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Archiver > MDSTMARY > 2007-04 > 1175537446


From: Mary Ann Shoemaker <>
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] "Life and Death in Seventeenth Century Maryland"
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:06:54 -0400
References: <1174696159.119050@rootsweb.com><000801c76db8$7b6c65a0$6500a8c0@Shirley> <021e01c76f2f$9371c000$021c4845@lbowdish><00b601c77536$24152dc0$b11b4845@lbowdish>
In-Reply-To: <00b601c77536$24152dc0$b11b4845@lbowdish>


David,
Thanks for the update and info. Certainly is interesting. Would be nice
if the present owners are interested in history.
Mary Ann Shoemaker


David Roberts wrote:
> Here's a report on the SMCGS meeting last Monday evening 3/26/07.
>
> The land was to be developed. It was located immediately north of Solomons,
> just to the west of MD 2/4 - between the dualized highway and the Patuxent
> River. One the the sites was very close to the River; the other a bit back
> in from the River.
>
> Calvert County has a strong archaeology law that requires a survey before
> construction. St. Mary's does not. The sites found were from the
> mid/later-17th century; one site was 20/25 years older than the other. There
> was very little found after the late 17th century; so the area had long been
> used as a field or for agricultural purposes since ca. 1700, but not for
> residential purposes. The remains of the houses & their trash all dates some
> decades before 1700.
>
> The known family land owners - Stevens - moved to the Eastern Shore and
> their known graves were located there. Those buried on the Calvert County
> property were 1 African and 8 or so Europeans. These all might have been
> identured servants ? but it appears the burials were not of the known owners
> of the land at the time the various structures on the property were
> constructed.
>
> It will not be "easy" to figure out who these skeletons were in life. The
> known property owner at the time had moved away. Maybe one or more of the
> skeletons found buried in the former cornfield were family members. But who
> knows ? More likely, they were servants. The archaeologists could tell the
> white Europeans from the African; they can tell approximate age & gender;
> but beyond that .... I just don't know.
>
> This was an interesting lecture. To us it was just a field ready to be built
> upon. To the archaeologist is was a piece of 17th century Maryland history.
>
> David
>
>
>
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