INKSHERDS Newsletter of the Archaeological Society of Delaware August 2016 www.delawarearchaeology.org Wade Catts Receives the Archibald Crozier Award Joan Parsons and Alice Guerrant presented with Omwake Awards The Archaeological Society of Delaware Annual Meeting was held May 21 st at Killens Pond State Park and Nature Center. There was a morning meet and greet with refreshments. This was followed by the featured speaker the business meeting and awards presentation. The keynote speaker was Darrin Lowery who talked on the threat to archaeological sites across Delmarva as a result of coastal erosion. After a sumptuous pot-luck lunch John McCarthy and Craig Lukezic presented talks. A number of attendees then took the Wild Edibles walk and talk with Jeff Moore. Wade Catts Receives the Archibald Crozier Award The Archibald Crozier Award was presented to Wade Catts. The Archibald Crozier Award is named after Archibald Crozier (1878 - 1954) Ron Thomas Service Awardees who was a charter member of the Archaeological Society of Delaware and past president, director, and treasurer of the society. The award is for The Ron Thomas Service went to John Bansch, Faye Stocum, Dawn distinguished achievement or contribution to Delaware Archaeology. Cheshaek, Dan Griffith, Alice Guerrant, Craig Lukezic and Joan Parsons. The Ron Thomas Award, created in 2015, is presented to those who have Other discretionary awards were: served the ASD in some administrative capacity for at least 10 years. Most Photogenic Delaware Archaeologist Award given to Dawn Cheshaek. Dawn seemingly appears in a photograph in every archaeological report written in Delaware. Dawn Cheshaek: Delaware’s most photographed. and: Joan Parsons and Alice Guerrant Receiving their Omwake Awards The MacGyver Award presented to John Bansch. John has The Geiger Omwake Award winners were Alice Guerrant and Joan repeatedly demonstrated his ability Parsons. The Omwake Award is named for H. Geiger Omwake who was to take nothing and accomplish a charter member of the Asd and its first President. Mr. Omwake was also anything. the first Vice-Chair of the Delaware Archaeological Board, the pre-curser to the State Historic Preservation Office. Congratulations to all of our award winners. Special thanks to Committee members: Craig Lukezic, John “MacGyver” Bansch receiving Steve Cox, John McCarthy, Jill Showell, Carolyn Hodges, his award Dawn Cheshaek, John Potts for meeting, refreshments and awards work. And thanks to John McCarthy and Jeff Moore of DE State Parks for hosting the ASD this year. We hope to see everyone next year. INKSHERDS August 2016 Page 2 The Search for the Delaware Breakwater Quarantine Station Cemetery, Cape Henlopen State Park by John P. McCarthy, RPA, Delaware State Parks On June 26 th a band of intrepid ASD members/Time Traveler volunteers conducted an archaeological investigation at the suspected site of the cemetery at the Delaware Breakwater Quarantine Station. The Station was established in 1884 to interdict incoming shipping and screen passengers and crew for infectious disease. By 1886 the facilities at the Station reportedly included a crematory and a “graveyard” located 1,000 feet inland from the shore. While fieldwork and historic and contemporary maps and aerial photographs have allowed us to identify and locate many of the facilities of the Station, which occupied a 40-acre site to the east of the existing fishing pier, the location of the graveyard or cemetery remains a mystery, and the presence of a crematory suggested that there might not be much of a cemetery to find. However, this note from the June 28, 1893 Treasury Department Abstract of Sanitary Reports suggests that perhaps not all the diseased may have been cremated: Figure 1. 1910 U.S.C.G.S. map with the suspected cemetery circled. DELAWARE BREAKWATER QUARANTINE, July 26. 1893. American schooner Hannah McLoon arrived yesterday from Havana and Matanzas with the body of the captain on board, who died from yellow fever. Five other cases on voyage, all recovered. I buried the captain ashore. H. D. GEDDINGS, Assistant Surgeon, M.H.S. A map of the Station from 1910 suggested the site of the cemetery (Figure 1). A open square shape is located 1,000 feet inland while the buildings are shown as solid black shapes. During reconnaissance investigations conducted this past March, the corners of the buildings show on historic maps and aerial photos were marked using high-precision GPS, including three of the four corners of the open rectangle suspected of being the cemetery. Figure 2 shows the location of the suspected cemetery on a 2007 aerial photograph from Google Earth. On June 1 st Dr. Raymond Jefferis of Widener University and I conducted a metal detector survey of the suspected cemetery. We used his