TRANQUIL HILL PLANTATION: THE MOST CHARMING INLAND PLACE CHICORA FOUNDATION RESEARCH SERIES 66 TRANQUIL HILL PLANTATION: THE MOST CHARMING INLAND PLACE Research Series 66 Michael Trinkley Debi Hacker With Contributions by: Linda Scott Cummings S. Homes Hogue Robert L. McCain Chicora Foundation, Inc. PO Box 8664 ▪ 861 Arbutus Drive Columbia, SC 29202-8664 803/787-6910 www.chicora.org February 2008 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Trinkley, Michael. Tranquil Hill Plantation : the most charming inland place / Michael Trinkley, Debi Hacker ; with contributions by Linda Scott Cummings, S. Homes Hogue, Robert L. McCain. p. cm. -- (Research series ; 66) Includes bibliographical references. Summary: "This study reports on data recovery excavations at archaeological site 38DR141, Tranquil Hill Plantation in Dorchester County, South Carolina. Investigations include excavation and mechanical stripping at the main house, the slave settlement, a domestic slave settlement to the east, and in the large gardens to the south"--Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-58317-065-6 (alk. paper) 1. Tranquil Hill Plantation (S.C.)--Antiquities. 2. Excavations (Archaeology)--South Carolina-- Dorchester County. 3. Tranquil Hill Plantation (S.C.)--History. 4. Dwellings--South Carolina--Dorchester County--History. 5. Plantation life--South Carolina--Dorchester County--History. 6. Slaves--South Carolina--Dorchester County--Social life and customs. 7. Slavery--South Carolina--Dorchester County-- History. 8. Gardens, English--South Carolina--Dorchester County--History. 9. Dorchester County (S.C.)-- Antiquities. 10. Dorchester County (S.C.)--Social life and customs. I. Hacker, Debi. II. Title. F279.T69T75 2008 975.7'94--dc22 2008003614 © 2008 by Chicora Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transcribed in any form without permission of Chicora Foundation, Inc. except for brief quotations used in reviews. Full credit must be given to the authors and publisher. ISBN 978-1-58317-065-6 ISSN 0882-2041 The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.∞ We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time and how they solved their problems. We can learn by analogy, not by example, for our circumstances will always be different than theirs were. The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events. -- Gerda Lerner ABSTRACT This study reports on data recovery dates of the settlement extend from about 1740 excavations at archaeological site 38DR141, to 1820 – the same as the main house. The area is Tranquil Hill Plantation in Dorchester County, dominated by slave-made Colono wares, trash South Carolina. The work was conducted by pits, and at least one large clay extraction pit Chicora Foundation prior to the development of (from which clay was mined either for pottery the tract under an OCRM Memorandum of or for wattling the slave structures). Agreement. About 300 feet southeast of the main Although the parcel can be traced back house we identified several structures thought to at least 1683/4, the plantation and its to be associated with house slaves. One imposing mansion was active by at least 1732/3 structure most clearly identified measures 17 by and was apparently developed under Col. 16 feet. It was a frame structure set on piers with Charlesworth Glover, an Indian Trader. The a brick chimney. The mean ceramic date for this name Tranquil Hill was adopted by Richard and settlement is 1793, although occupation Ann Waring, who acquired the property in 1773. extended from about 1760 to 1830. Nearby was Richard Waring died in 1781, but the property the well for the plantation. continued to be operated as a rice plantation by Ann Waring until her death in the late 1820s. Comparing the collections from the two slave settlements, we see clear differences in the Investigations included excavation and artifact collections, the architectural remains, mechanical stripping at the main house, the and even the food remains. The Tranquil Hill slave settlement to the west, a domestic slave study provides good data suggesting class settlement to the east, and in the large gardens distinctions among the plantation’s enslaved to the south. African Americans. The main house excavations revealed a We also note a variety of artifacts that massive brick and frame structure measuring may suggest evidence of religious or spiritual 40.5 feet in width and 36 feet in depth with a activities on the part of the African American brick floored basement. The floor plan is community. Some artifacts are typically thought to be a through-hall with two rooms overlooked pieces of brass or window glass. But each side off a central hall. The structure was at the investigations