Virginia Department of Historic Resources DHR ID: 44OR0003 Archaeological Site Record Snapshot Date Generated: April 29, 2016 Site Name: The Enchanted Castle/Germanna Archaeological Site Evaluation Status Site Site Classification: Terrestrial, open air NRHP Listing Year(s): 15000 B.C.E - 1606 C.E, 1700 - 1799 VLR Listing Site Type(s): Camp, base, Farmstead Other DHR ID: 068-0043 Temporary Designation: No Data Locational Information USGS Quad: GERMANNA BRIDGE County/Independent City: Orange (County) Physiographic Province: Piedmont Elevation: 270 Aspect: Facing South Drainage: Lower Chesapeake Slope: 2 - 6 Acreage: 0.340 Landform: Terrace Ownership Status: Private Government Entity Name: No Data Site Components Component 1 Category: No Data Site Type: No Data Cultural Affiliation: Native American DHR Time Period: Early Archaic Period, Early Woodland, Late Archaic Period, Late Woodland, Middle Archaic Period, Middle Woodland, Paleo-Indian Start Year: -15000 End Year: 1606 Comments: No Data Component 2 Category: No Data Site Type: No Data Cultural Affiliation: Euro-American DHR Time Period: Colony to Nation, Contact Period, Early National Period Start Year: 1700 End Year: 1799 Comments: No Data Component 3 Category: Domestic Site Type: Camp, base Cultural Affiliation: No Data DHR Time Period: No Data Start Year: No Data End Year: No Data Comments: Barile 2009: Based on the limited amount of prehistoric materials recovered during the excavations it Archaeological site data is protected under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA 1979). Page: 1 of 7 Virginia Department of Historic Resources DHR ID: 44OR0003 Archaeological Site Record appears that this component of the site represents secondary reduction, possibly indicating an area of food processing or preparation such as skinning and butchering of game. Futhermore, while the projectile points were never formally typed, according to field notes they appear to date to the archaic period. However, this component of the site has not been fully investigated and likely encompasses a much larger portion of the landform on which the this site is situated. Component 4 Category: Domestic Site Type: Farmstead Cultural Affiliation: No Data DHR Time Period: No Data Start Year: No Data End Year: No Data Comments: Farm complex. Survey results indicate that this eighteenth century structure was destroyed circa 1750. Historical information indicates that the house and its supportive structures existed as a home farm complex during the second quarter of the eighteenth century as part of Govenor Alexander Spotswood's extensive land holdings. Barile 2009: Based on the analysis by Barile, MWC, and Dovetail, construction of the Enchanted Castle began around 1718. This date makes the Enchanted Castle one of the earliest privately owned Georgian mansions in Virginia, if not the east coast. As viewed from the north, the home was a two-and-a-half story, multi-bay dwelling formed of brick, schist, sandstone, slate, and wood. It likely had a hipped roof covered in slate, and at least two chimneys pierced the ridgeline. The central chimney was a large four-bay edifice with hearths on both the first and second floors. There was no evidence that the basement openings were used for fires, thus it is interpreted that the raised basement was a storage and work area while the first and second floors would have been used by the Spotswood family and their guests. The main house was only one component of a nine-part Palladian Plan. Four symmetrical outbuildings and four connecting hyphens completed the complex, creating a forecourt opening onto Germanna Road to the south. Bibliographic Information Bibliography: No Data Informant Data: Name: Unknown Company 1: University of Mary Washington Address 1: 1301 College Ave City: Fredericksburg State: Virginia ZIP: 22401 Owner Relationship: Owner of property Archaeological site data is protected under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA 1979). Page: 2 of 7 Virginia Department of Historic Resources DHR ID: 44OR0003 Archaeological Site Record CRM Events Event Type: Other Project Staff/Notes: In 2006, several parties interested in the history and preservation of the Germanna property came together to sponsor the completion of a summary report on the 1984–1995 excavations. These groups included the UMW Center for Historic Preservation, the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Mr. Don Tharpe, and Dovetail Cultural Resource Group, with Dovetail taking on the role as lead authors for the document. Utilizing the previous studies completed by Kerri Barile and CHP, the goals of the project are to describe the results of the excavations to date, analyze the results to gain information on the history and use of the property, and to provide recommendations on future work at the site. Project Review File Number: No Data Sponsoring Organization: No Data Organization/Company: Dovetail (DSS) Investigator: Barile, Kerri Survey Date: 7/1/2009 Survey Description: Site located .5 miles to the north of state route 3, approximately 18 miles west of Fredericksburg. Site is situated on a terraced hilltop on the southern bank of the Rapidan River. Site covered in a growth of honeysuckle and poison ivy vines, immature cedar trees. 