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Connecticut Preservation News March/April 2016 Volume XXXIX, No. 2 A busy scene during the one day excavation held at the Lt. John Hollister Site in South Glastonbury in July 2015. Archaeology in Connecticut Brian Jones Looking for Connecticut’s 17th-Century Settlers Brian D. Jones, Connecticut State Archaeologist ites reflecting the arrival and settlement of the Dutch and consciously positioned themselves to intercept trade north of the S English in Connecticut remain very poorly documented. Dutch Fort of Good Hope, established earlier that same year at This period was therefore selected as a particularly important focus the present-day site of Hartford. While the Dutch were not pleased for research-directed excavations by the Office of State Archaeology about this English encroachment, there was little they were able (OSA). In the summer of 2015, OSA undertook three archaeo- to do to prevent it, and in the following years settler families from logical surveys aimed at identifying 17th-century sites in the towns Massachusetts began arriving in significant numbers. of Windsor and Glastonbury. The three sites discussed here are the I selected this location at the north end of Windsor Meadows Windsor Meadows site, the Windsor Palisade site, and the Lt. John State Park because of planned trail and utilities work in the Hollister site in Glastonbury. continued on page 6 The Windsor Meadows site is located south of Plymouth Meadow along the bank of the Connecticut River. Plymouth Meadow, lying on the river terrace east of Loomis Chaffee School, In This Issue: is believed to have been the location of the first English settlement Archaeology in Connecticut in the state. This small 1633 settlement was primarily established ____________________________________________ as a trading post by enterprising Plymouth Plantation men under ____________________________________________ Looking for Connecticut’s 17th-Century Settlers 1 William Holmes. It is said that Holmes and his crew carried with State Archaeological Preserves 2 them a prefabricated structure which was rapidly “clapped up” and ____________________________________________ fortified with a palisade in late September of that year. They had ____________________________________________ Mitigation in Newtown 4 Preserving a Site and Honoring a Family’s Story 16 The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit organization. ISSN 1084-189X Marc Banks, Ph.D., LLC Archaeology in Connecticut From Stone Age to Cold War: Connecticut State Archaeological Preserves Catherine Labadia, Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, and David Poirier, Archaeologist lthough several states have created bowls and other vessels in A approaches for protecting archaeo- Connecticut was confined logical resources, Connecticut is the to a period between 3,750 only state that has a State Archaeological and 2,750 years ago. The Preserve program. Established in 2001, this seemingly abrupt change A soapstone bowl blank identified in 2010 by Andrea Rand at the state-sponsored program sets up public- to manufacturing such Walt Landgraf Soapstone Quarry in Barkhamsted, one of five newly- designated State Archaeological Preserves. private coordination for the recognition labor-intensive cooking and preservation of the state’s diverse vessels has raised many archaeological heritage. Preserve designa- questions about whether this technology survivor and industrial remnant of the tion provides regulatory protection and the was brought to southern New England by Litchfield Hills iron industry. technical guidance of the State Historic migrating groups, acquired through contact The Gail Borden Condensed Milk Preservation Office regarding short and with neighboring people, or developed Factory archaeological complex in Burr long-term management of significant in place as an adaptation to a changing Pond State Park in Torrington recog- archaeological sites. environment. The quarry has been remark- nizes the ruins of the first commercially Between 2001 and 2010 thirty-one sites ably undisturbed since it was abandoned successful condensed milk factory (1857- were designated as State Archaeological and offers important insight regarding the 1874) in the United States. Gail Borden Preserves. After that, the program procurement, processing, and finishing of was interested in developing a method to languished, but it has been successfully these unique Native American artifacts. develop non-perishable foods that could revived with the addition of five newly- The Charcoal Mound Site, also located be transported over long distances without designated preserves. The Friends of within People’s State Forest in Barkhamsted, spoilage. He experimented with various the (Connecticut) State Archaeologist, is a rare surviving, unharvested early processes to dehydrate and condense juices, in partnership with the State Historic 20th-century example of the once ubiq- meats, and ultimately, milk. The process Preservation Office, researched and uitous rural charcoal-making activities Borden developed for condensing milk is designated five industrial archaeological associated with the iron furnaces located considered a significant event in the dairy resources that range from aboriginal stone in Connecticut’s northwest hills. Colliers industry and made canned milk a part of working to Cold War military complexity. (charcoal makers) were prevalent throughout every pantry. The factory site he chose in All of the sites are located on lands admin- the surrounding mountains. They would Torrington made use of an existing factory istered by the Connecticut Department of pile cut hardwood logs, particularly oak and which burned down after Borden relocated Energy and Environmental Protection. chestnut, into structured mounds, cover his manufacturing operations. The remains The Walt Landgraf Soapstone them with wet leaves or ferns, and then top of the tri-level stone factory foundation, Quarry, located in People’s State Forest the mounds with a final layer of sod and wheel pit, and other associated features are in Barkhamsted, recognizes Native twigs. The wood inside would burn slowly still visible. American quarrying and processing of at a consistent temperature maintained by Located within Bluff Point State soapstone (steatite) bowls, associated active venting and stirring. The resulting Park in Groton, the Midway Railroad debitage (waste material), quarrying tools, charcoal was harvested and literally fueled Roundhouse Archaeological Complex and a quartzite workshop that have been Connecticut’s iron industry. For whatever was an important maintenance facility identified across the Ragged Mountain reason, the People’s Forest Charcoal Mound (1904-1939) of the consolidated New landscape. The manufacture of soapstone was left intact and remains as a unique continued on page 13 2 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2016 At the Trust From the Executive Director here’s lots new in Old Lyme. The in communities along the proposed routes. reassemble the immediate landscape that was T community, its history, cultural And Old Lyme is leading the way. central to the arts colony that thrived there in institutions, and estuary have been a focal In late January, I was down in Old the early 1900s. point for me these last few weeks. I want to Lyme to catch the last weekend of “The Beyond the boundaries of the Griswold share my impressions of the community’s Artist in the Connecticut Landscape” Museum, Old Lyme has itself been patiently early work to have a say in potential plans exhibit at the Florence Griswold Museum. assembled and protected over the years. It by the Federal Rail Administration to It was a stunning introduction to the width is a remarkably unique place on the New run an industrial-grade high-speed-rail and breadth of artists’ efforts to capture England coastline, possessing an integrity of corridor across the Old Lyme National Connecticut’s varied and evolving land- history, environment and cultural assets that Register District. Based on currently avail- scapes. are nationally and internationally recognized. able mapping, that route would run through The Florence Griswold house was also That integrity and significance is now in the grounds of Lyme Academy of Fine Art, a revelation, and my conversation with a the crosshairs of one of three proposed alter- among other local impacts. docent gave my first visit there a larger natives for new high-speed-rail corridors There’s likely a temptation to dismiss the perspective. Whether enjoying the house, across Connecticut, as the Federal Railway Federal Rail Administration’s evaluation of galleries or views of the Lieutenant River, it Administrations seeks to cut travel times new high speed rail corridors as too costly is hard to imagine that the Griswold home between Boston and Washington. Their goal and too long in the future for Connecticut and grounds once hung in the balance of for Connecticut? Straighter, shorter, faster communities to worry about now. However, sale to an unsympathetic private owner. Or routes across our state. staff and board at the Connecticut Trust that the assembly of buildings, art and For the coastal route alternative, that objec- believe advocacy at this earliest possible setting we enjoy in 2016 was achieved tive means putting high speed train service stage of federal planning and assessment only through a remarkable effort— on an entirely new alignment in eastern is critical to protecting historic resources dating to the 1930s—to protect