Site History

The Ruth Saloon Site (18BC79) is located in Baltimore on the property which became the Camden Yards Stadium Complex. This site was formerly 406 West Conway Street, which faced southeast onto the street, about 160' southwest of the old Camden Station.

This site contains the foundation and yard features of a two-story brick dwelling with a two-story rear ell addition. Built in the early 19th century as the single-family home of the Whittington family, it was later rented to John George, a lumber merchant. By the end of the 19th century, the structure had become a multi-family dwelling with a saloon on the ground floor. Its occupants rented the premises, and they tended to be either first generation German immigrants, or of German extraction. This included the Wendler, Wolf, and Borcherding families. The site was also the location of Babe Ruth's family’s home and tavern between 1906 and 1912. In addition to Babe, the family consisted of George Herman Ruth, Sr., his wife, and his daughter "Mamie".

Archaeology

Phase III excavations at 18BC79 were conducted between 1989 and 1990 by R. Christopher Goodwin and Associates, Inc. on behalf of the Maryland Stadium Authority. Three trenches were excavated, revealing the brick foundation of the house, a brick-lined coal chute adjacent to the exterior foundation wall, and an oval brick-lined privy (Feature R-5) that had been modified later to accommodate a two-seater barrel privy. This barrel privy dated to the early 20th-century Ruth family occupation of the property. The original privy was filled in by the Whittington household.

The Whittington-era privy contained 7,838 artifacts, with manufacture dates spanning the period circa 1780 to circa 1830. Ceramics from the privy included dipt, underglaze printed, shell edged, and painted earthenwares, as well as Chinese export porcelain, red-bodied coarse earthenwares, and North American grey-bodied salt glazed stoneware. Other household items included molded and blown bottles, pharmaceutical vials, and hand-blown table glass. The feature also contained a number of organic remains, including wooden paddles, cork and wooden stoppers, wooden and bone buttons, antler fragments, and tortoiseshell combs.

References

The Ruth Saloon Site archaeological collection is owned by the State of Maryland and curated at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.