Site History

The Garrett’s Chance site is located three miles from the Patuxent River near Aquasco, Maryland. In 1679, a portion of the property, then known as Doves Perch, was patented by Bernard Johnson. A neighboring tract, Doves Nest, was patented by Robert Dove and John Anderton in 1664, but by 1686, it, too, was owned by Bernard Johnson. The dwelling found at Garrett’ Chance is located within the bounds of the combined 350 acres of Doves Nest and Doves Perch, and based on the date of occupation it was most likely built by Johnson or one of his tenants.

Bernard Johnson died in 1702, leaving the property to his two daughters and their husbands. In 1711, the land conveyed from them to William Wilkerson, and there seems to have been a major rehabilitation of the structure around that time. At some point in the second quarter of the 18th century, the house burned in a catastrophic fire and the site was abandoned to farmland.

Archaeology

The Garrett’s Chance site was discovered during Phase I excavations that preceded the placement of a housing development in May 2004. Surface collection and shovel tests found an artifact scatter over an area of about 50 x 50 feet. Data recovery took place when the developer determined that the site could not be avoided. After shovel tests and one unit excavated in plow zone found few artifacts, excavators determined that the plow zone had eroded and needed no further sampling. Plow zone was then mechanically removed to expose features.

Once stripped, the area exhibited a posthole pattern delineating a 20 x 16.5 foot earthfast dwelling. Original postholes were oriented so as to imply vertical construction (each side wall went up as a unit). All six original postholes were accompanied by a replacement posthole indicating that a major renovation had taken place, probably in the early 18th century. A high quantity of daub found at the site demonstrates that the house had a wattle and daub chimney. Within the dwelling was a 26 ft2 root cellar with an apparent entryway. Its fill included domestic refuse, but consisted primarily of debris from a fire and the collapse of the chimney, such as burned daub, nails, charcoal, melted glass, and window lead. The presence of a few nearly-whole ceramic and glass vessels in the cellar indicated that it was still in use when the house burned and that the fire was probably accidental.

Outside of the structure, eight borrow pits were excavated in two main clusters. Their original purpose had presumably been clay extraction for daub but they were later used for trash disposal. Diagnostic artifacts showed that one cluster of pits was earlier than the other, indicating at least one major rehabilitation or reconstruction episode for the chimney.

References

The Garrett’s Chance archaeological collection is owned by the Maryland Historical Trust and curated at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.