experimental 20-inch coil and found several metal objects of unknown function along the western edge of the area we examined (Figures 3 and 4). These were reburied on site. Due to disturbance evident in the field as push piles of sand and pavement affecting much of the eastern half of the suspected cemetery location, test units were spaced along the more western side of the site Figure 2. Location of the Suspected Cemetery (Figure 5). Three five-foot square tests were excavated and the project team was initially thrilled to find numerous heavily rusted nails and clear So, what did we actually find? I was completely puzzled and I took glass fragments in two of the units. We were all, however, shocked to another look at the aerial photo, Figure 1, and noticed a large rectangle of come down on cement slabs under a foot or more of sand in those two light colored sand. While this area is lightly wooded, its regular shape was test units, 15 feet apart from each other (Figure 6). suspicious. A conversation with George Content, State Park’s resident historian and living data base, revealed the answer. He told me, “Oh, sure, that’s where the rec hall used to be. We had to tear it down back in the late 70s.” Sure enough, in a search though the records State Parks HAVE AN ITEM FOR INKSHERDS has for Fort Miles I found an oblique, aerial photograph from 1970 showing that building covering much of the suspected cemetery (Figure ? 7). In the intervening years, a light woods had grown up over the site of Email it to [email protected] the gym and fooling me into not even thinking that a building had stood we will consider short travel items, artifact finds, calendar items, there. If only I had looked at the 2007 aerial more closely and considered what that rectangle of light sand that can be seen in Figure 1 was trying to tell me! INKSHERDS August 2016 Page 3 While the June 26th excavation failed to reveal traces of the Quarantine Station cemetery as hoped, there remains a portion of the suspected cemetery that we will be examining this fall (Figure 1). Sincere thanks to Dr. Jefferis for his help on June 1 st and to all who came out to take part in the June 26 th project: Elisa Ballou, Kate Crossan, Leo and Elvira Delic, Kaitlyn Dykes, Robin Kershaw, Ryan McCrea, Mackenzie Nasecry, Jill Showell, and David Silvera. Figure 5. Test Excavations underway Figure 3. Dr. Jefferis with his 20-inch magnetic coil metal detector Figure 6. Concrete Slab revealed in Test Unit 2. Figure 4. Two Unidentified metal objects Figure 7. Recreation Hall INKSHERDS August 2016 Page 4 Work at the ASD Lab in Frederica – a Status Report Time Travelers by Daniel R. Griffith Saturday, October 15, 2016 12:30 – 2:00 pm ASD members have been active in the lab in Frederica since January. The crew completed washing, marking, counts and weights of all artifacts Join the Delaware State Park Time Travelers in recovered during the 2015 field season at Avery’s Rest (7S-G-57). In an afternoon exploration of the ruins of the addition, Society members completed washing and marking most of the Newark China Clay Company Site at White Clay Creek State Park. State Parks archaeologist, artifacts in the lab from the Wildcat project in Kent County. John McCarthy, will lead a tour of this early The Avery’s Rest lab work moved into more detailed analysis this spring 20th-century site and share the story of this and this work will continue through the summer. The ceramics were sub- rural industry that made use of the clay that gives White Clay Creek its divided by type and individual vessels identified and recorded. The same name. Sturdy shoes are required, and space is limited, so advance process was completed for bottle glass. The crew then turned to detailed registration no later than Wednesday, October 13th is required. Contact descriptions, measurements and taking photographs of specific artifact John at [email protected] for additional details or to register. classes including beads, buckles, cloth seals, coins and buttons. This more detailed analysis provides the data for a complete written description of WildCat Manor the collection. While this is occurring, the field catalog and other analyses Excavation at Wildcat Manor has been ongoing. To date, nearly 8 are being entered into an Excel spreadsheet to enable quicker access to the three-feet by three-feet units have been excavated. Parts of the collection and provide the ability to sort the collection by location of foundation have been exposed as have the interior fill layers and the recovery. The Avery’s Rest collection is also being re-boxed and organized builder’s trench. to state standards in preparation for long-term curation. We are planning an article or series of articles about the analyses for future ASD bulletin publications.