago. My grandmother remains a classic figure and she has always known how to throw a smashing party, but my favorite part of the evening was long after the party had ended. A few relatives and I sat around the house with my dad’s cousin and my dad as they told many stories about the family. They described the people I had never met, the houses I had never been in, who had what kind of temperament, who did what for a living, and so much more. Hearing these stories are priceless memories and knowledge.  And having heard the characteristics of certain family members, generations above mine, I can identify with them because of a certain characteristic or hobby, and so much about myself and my immediate family falls into place. And while they shared these stories, we sat in my grandmother’s house, which has always been home to me. Between the house, the place, the company, and newly known (to me) connections to my ancetors, I had never felt more at home.

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Pip’s Next Adventure

For those of you who read the newsletter, you saw the following comic strip titled “The Amazing Adventures of Pip the Flamingo.”

Preservationists, particularly those against big box retailers and such, likely understood the comic strip. However, many friends who are not trained in preservation or the messages of Preservation in Pink didn’t quite get it. For some background explanation check out: Why Do All Preservationists Love Flamingos? and Meet Pip. That should clear up any confusion.

Vinny is requesting reader input on Pip’s next adventure. What preservation related mission or adventure can Pip find? Leave suggestions below or email them to preservationinpink [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks!

Adventures in the Field: Week 4

Adventures in the Field: Archaeology at Historic Bath, NC is a series of posts about Lauren’s experiences as a TA at East Carolina University’s summer 2009 archaeology field school in Bath, NC.  This is post # 4.

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By Lauren McMillan

Week 4: 6/8/09 – 6/12/09

Week four was defined not by new archaeological discoveries on the site, but by new methodological and interpretive breakthroughs. We got down almost to the bottom of the stairs this week, which is very exciting.  Also, we have been informed that there are steps similar to ours in the Palmer-Marsh House, a 1750s house located on the other side of town.  The stairs leading down into the basement kitchen of the house have wide brick steps with short wooden risers, whereas, ours would have had a short brick part and a long wooden step.  The wood would have most likely been used to prevent slipping on wet brick.  The Palmer-Marsh House has one of the three known 18^th century cellars in Bath, which includes ours and one that Stan South dug in the 1960s in the yard of the P-M House.  In fact, Dawn, the other TA, is comparing our cellar to South’s in an effort to determine socio-economic status of the citizens of Bath.  One of her goals is to see how connected Bath was to the rest of the world in the 18^th century; if the town was on the end of the world, or was highly involved in the trade and consumerism of the colonial period.

Sue excavating the stairs. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

Palmer-Marsh house. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Stan South’s cellar excavated in the 1960s. Credit: Historic Bath (click to be redirected to site).

We are almost to the bottom of the cellar, and will most likely be done by next week. Now that we have a large portion of the cellar wall exposed, it appears that the foundation of the building was in Flemish bond; and as all you good preservationists know, that’s the fanciest bond.  So, one of the questions I am asking, is why would a communal warehouse be constructed in a way that would require the most bricks, or even with bricks at all?  Why not make a generic post-in ground or sill set building?  My initial thoughts on this are that because it is right on Front Street, right in front of the first port in North Carolina and that most of the visitors to Bath were merchants, this was a way of advertising to the rest of the world that Bath was a cool place to live.  Bath was a fairly new town when the building was constructed in the 1720s, and the community would have wanted to encourage immigration and one of the best ways to do that was to show that the town had the money to burn on bricks.  My second, and completely ludicrous idea, goes along with the story that Blackbeard’s men came and settled in Bath after his beheading in 1718 and brought all their money and loot with them.  They invested in the warehouse and put in a secret passage to their buried treasure in the cellar.  I hope we find it soon; my student loans are stacking up…

Our artifact density has started to pick up within the cellar, especially tobacco pipe stems and bowls.  This is particularly interesting to me, because my thesis is on pipe stem dating methods, and I’m hoping to include this site in my data.  I’ll give you a brief history and idea of how pipe stem dating works.  Basically, it all started in Colonial Williamsburg in the 1950s, as most things in historical archaeology do.  Archaeologist J. C. Harrington noted that imported English white clay tobacco pipe stem fragments change over time in a measurable manner, following the basic trend of decreasing bore (the hole where one would suck smoke through) diameter from the 17^th century into the late 18^th century.  He tested this idea by measuring fragments from the 17^th and 18^th century using drill bits in 1/64^th inch steps, from 9/64^th inch to 4/64^th inch.  With the data he collected, Harrington came up with five time periods based on relative percentages of sizes (see Harrington Histogram).

