Archaeological Identification Survey And
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION SURVEY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION INVESTIGATIONS AT 7NC-B-11, THE WELDIN PLANTATION SITE 7NC-B-49, THE AUGUSTINE CUTOFF SITE AND 7NC-B-51, THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE SITE BLUE BALL PROPERTIES AREA TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT BRANDYWINE HUNDRED, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE Submitted To: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Highway Administration and DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF STATE Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs State Historic Preservation Office Prepared For: DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Division of Transportation Solutions Environmental Studies Office Shailen Bhatt Secretary of the Department of Transportation Prepared By: Robert H. Eiswert, MA Barbara J. Shaffer, MA Brenda L. Weller, MA W. Andrew Wyatt, MA Kevin J. Simons, MA Francine F. Arnold Kathleen M. Diehl David G. Kimmerly, MA McCORMICK TAYLOR, INC. Newark, Delaware April 2012 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION SURVEY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION INVESTIGATIONS AT 7NC-B-11, THE WELDIN PLANTATION SITE 7NC-B-49, THE AUGUSTINE CUTOFF SITE AND 7NC-B-51, THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE SITE BLUE BALL PROPERTIES AREA TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT BRANDYWINE HUNDRED, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE Submitted To: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Highway Administration and DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF STATE Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs State Historic Preservation Office Prepared For: DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Division of Transportation Solutions Environmental Studies Office Shailen Bhatt Secretary of the Department of Transportation Prepared By: Robert H. Eiswert, MA Barbara J. Shaffer, MA Brenda L. Weller, MA W. Andrew Wyatt, MA Kevin J. Simons, MA Francine F. Arnold Kathleen M. Diehl David G. Kimmerly, MA McCORMICK TAYLOR, INC. Newark, Delaware April 2012 Abstract The results of the Phase I Archaeological Identification Survey and Phase II Evaluation Surveys of the Weldin Plantation Site (7NC-B-11), the Ronald McDonald House Site (7NC-B-54), and the Augustine Cutoff Site (7NC-B-49) conducted for the Blue Ball Properties Area Transportation Improvement Project, Brandywine Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware are presented in this report. The archaeological investigations were performed by McCormick Taylor, Inc. for the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The project involves improvements to the Route 202 (Concord Pike) corridor between the Interstate 95 interchange and the project’s northern terminus at the AstraZeneca corporate entrance, just north of Delaware Route 141. The proposed project includes the construction of a new alignment for Delaware 141 between the existing Astra Zeneca plant and Rockland Road to a new end at the interchange with U.S. 202 and Delaware 261. Proposed West Park Road will travel between Augustine Cut-off and Delaware 141 to the west of U.S. 202 and proposed East Park Road will be built between Augustine Cut-Off and Weldin Road to the east of U.S. 202. New overpasses are planned for Concord Pike over relocated Delaware 141 and relocated Delaware 261 (Foulk Road). A total of 496 STPs were excavated during the Phase I Archaeological Identification Survey. No archaeological sites were identified during the Phase I Survey. Three previously identified archaeological sites were subjected to Phase II Archaeological Evaluation Testing. These included the Weldin Plantation Site (7NC-B-11), the Augustine Cutoff Site (7NC-B-49), and the Ronald McDonald House Site (7NC-B-54). At the completion of the Phase II Archaeological Evaluation Survey, McCormick Taylor recommended the Weldin Plantation Site (7NC-B-11) eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D for the significant information it can contribute to our understanding of the evolution of rural farm life in New Castle County Delaware from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. The Ronald McDonald House Site (7NC-B-54) was also recommended eligible for listing in the NRHP under Criterion D, as the site offers a unique opportunity to consider a procurement site in the context of the broader network of sites within the Piedmont region. The Augustine Cutoff Site (7NC-B-49) was recommended not eligible for listing in the NRHP. The site was heavily disturbed during the widening of Concord Pike and the subsequent placement of utilities along the edge of the western roadway in the twentieth century. i Table of Contents I. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 II. Background Research.........................................................................................................5 A. Physical Environment ............................................................................................. 5 1. Climate............................................................................................................ 5 2. Geology and Soils........................................................................................... 6 3. Flora and Fauna.............................................................................................. 6 B. Pre-Contact Context................................................................................................ 9 1. Pre-Clovis (ca. 16,000 to 11, 500 BP) ........................................................ 9 2. Paleoindian (ca. 11,500 to 8,500 BP) ......................................................... 9 3. Archaic (8,500 to 5,000 BP) ..................................................................... 12 4. Woodland I (5,000 to 950 BP).................................................................. 14 5. Woodland II (950 to 350 BP).................................................................... 17 C. Historic Context.................................................................................................... 17 1. Contact, Exploration, and Frontier Settlement (1524 to 1730)................. 17 2. Intensified and Durable Occupation (1730 to 1770)................................. 22 3. Early Industrialization (1770 to 1830)...................................................... 23 4. Industrialization and Capitalization (1830 to 1880) ................................. 25 5. Urbanization and Suburbanization (1880 to 1940)................................... 26 6. History of the J.R. Weldin Property.......................................................... 27 7. Augustine Cutoff Tract............................................................................. 29 D. Previous Archaeological Investigations in the Vicinity of the APE..................... 29 III. Research Design…………………………………………................................................ 41 A. Research Objectives.............................................................................................. 41 B. Archaeological Survey Methodology................................................................... 48 1. Phase I Archaeological Identification Survey............................................... 48 2. Archaeological Evaluation Surveys.............................................................. 48 C. Artifact Analysis Methodology............................................................................. 53 1. Pre-Contact Assemblage............................................................................... 54 2. Historic Artifact Assemblage........................................................................ 56 IV. Survey Results.................................................................................................................. 58 A. Archaeological Identification Survey ................................................................... 58 1. Area A........................................................................................................... 58 2. Area B ........................................................................................................... 71 3. Area C ........................................................................................................... 71 4. Area D........................................................................................................... 72 5. Area E ........................................................................................................... 74 6. Area F............................................................................................................ 74 7. Area G........................................................................................................... 74 8. Area H........................................................................................................... 74 9. Area I ............................................................................................................ 75 10. Area J ............................................................................................................ 76 11. Areas K and M.............................................................................................. 76 12. Area L ........................................................................................................... 76 ii B. Archaeological Evaluation Survey ....................................................................... 79 1. The Weldin Plantation Site (7NC-B-11)....................................................... 79 2. The Ronald McDonald House Site (7NC-B-54)......................................... 120