University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 3-2011 Historical Archaeology of the Pine Level Site (8DE14), DeSoto County, Florida Jana Futch University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, and the Anthropology Commons Scholar Commons Citation Futch, Jana, "Historical Archaeology of the Pine Level Site (8DE14), DeSoto County, Florida" (2011). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3745 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Historical Archaeology of the Pine Level Site (8DE14), DeSoto County, Florida by Jana J. Futch A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Brent R. Weisman, Ph.D. Thomas J. Pluckhahn, Ph.D. Nancy Marie White, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 21, 2011 Keywords: South Florida, Frontier Archaeology, Public Archaeology, Reconstruction Era © Copyright 2011, Jana J. Futch Dedication To my dad, Travis, and Grandma Mimi, the three most important people in my life. Without your support, I never would have made it this far. Thank you all. Acknowledgments An incredible number of people helped me during the research, fieldwork, and analysis stages of this project. Many were simply people who told me what they thought about Pine Level, offered a kind word about the project, or helped me to pass information along to others. While they are unnamed here, they are still remembered for their thoughtfulness. Pam Gibson offered help and support during my first foray into historical research, at the Manatee County Central Public Library. Cindy Russell, at the Manatee County Historical Records Library, provided me with untold hours of research assistance, as well as aid in demystifying particularly cryptic historic documents. Without her, much of the research presented in this thesis would not have been possible. Betty Phillips, at the DeSoto County Commissioners office, generously allowed me to sit in her office for hours, reading and recording from their oldest book of minutes. Bill Lindsey provided invaluable information about historic bottles, culled from years of experience. Robert Johnson and Raymond Willis indulged me by answering my questions about a site that they hadn’t seen or worked on in 30 years, and were more helpful than they gave themselves credit for. Diane Coates and Dr. Odell Miley at the Pine Level United Methodist were also extremely helpful, opening up the church’s facilities for field workers on Saturdays. John Reynolds and Clyde Hollingsworth provided me with oral history interviews, graciously answered all of my questions, and allowed me to record them for posterity. Mr. Hollingsworth also gave me permission to survey, excavate, and collect artifacts from his property. Without this permission, none of the fieldwork presented in this thesis could have occurred. Mr. Hollingsworth’s love of history and pride in his home made this work possible, and I am truly indebted to him. I am also beholden to other members of the DeSoto County Historical Society, whose interest and support provided the backbone of this public archaeology project. I particularly need to thank Howard Melton, Mitzie McGavic, and Carol Mahler, for their on-going assistance. Ms. Mahler was also the author of numerous newspaper articles about the project, which, despite my ramblings during interviews, were always wonderfully written and informative, allowing countless DeSoto County citizens to keep up with the project’s progress and findings. I also had the benefit of a truly dedicated group of Society volunteers, who hated to miss a field day, and loved to help, even on the hottest days of summer. They included John and Forrest Reynolds, Carol Mahler, and Bebe Bradbury. I have rarely had so much fun working in the field as I did with this group, along with the many undergraduate and graduate students who assisted us. I also want to acknowledge the incredible amount of assistance I was given by the members of the West Central Regional Office of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. Jeff Moates taught me to how to slow down, listen closely, and learn from the people I was working with. Jeff, along with Zaida Darley and Rae Harper, also provided me with the experience, and much-needed logistical support, that I could not have done without. I cannot thank them enough for taking me on as an intern. I want to thank my committee, Nancy Marie White and Thomas J. Pluckhahn, for agreeing to help me with this thesis, and for always providing their insights. To Brent R. Weisman, my major professor, I thank you for giving me this project, believing that I could complete it, and providing