Harrington’s pipe stem periods. From Harrington 1954: “Dating Stem Fragments of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Clay Tobacco Pipes.” Quarterly Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Virginia 9(1):10-14.

About ten years later in 1962 Lewis Binford expanded on Harrington’s histogram and applied a linear regression formula to the relative percentages.  The Binford regression formula, Y=1931.85-38.26X, is a fairly simple idea.  He calculated out the expected date at which the bore diameter would reach zero, 1931.85, and the interval between the means of the Harrington time periods, 38.26.  With these numbers, one would plug in X, the mean diameter for the sample being used, to calculate Y, the date trying to be determined, or the mean of the data sample.  This formula is used by all colonial archaeologists to help date their sites.  There are currently two other formula methods; Hanson’s ten linear formulas and the Heighton and Deagan curvilinear formula.  I won’t expand on these right now, other than to say that they are loosely based on Binford’s, are much more confusing and are rarely used.  The goal of my thesis is to determine which of these methods, if any, are the most accurate and reliable.  As a post-modern archaeologist, I hope to show that applying formulas and predictive models to people in different and wide geographic areas is ridiculous and useless.

Measuring pipe stems. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Well, the last thing that happened this week was on Friday, when I was up at Stratford visiting UMW’s field school.  Robert, a field school and graduate student, is doing his thesis on geospatial technologies and their usefulness to archaeology.  One of the sites that he is using is the Palmer-Marsh cemetery, and he was out there most of the week setting up a grid and making a map, getting ready for his data collecting.  He is trying to locate unmarked graves in the cemetery using all sorts of fancy gadgets.  On Friday Robert brought out the laser scanner and scanned in all the grave markers and ground surface to create a 3D image of the site.  This will help in determining any subsurface remains by looking at the change in surface levels and will be combined with later surveys he will be performing, such as GPR and resistivity.

Palmer-Marsh cemetery. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Well, that about wraps things up for this week. We should have the cellar completed next week and will hopefully start excavating the builder’s trench. Robert will also be bringing out other geospatial tools, so more on that later.

Me, Stan South, and Brad at South’s poetry reading. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Cleaning (Out) My Room

When I planned to be home in New York for part of the summer, I planned on cleaning out my room. My parents had been threatening to stage a coup and throw out everyone in my room if I didn’t sort through all of it. (Yes, it’s still my room and no, they wouldn’t really do that, but I bargained with them that the big clean out would be before I went to grad school. I also have to vacuum thoroughly and dust everything.) Fortunately, my parents understand that I tend to move back and forth across the country and cannot carry everything with me.

This is my third or fourth day (it’s becoming a blur) cleaning out my room and I have figured out why I have saved papers, tchotchkes, photographs, books, stuffed animals, etc. The answer is that I can remember the origins of 95% of things in my room. I can pick up anything and easily recall where it’s from, who gave it to me, what I used it for, what doll it belonged to, why I saved that piece of paper… and the list never ends.  Just call it a blessing and a curse. I get it from my mom.

Luckily, I have just moved most of my belongings 850 miles and I am in the mood to not have so much stuff for the next time I move. In other words, I’m in a ruthless mood, which is the best mood to sort through my room, which equates to most of my life in material possessions.

By some miracle I’ve been able to recycle bags of papers and give away many useless tchotchkes and the dozens of pocketbooks that the closet collected from my sisters and me over the years. It’s been rather productive and everyone is impressed. (With that said, it’s still a mess and it’s a good thing I’m home for a while).

But while room cleaning is a great way to earn my keep around here, it’s also a wonderful trip through my life. Many items deserved to be tossed, but I’ve found wonderful mementos such as my first library card, long lost photographs, letters, and my grandmother’s notebook of songs from 1943. I took time to read through scrapbooks that I made of my grade school years and a family scrapbook from a reunion 10 years ago that I’m bringing to our reunion on Sunday. I’ve sorted dolls, doll clothes and their accessories into what is good enough to save for future generations and what should be given away.  Needless to say it’s been fun and I keep smiling.

So, what am I leaving? For now, I’ll leave scrapbooks, a collection of notes passed to me by friends in high school, books, editions of the high school newspaper for which I was an editor, a box of high school track medals, and other sentimental items. I’ll bring this to my house once I settle in one place. For now, the room has enough empty drawers and closet space to be used for a guest room, and my mom can redecorate the walls. Everyone’s happy.

