Graves, possible church site discovered

Charles history comes to light with field session finds

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Tyler Bastian Field Session in Maryland Archeology that was held on the grounds of the Port Tobacco Courthouse on Chapel Point Road in June was a resounding success, said James Gibb of Gibb Archaeological Consulting in Annapolis. The field session was sponsored by the Archeological Society of Maryland, Maryland Historical Trust, Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco and the Charles County government.

‘‘It stirred up a lot of interest,” he said, adding that almost 100 volunteers showed up to take part in the activity. ‘‘It was an incredible success. Everybody is so pleased with how things turned out.”

The discovery of the four grave shafts, one of which appears to be of a child, is significant, Gibb said.

‘‘The graves are pretty important because they give us clues about where the church was,” he said.

The site was silted over by the late 1800s, completely covering the cemetery and possibly headstones that marked the graves, Gibb said.

‘‘The cemetery is completely buried; we’ll have to dig out the markers,” he said. ‘‘We won’t know who the people are as individuals unless we find the gravestones and they appear to be gone. It’s possible that as we dig into the hedgerow we’ll find a stack of headstones buried there. It’s going to be quite an undertaking.”

Scott Lawrence of Grave Concerns in St. Mary’s County, a member of the Port Tobacco archeological team, found the grave shafts. The team suspected that graves might be located at the site after doing field tests last summer, Lawrence said.

Portions of a fence that once surrounded the cemetery were also unearthed during the field session, Lawrence said.

The cemetery is located about 300 feet from the left of the Port Tobacco Courthouse as you face it, on the edge of a field, Gibb said.

The remains of the deceased in the grave shafts will be left alone unless there is a compelling reason to exhume them, Gibb said, adding that during the Colonial period some people were buried in wooden coffins while others were laid to rest directly in the ground. All of the deceased were wrapped in shrouds before burial, he said.

‘‘The chances are that they’re relatively well preserved, but unless we have a reason to excavate them we’ll leave them where they are,” he said.

The wooden Anglican church that was located near the cemetery was replaced in 1709 by a brick structure, Gibb said.

‘‘The wooden church was probably torn down or collapsed,” he said.

Lawrence said that the team also found pieces of burned clay, about the size of a baseball, from above and within the grave shafts, indicating that a fireplace once stood at the site. The clay daubs were used to plaster the fireplace and chimney of the church.

‘‘We knew that an earlier church than the Episcopal church was there, but no one knew where it was,” he said. ‘‘Finding the burned clay was the best indicator that there was a building on the site. There’s something there. We just need to pin it down more.”

Other important artifacts were unearthed during the 11-day field session, including the location of the county jail that was located behind the courthouse, a prehistoric American Indian site, pottery dating back to the 1650s, Indian pottery and arrowheads and Colonial era ceramics, glass and tobacco pipes.

One interesting find was a ‘‘strike-a-light” — a piece of English flint used with a piece of steel to light fires, Gibb said.

‘‘They show up sometimes, but they’re relatively uncommon,” he said.

Gibb and his crew are washing and cataloging the more than 200 pounds of artifacts that were unearthed during the field session. Once that is done, a report will be written to document the session.

‘‘We’ve got a ton of stuff from the field session,” he said. ‘‘It’s going to take two months to get the report done. We got so much stuff we measured it in pounds.”

The field session’s success is good news for the county, said Cathy Hardy, the county’s community planning program manager.

‘‘The finds from the field session are exciting,” she said. ‘‘We’re delighted with the work that Mr. Gibb’s team is doing, and we’re anxious to read the final report.”

Gibb said that he is waiting for the release of a $60,000 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Preserve America program. Once that money is available, archeologists will begin doing research and excavations to uncover Civil War encampments believed to be in the village.

Archeologists will also be looking for the remains of a house owned by a Mrs. Wheeler who was reported to be the girlfriend of George Atzerodt, one of the conspirators who plotted to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln and Vice President Andrew Johnson, Gibb said. Although Atzerodt’s plot to assassination Johnson was foiled, he was hung, he said, adding that Atzerodt lived in Port Tobacco where he owned a carriage shop with an older brother.

‘‘Port Tobacco was a well-known corridor where confederate spies and contraband crossed the river,” he said, adding that escaped African-American slaves also passed through the village on their way north to freedom.

The archeological project in Port Tobacco is sure to uncover artifacts that will fill in some of the gaps in the town’s history that will in time boost tourism and economic development in Charles County, Gibb said.

‘‘It’s an investment,” he said. ‘‘This could become quite a tourist attraction. It’s a very important resource. It’s amazing that it’s been neglected for so long.

‘‘Charles County is almost like a corridor that people pass through to get to other places,” he said. ‘‘It would be nice to have a solid identity. I think that Port Tobacco is the key to that.”