the mentoring to make it a reality. Table of Contents List of Tables iv List of Figures v Abstract ix Chapter One: Introduction and Research Goals 1 Pine Level in Modern-Day DeSoto County 1 Introduction to Pine Level 4 Theoretical Concepts and Research Goals 12 The Importance of Investigating Pine Level 18 Investigating Pine Level Using a Public Archaeology Model 20 Chapter Two: Environmental and Geographic Setting 25 Climate 25 Physiography, Geology, and Water Resources 27 Soils, Flora, and Fauna 30 Chapter Three: The Reconstruction Era in Florida and the Peace River Valley 33 The Impact of the Civil War in Florida 33 The Problem of Reconciliation 36 The Effect of the Reconstruction Acts 43 New Immigrants on the South Florida Frontier 49 South Florida’s Contribution to the Downfall of Reconstruction 52 Chapter Four: Historical Research of the Pine Level Site 59 The Founding and Slow Growth of a Frontier Outpost 60 Less a Republican Colony, More a Democratic Town 80 Fighting for the Frontier 103 The End of the Line for Pine Level 108 Chapter Five: Archaeological Research Design and Data Description 114 Past Work at Pine Level 114 Archaeological Investigations at Sites Similar to Pine Level 118 Archaeological Research Design 122 Data Description 126 Oral History Collection 126 Oral History Results 128 Surface Survey Methods 130 i Surface Survey Results 135 Artifact Collection Methods 137 Artifact Collection Results 138 Shovel Test Excavation Methods 140 Shovel Test Excavation Results 143 Area A 143 Area B 145 Area C 145 Area D 151 Area E 154 Unit Excavation Methods 154 Unit Excavation Results 157 Area A 157 Area B 159 Area C 162 Area D 164 Chapter Six: Artifact Analysis 167 Laboratory Methods 167 Ceramic Analysis 168 Background 170 Methods 176 Results 179 CC Index Results 183 Conclusion 188 Glass Analysis 190 Bottle Glass Dating 192 Window Glass Dating 194 Identifiable Bottles 202 Functional Glass Analysis 208 Conclusion 215 Metal Analysis 216 Background and Methods 217 Results 218 Conclusion 227 Chapter Seven: Discussion of Results 228 Understanding Pine Level Through Historical and Archaeological Research 228 Pine Level as a Political Colony 236 The Life of a Dead Town: Assessing Significance and Community Memory 245 References Cited 251 Appendix A: Transcribed Historic Documents 264 ii Minutes of the MBOCC and DBOCC 265 John A. Graham Plans for the 1876 Courthouse 276 The Benjamin Newlands Letters 278 Appendix B: Transcribed Oral Histories 282 Interview with Clyde Hollingsworth 283 Interview with John Reynolds 298 Appendix C: Deed Records 305 Appendix D: Artifact Counts and Weights 310 Artifacts Recovered from the Surface 311 Artifacts Recovered from Shovel Tests 319 Artifacts Recovered from Units 320 About the Author End Page iii List of Tables Table 6.1: Summary of Pine Level ceramics from Areas A, B, and C, by ware type. 180 Table 6.2: Summary of Pine Level ceramics from Areas A, B, and C, by decoration type. 181 Table 6.3: Summary of Pine Level ceramics from Areas A, B, and C, by vessel type. 182 Table 6.4: CC Index values for the Pine Level ceramic collection. 186 Table 6.5: Summary of CC index values for the entire Pine Level site ceramic collection, and for the three separate Areas. 187 Table 6.6: Statistical frequencies for Moir (1982) formula window glass dates, by Area. 198 Table 6.7: Summary of glass artifacts for the Pine Level site, by Area and functional category. 209 Table 6.8: Identification of metal artifacts from the Pine Level site by Area 218 Table A.1: Deed information for historic landowners at the Pine Level site. 307 Table A.2: Artifact counts and weights, by artifact type, for the Pine Level surface collection. 311 Table A.3: Artifact counts and weights, by artifact type, for the Pine Level shovel tests. 319 Table A.4: Artifact counts and weights, by artifact type, for the Pine Level units. 320 iv List of Figures Figure 1.1: Map of DeSoto County showing the location of the Pine Level site. 2 Figure 1.2: Map of Manatee County, 1880. 6 Figure 2.1: Map showing Pine Level, adjacent streets, and Peace River tributaries. 28 Figure 3.1: James Dobson Green, Union Captain and Radical Republican politician. 35 Figure 3.2: John Bartholf, Union Captain and Manatee County Clerk. 44 Figure 4.1: Layout of the 1867 Pine Level courthouse as described by the Manatee Board of County Commissioners. 62 Figure 4.2: Plat map of Pine Level, 1878. 63 Figure 4.3: Pencil on paper sketch of the first Pine Level jail by Anna Zerviah Webb Griffith, published in Edge of Wilderness: A Settlement History of Manatee River and Sarasota Bay, © 1983 Janet Snyder Matthews.