A question to ponder: do you think preservationists have a harder time throwing away things than non-preservationists? I don’t mean this in a pack-rat sense, but just in a different understanding of individual history. I’m just curious. Leave comments below.

Preservacation: Beaufort, NC

Preservacation is a series of essays by Brad Hatch about the preservation related adventures, issues, and sites that he and Lauren have encountered on their travels.  This is #5 in the series.

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By Brad Hatch

Bahamian architecture, Blackbeard, a maritime museum, and a painting of Doug Sanford. When Lauren and I went to Beaufort, NC a few months ago we definitely weren’t expecting to find all of these things. The main reason we were drawn to this little seaside town was Blackbeard. Yes, Blackbeard the pirate. Now, I know there are people out there who think pirates are awesome, but I’ve never really given them a second thought. Actually, I think the revived interest in pirates has come from the fact that Johnny Depp played one, and, after all, he is a beautiful man. Back to my story. Blackbeard drew us to Beaufort not only because he had a house there, but because many of the artifacts from his ship reside in the North Carolina Maritime Museum in town.

Lauren was very excited about her trip to Beaufort. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

For the past two semesters Lauren has been working with the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project, which excavates and conserves the artifacts from Blackbeard’s flagship, which sunk right off the coast at Beaufort Inlet. Needless to say, they have some cool stuff in the museum. In addition to some of the cannon from the ship, there are pewter plates, a brass bell, and a urethral syringe (which was used to administer mercury to the men aboard the ship in order to treat venereal diseases). The Blackbeard exhibit is only a small part of the museum, however. It covers most of North Carolina’s maritime heritage from Native American dugout canoes to modern vessels. The exhibits pay close attention to the economic impact that the sea and its resources have had on the state, including whaling, oystering, fishing, and waterfowling. One of the most interesting parts of the museum is actually in another building. Across the street from the main museum building is the watercraft center which is staffed by volunteers that demonstrate model ship building and boatbuilding. They even offer classes on boatbuilding to the public that range from constructing sailing vessels to maintaining diesel boat engines.

Carteret Academy, ca. 1842. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Beaufort isn’t just a museum though. It’s an interesting little historic town. The town was founded in 1709 and quickly became an important port for ships due to its protected inlet, making it a hub of international trade. This international influence is reflected in the architecture of the town, particularly the eighteenth century buildings. The majority of the early structures along the waterfront are built in the Bahamian style. This is what the brochures from Beaufort call it, but I couldn’t find Bahamian architecture in the little bit of research I did, so if no such style exists feel free to let me know. Anyway, the main feature that sets these houses apart from others of the same time period is the porch on the first and second story of the houses. They are pretty unusual features and seem particularly suited to hot climates such as the Caribbean or North Carolina in August. This style likely found its way to Beaufort as a result of the trading vessels and sailors that passed through the town. Building in this fashion allowed the more cosmopolitan residents of the small port of Beaufort to adopt and modify the fashions that their counterparts in the big port cities of the islands indulged in. This style actually became a part of Beaufort and continued for years as houses dating from the eighteenth through late nineteenth centuries have porches on both stories, in the Bahamian fashion.

Masonic Lodge. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Old Fellows Hall, ca. 1831. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Vaulted burial in the Old Burying Ground. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

There are several things that you don’t want to miss in Beaufort, including a really cool cemetery with lots of vaulted burials and interesting stories (this will be addressed in an upcoming post). The one thing that really made an impression on me though was in the maritime museum. They have an entire exhibit devoted to piracy, because of Blackbeard’s tie to the area, located in a little room off of the main hall. The exhibit includes pirate smells, clothing, typical meals, and paintings. One of these paintings stands out above the rest because it features Doug Sanford, our beloved professor from UMW.

"Forty Thieves" in the NC Maritime Museum. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

Close up of painting showing Doug's doppelganger. Courtesy of Brad Hatch.

The painting is titled “Forty Thieves” and shows a pirate ship with all sorts of riff raff aboard and Doug (actually his doppelganger) in the center of it all sporting a pair of yellow and purple tights. As of right now, you can see this painting and other portions of the same exhibit at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh. It is on loan for an exhibit on piracy. However, this shouldn’t deter you from taking a trip to Beaufort, there’s still a ton of cool stuff to see and do. Just make sure to stop by that pirate exhibit in Raleigh on the way back.

