Site History

Site 18ST87 is located aboard the Naval Air Station Patuxent River’s Webster Field Annex in St. Inigoes, Maryland. In 1637, Jesuit missionaries purchased the land where the site is located and established a settlement there. These Jesuits were among the original investors in the Maryland colonial enterprise. The settlement at St. Inigoes was a working farm where inhabitants raised tobacco and other crops to support the Jesuit mission.

The earliest center of activity for the Jesuit plantation is most likely represented by Old Chapel Field (18ST233). From about 1680- 1750, the center of activity for the plantation moved slightly to a new site that has been designated 18ST329 & 18ST330, The Fly/St. Inigoes Manor House site. In the mid 18th-century, Father James Ashby oversaw the construction of a new St. Inigoes Manor House at Priest’s Point (18ST87), about 1600 feet southwest of its previous location. This dwelling became the new plantation center, and was accompanied by several outbuildings. An 1820 sketch of the site shows a windmill, miller’s house, corn house, stable, store, shop, meat house, weaver’s house, cow house, brick barn, quarters, and a church.

The new dwelling house burned down in 1872, but within a few weeks of the fire, a two-story structure was built upon the east-wing foundations. This became the priests’ residence until the property was acquired by the Navy in 1942. The Navy renovated the structure to be a quarter for single officers, but it quickly fell into disrepair. In the 1970s, the house was documented and its crumbling walls were partially torn down. The original east wall and part of the foundation, however, are still extant.

Archaeology

A series of studies of 18ST87 have been conducted since it was first recorded in 1976. The most comprehensive Phase I was completed in 1996. This study identified three historic components within 18ST87. Historic Component 1 contained domestic artifacts dating from the mid 18th to the mid 20th century. At least two structures were identified. The first structure had brick chimney foundations and is believed to be a two-story tenant house that was the residence of a Mr. Roach in the 19th century and a Ms. Raley in the 20th century. The other structure was presumably an outbuilding associated with this dwelling. Historic Component 1 also encompasses the area of the mid 18th-century plantation where the miller’s house, a windmill, a corn house, and a stable were located, and presumably the 18th-century artifacts are associated with these buildings.

Historic Component 2 was the location of a late 19th-century or early 20th-century outbuilding. Historic Component 3 encompasses the western tip of Priests Point where the ruins of the St. Inigoes Manor House are located. Various outbuildings associated with the Manor House should also be located in Historic Component 3, though none were identified during the 1996 survey.

Multiple Phase II studies were also undertaken at 18ST87. In 1983, three test units were excavated to expose portions of a possible weaver’s house. The next year, nine test units were excavated around the Manor House to locate foundations and determine layout of the structure. Additional test units were excavated along the site’s shoreline in 2002 prior to a riverbank stabilization project. Twenty postholes/molds, five pit features, three trenches, and two fill episodes were identified by the study, though some features were modern in origin, and no further excavation was undertaken to understand the relationships that might exist between features. Instead, the shoreline stabilization was redesigned to avoid and protect the site.

References

The St. Inigoes Manor House at Priest’s Point archaeological collections are owned by the Naval District Washington, Naval Air Station Patuxent River Webster Field Annex and curated by the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.