also identified at least one least two floors and possibly three. We believe sherd with a possible Bakongo cosmogram. that it was approached from the north. The mean ceramic date for this main house was 1772, Behind (or south) of the main house we although active use extends from about 1740 identified the gardens briefly described by through 1820. Elizabeth Poyas. Regrettably little plantation garden archaeology has been conducted in The slave settlement, typical of the South Carolina, so the work at Tranquil Hill is of eighteenth century, consists of a number of wall special importance. It demonstrates the extent of trench structures loosely grouped about 500 feet data that can be cost-effectively identified. Our southwest of the main house. The mean ceramic work defined about half of one parterre of the date for the settlement is 1773, although the core garden, measuring 220 by 120 feet, i encompassing about 0.6 acre (each parterre would have measured about 220 feet square). Identified in the area were planting holes, post holes, and two brick structures, perhaps follies. Artifacts from the garden area appear later than other plantation areas, suggesting that the gardens may have been developed about 1800. The Tranquil Hill study incorporates a variety of data sets. Not only are the recovered artifacts examined, but this study also includes information on the pollen and phytoliths found on the site, a study of the chemistry of the garden soils, analysis of the faunal remains present from the different site areas, a detailed ethnobotanical study, and analysis of the mortar from the main house. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures v List of Tables vii Introduction 1 Background 1 Research Questions 5 Proposed Data Recovery 7 The Natural Setting 9 Curation 14 A Context for the Study of Low Country Gardens 17 History of English Gardens 17 Gardens in the South Carolina Low Country 24 The Role of Archaeology 34 Historical Overview 37 Early History 37 Tranquil Hill Under the Warings 38 The Twentieth Century 41 Excavations 45 Methods 45 Results of Close Interval Testing 48 Results of Excavations and Mechanical Stripping 50 Analysis 81 Methods 81 Main House 83 House Servants’ Area 92 Slave Settlement 97 Garden Area 103 Comparisons of the Assemblages 105 Garden Soils 117 Background 117 The Garden Soils 119 Mortar Analysis 121 Introduction 121 Analysis and Results 121 Conclusions 122 iii Faunal Analysis . Lauren Lowrey and S. Homes Hogue 125 Introduction 125 Methods 125 Identified Fauna 126 Results 129 Conclusions 138 Pollen and Phytolith Analysis . Linda Scott Cummings 141 Introduction 141 Methods 141 Phytolith Review 142 Foraminifera 143 Ethnobotanic Review 143 Discussion 146 Summary and Conclusions 150 Ethnobotanical Analysis 155 Introduction 155 Procedures and Results 156 Discussion 160 Summary and Conclusions 163 Comparison of Plantation Areas 163 Examination of the Slave Faunal Assemblage 164 Structural Remains 165 The Tranquil Hill Garden 166 Evidence of Religious Activities 167 Sources Cited 169 Appendix A. Faunal Tables 187 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Site 38DR141 1 2. Sketch map of 38DR141 2 3. Portion of the 1800 Diamond plat 3 4. Aerial photographs of the study tract 4 5. Main settlement area 6 6. House servants’ area 7 7. Soil map 11 8. Layout of a typical garden 17 9. Formal gardens at Wampole 18 10. Topiary shapes 19 11. Ha-ha 21 12. Loudon’s plan for a suburban village 23 13. Michaux’s settlement and garden in 1816 25 14. The Elms showing formal parterres 26 15. Archdale settlement and gardens in 1791 27 16. Selection of gardens illustrated by various eighteenth century plats 29 17. Traditional Chesapeake garden layout 31 18. Typical Charleston urban garden, ca. 1785 33 19. Example of a knot garden 34 20. Plat of Tranquil Hill Plantation in 1800 39 21. 1921 plat of Tranquil Hill 42 22. Map of the grid and auger points established at 38DR141 46 23. Auger testing with 18-inch power auger 47 24. Hand excavation in the slave settlement area 47 25. Track hoe excavating in the garden area 48 26. Artifact density from auger tests at 38DR141 49 27. Screening auger tests in the slave settlement area 50 28. Topographic map of Tranquil Hill showing excavation areas 51 29. Plan and profiles of excavations at 840R930-950, 850R930-940 in the house servants’ area 52 30. Feature 1 exposed by mechanical stripping 53 31. Feature 1 bisected by mechanical cut 53 32. Stripped areas in the House Servants’ Area 55 33. Structure identified in Trench 15 56 34. Plan and profiles at 390R350-360, 400R360 in the slave area 57 35. Plans and profiles of features in the slave area 58 36. Feature 4 59 37. Plan and profiles of 340R230-240 in the Slave Area 60 38.