Charlottesville Community Chalkboard

In downtown Charlottesville, freedom of speech, civic art, and community involvement are sights that you will not miss. Located in front of City Hall is the Charlottesville Community Chalkboard and Podium: A Monument to the First Amendment.  The chalkboard opened in 2006, but plans had been underway long beforehand. According a June 23, 2005 article in “The Hook,” the idea was proposed in 1997. In 2001, the City Council approved the construction of the 54′ long x 7.5′ high chalkboard.  The designers of the monument are architects Peter O’Shea and Robert Winstead.  At first the monument worried city officials since anyone could write anything on it, but it has been a positive contribution to the community. Permanently inscribed on the chalkboard are quotes by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and poet John Milton [see The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression]. Aside from those permanent words, the chalkboard can be erased, washed, and begun anew by anyone. A local high school student, Sasha Soloduhkina, created a time lapse video of the monument. It’s about 3 minutes long and shows the chalkboard being erased and written on by people in the community.

Community Chalkboard

Charlottesville's Chalkboard

The chalkboard seems like a great addition to the downtown mall. Not only are people shopping and eating and strolling, but they can read the chalkboard and add to it, feeling as though they’ve been a a part of downtown Charlottesville, even for a moment. Of course, there were a variety of messages, some verging on profane, but many were sincere or fun and meant no harm. Because citizens have permission to erase the chalkboard, it allows for community or individual enforced censorship (hopefully only when necessary).

When wandering around the downtown mall a few weeks ago, Vinny, Elyse, and I found these giant chalkboards. At the time, we knew nothing about them or if we were allowed the add to the chalk writings, but since chalk was just sitting on the chalkboard ledge, we figured that it meant the public could join in on the fun. Who can resist chalk and a chalkboard? In the spirit of public expression and a weekend with some of my favorite preservationists I added this:

Flamingos! on the chalkboard.

And then, on the other side, unabashed in self promotion and as sort of an experiment I added this:

Preservation in Pink on the chalkboard

I would be curious to know if anyone found Preservation in Pink through the chalkboard. Let me know if you did! Are there chalkboards like this anywhere else?

Adventures in the Field: Week 3

Adventures in the Field: Archaeology at Historic Bath, NC is a series of posts about Lauren’s experiences as a TA at East Carolina University’s summer 2009 archaeology field school in Bath, NC.  This is post # 3.

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By Lauren McMillan

Week 3: 6/1/09-6/5/09

This week started off as usual on Monday; we continued working inside the cellar and started bisecting the entrance.  The reason archaeologists bisect a feature like this, and in fact, all features, is so that we can get a good profile view of the fill.  This profile can help us understand deposition and how the feature was made.  For example, if the feature was filled in one episode, that tells us it was done quickly and most likely deliberately, whereas, if we can see multiple fill layers, this would tell us something very different; these multiple fill episodes could show that the hole was left open and used as a trash pit for years (and the artifacts that come out could tell us which layers date to what years), or if we can see mostly natural deposits, then the hole was abandoned and allowed to fill in by itself.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I took a group of students out on a satellite project to Edenton, NC. Edenton is another one of those beautiful small historic towns on the water I’ve come to love in North Carolina.  Founded in 1712, Edenton was the first colonial capital of North Carolina and hosted the first Tea Party in 1774 lead by fifty of the town ladies (the town’s symbol is a teapot).  This is definitely one place you want to visit if you love architecture and historic downtowns (I believe this will be the subject of a later “Preservacation” post).

Edenton site clearing with circle of trees and visitors. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

This was basically a Phase II investigation of an 18^th century site located just outside of the town (for the protection of the site, I will not say exactly where).  A few months back the owner of the property contacted Dr. Ewen asking for more information on artifacts he had been finding (he’s actually been collecting, and doing a little digging, for about 20 years).  Dr. Ewen, Dawn and I went out and checked it out before field school and determined based on the artifacts, site location and documents that this was most likely a mid to late 18^th century house site.  We decided then that more investigation was needed to determine integrity and the boundaries of the site and I would be heading the two day project during field school.  Dr. Ewen wanted to know these details so that it could become someone’s thesis project in the future.

Well, on Tuesday two field school students (Ash and Robert), another graduate student (Jonathan) and I took the hour and a half trip up in the morning.  The site is located in a clearing just inside a wooded area of the property.  The site had been plowed since the 19^th century until 25 years ago when it was allowed to grow over.  In the middle of the clearing, there is a circle of trees, which immediately piqued my interest; if there was an intact cellar, that’s where it would be.  Trees love to grow in the soft soil of features.  We established a grid with the Total Station (a laser transit that can be hooked up to a data collector), which proved to more difficult than I had anticipated because the clearing wasn’t a perfect rectangle and didn’t line up with true North.  Luckily, the others are more tech savvy than I am; I prefer a shovel to technology any day.

