Submitted photo
Students and alumni from St. Mary's College of Maryland excavate test units at the Zekiah Fort site, including, from left, Alex Flick, Scott Strickland, Skylar Bauer, Margaret Lucio, Stephen Gladu and Patricia Byers.
Businessman Michael Sullivan said he and a group of students, archaeologists and other professionals have found what he calls “Southern Maryland’s Holy Grail.
Archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in partnership with the College of Southern Maryland and Sullivan discovered Zekiah Fort, a 17th-century Piscataway Indian settlement, Sullivan explained during an announcement celebration at Mount Victoria in Newburg on Sept. 15. Several government officials, including Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), representatives from the Piscataway Indian Nation and higher education officials from Southern Maryland attended the celebration.
Sullivan, who lives in Mount Victoria mansion, explained that a search for Zekiah Fort began in 2009 under the direction of Julia King, a professor at St. Mary’s College and archaeological project leader.
King, some of her students and Sullivan, who was working on a project on Charles County history in celebration of its 350th anniversary in 2008, set off looking for the fort and its surrounding settlement.
Sullivan said while working on his project, he discovered many areas mentioned in historical records but listed as “impossible to find.”
Sullivan put together a team of experts in archaeology and students to begin to find the impossible. And they did, he said.
Sullivan traced deeds and records back to the 1600s. King and her team then analyzed the documents and began searching.
Last spring, two St. Mary’s College alumni, Scott Strickland and Alex Flick, along with current St. Mary’s students, began searching on an undisturbed parcel of land. Project participants are not divulging the exact location of the fort to protect it for study, except to say it is “near Waldorf.”
On the first day of digging, “we didn’t expect to find anything,” Flick said.
Artifacts such as gun flints, glass beads and other European and Indian items quickly surfaced, according to information provided by St. Mary’s College.
Flick said the first piece he and Strickland found was a white clay pipe stem.
“To find a site people have been looking for, for decades, it’s very cool and exciting,” he said.
The Zekiah Fort discovery, King said, represents a part of “our national narrative.”
Billy Redwing Tayac, chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation, said the discovery of the fort helps to tell of the problems the Piscataway had with colonists.
The fort was a place, Tayac explained, of refuge and safety from the colonists, though when conflicts continued, the Piscataways fled to Virginia.
Tayac said that a lot of history is unveiled and some history is in the making due to the discovery.
He said he hopes that all of the problems that faced the Piscataway in Maryland have come full circle and that a new era could begin.
O’Malley thanked those who worked on the project. “You have helped accomplish what researchers have been trying to do for eight decades,” O’Malley said.
With this discovery, O’Malley said people can begin to have a better understanding of a culture that traces back for centuries.
Tayac said he believes that the Sept. 15 event was the first time in 350 years that the Piscataway leadership has met with the governor of Maryland.
Natalie Proctor, tribal chairwoman for the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, said she was proud to be representing her tribe at the announcement and looked forward to working with the community to move forward in spreading education of Indian culture.
gphillips@somdnews.com