8" tps of mixed red-brown clayie loam over site suggests modern plowing activity; 19th-century stone foundations protrude through this overburden; natural subsoil is a red micaceous clay. [1969] Ned Heite supervised ASV excavation of three 10' squares in 1969, no report. [1977] 19th c. stone foundations protrude through overburden of plant growth. VRCA survey conducted 2-6 May 1977. Partial excavation of three controlled sampling units. These excavations located three structures: two ancillary buildings and a large domestic dwelling. All were of brick construction. Artifacts from destruction strata suggest end of occupation ca. 1750. Barile 2009: During most of the initial research at the site between 1977 and 1984, archaeological field methods were guided by the notion that the work was part of a large salvage project prior to area development. As such, most of the earlier work aimed to uncover the uppermost portion of intact foundation walls to identify the general building plan. During this work, a grid of over 100 10 x 10 ft squares was established across the area believed to be the core of the main house and the western outbuildings. Once Mary Washington College (MWC) began their extended testing at the site in 1984, they continued to investigate the area exposed by the VRCA through a careful, systematic sampling system comprising the complete excavation of 71 units and numerous features through shovel skimming, trowel use, and even excavation with teaspoons. The final unit set in by MWC IN 1995 was Unit 156. NAD 1983 Threats to Resource: None Known Site Conditions: Intact Cultural Level, Site Condition Unknown, Subsurface Integrity Survey Strategies: Historic Map Projection, Informant, Observation, Subsurface Testing, Surface Testing Specimens Collected: Yes Specimens Observed, Not Collected: Yes Artifacts Summary and Diagnostics: Barile 2009: A total of 84,774 artifacts was recovered from the excavations at site 44OR0003 during the 1984-1995 Mary Washington excavations. These materials span from the early-eighteenth century through the late-nineteenth century and respresent a wide-range of activities. All materials were recatalogued and rebagged by Dovetail and are stored at Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Summary of Specimens Observed, Not Collected: No Data Current Curation Repository: University of Mary Washington, VDHR Permanent Curation Repository: No Data Field Notes: Yes Field Notes Repository: University of Mary Washington Photographic Media: No Data Survey Reports: Yes Survey Report Information: Douglas Sanford 1989 The Enchanted Castle in Context: Archaeological Research at Germana. ASV QB 44.3. ----------------------------- Barile, Kerri 2004 Archaeology, Architecture, and Alexander Spotswood: Redefining the Georgian Worldview at the Enchanted Castle, Germanna, Orange County, Virginia. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin. ----------------------------- See state survey files for photos, maps. See survey report for historical description. See report by Keith Egloff. ----------------------------- Barile, Kerri 2009 Archaeological site data is protected under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA 1979). Page: 3 of 7 Virginia Department of Historic Resources DHR ID: 44OR0003 Archaeological Site Record INVESTIGATIONS ON THE ENCHANTED CASTLE SITE AT GERMANNA (44OR0003/068-0043), ORANGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA: A SUMMARY, 1984–1995. Dovetail #06-050. Dovetail Cultural Resource Group, Fredericksburg, Virginia ----------------------------- See William Byrd's "Progress to the Mines," "The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood," "The Journal of John Fontaine," Orange County "Wills, Deeds." Survey Report Repository: DHR, University of Mary Washington/DHR, VDHR DHR Library Reference Number: OR-035 Significance Statement: A study of the artifacts found at the site suggests that the area east of the house was a work yard for servants, providing them with a covert space away from the Spotswood-controlled realm of the main house and nearby town of Germanna. Utilitarian wares were relegated to the northwest dependency (kitchen/laundry), the basement, and the east yard. As of this report, only a small percentage of the overall Germanna site has been researched