Jonathan pushing the Ground Penetrating Radar. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

Once we had a grid, we ran the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) over the clearing and into parts of the woods.  The objective of this is to locate any anomalies that could indicate intact foundations of a building.  Our GPR is relatively new, and has a screen that shows a live feed, in addition to storing the information to make a map later.  While Jonathan and Ash did this, Robert and I worked on mapping in the circle of trees and exposed brick rubble and fragments with the Total Station.  That pretty much took up the rest of the day, and when we got back to school that afternoon we transferred all the data from the GRP and the TS into GIS and made a map of the site.  As you can see, there were quite a few anomalies present (as represented by the red lines), but a few stuck out.

Me holding the stadia rod (idiot stick). Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

GPR map with trees and brick fragments. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

The GPR data suggest three possible intact foundations, so we decided to conduct a judgmental survey on Wednesday to look for any sub-surface remains.  We placed several shovel test pits (STPs) along the red lines, and had mostly positives.  In the STPs that did not have in situ brick and mortar, there was rubble, and one failed to reach subsoil, suggesting a deep feature, such as a cellar.  The information from the STPs supported most of what we saw from the GPR map, that there appears to be two buildings made of brick.  The artifact density was rather low, but the ceramics found, redwares, tin glazed and white salt glazed, and the hand wrought nails are good indicators of 18^th century occupation.  The “coolest” artifact found was a bone utensil handle with iron in it.  I will be writing up the full report later and returning the artifacts to the owner, who hopes, with the addition of the stuff he has collected, to make a display for the Edenton Visitor’s Center.  This is a good example of public education and outreach by archaeologists.  Hopefully ECU will continue to have a working relationship with the folks in Edenton, and this site will make a very good Master’s thesis.  Overall, despite the over abundance of ticks and mosquitoes, this was a fun two day survey with interesting results.

Two in situ bricks. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

Robert with his glory find: bone handle! Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

Well, back to Bath.  When I got back to the site on Thursday, I was greeted by a fully bisected entrance and much deeper units in the cellar.  If you look carefully at the steps of the entrance, you will see that the steps appear to be short, like one would have to tip toe down.  I do not think this was a way to keep thieves and pirates out, nor do I think it’s because people in the 18^th century were shorter with smaller feet.  I’ve been thinking on these stairs a lot, and I think that there would have been wooden extenders, and there even appears to be slots in the wall every other step.  This is something that will have to be further explored.  The profile of the entrance fill seems to coincide with the cellar fill, with one filling episode, like they decided one day the building was no longer needed, and pushed it in on itself.

Bisected cellar entrance. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

Slots for wooden stairs. Courtesy of Lauren McMillan.

Well, other than the normal ceramics, animal bones, wine bottle glass and pipe stems, nothing new came out of the cellar this week.  Join us next week for more adventures from Bath.

PiP June 2009 Newsletter

Presenting the June 2009 newsletter of Preservation in Pink! Click to open a PDF version:

PiP June 2009

This issue has required more time and effort than all of the prior issues combined, but I think it has been worth it. The product is the longest yet (20 pages) and the articles have the greatest depth and diversity so far. To all contributors, I hope you are proud of your work. To all readers, I hope you enjoy it. Please share your feedback.

If you would prefer a copy emailed to you, let me know. (As mentioned in the previous post, it might take a few days, but I’ll get it to you.) Thanks!

Updates

With the completion of the June 2009 newsletter, the blog will take a rest for a few days, mostly because Vinny and I are in the process of moving from North Carolina to Vermont (and then going home to New York). We’ve been living in between boxes for days now and walking through the house is more like a game of hopskotch. And of course, we need to turn in the cable modem and such things.

Thanks for reading, and in place of blog posts, try a new article in the newsletter each day. Regular blogging will resume at the end of next week.

Small Town Evening Stroll

Strolling through a small town at night is vastly different from strolling down the street in broad daylight when other shoppers are crowding the sidewalks and cars line the streets, prohibitive of a clear view down the block. At night time, the breeze is warm but cool (in this southern town anyway) and the storefronts are all your own for window shopping and gazing at architectural features like door jambs, ceilings, arches, and transoms. Everything is all aglow, peaceful and quiet.

Northwest Broad Street, Southern Pines

Northwest Broad Street, Southern Pines NC