Site History

Oxon Hill Manor, historically known as Addison Plantation, is located along the Potomac River just outside of the District of Columbia’s border with Maryland. John Addison began acquiring property in the area in 1685 and he was living there by 1689. At the time, the site was far enough inland to be considered the “frontier” of European settlement. John Addison was a merchant and planter, and one of the first to settle in the area. In 1696 his holdings became part of Prince George’s County (previously the area had been a part of Charles County), and Addison became involved in protecting the fledgling County. He was appointed a colonel of the county militia and housed the arms the militia used when needed to protect against Indian unrest.

John’s son Thomas inherited the property in 1705 and built a two-story Georgian-style manor house in 1710-1711. Thomas Addison became colonel of the militia in 1714 and held the position until his death in 1727. The manor house and property remained in the Addison family until 1810, when it was purchased by Zacariah Berry whose family inhabited the site until the 1880s. A series of speculators then owned the estate, renting it to tenants, until it was purchased and inhabited by the Welles family who built a new main dwelling on another area of the property in 1927. The Addison house had burned in 1895, but the Welles dwelling, Oxon Hill Manor, remains extant and is now part of a county-owned public park.

Archaeology

Because of its location in the path of development projects, a great deal of archaeological work has taken place at 18PR175, including two different Phase III data recoveries. The first Phase III was conducted by Garrow & Associates, Inc. on the northern portion of the property in 1985. This project exposed occupation areas dating from the early 18th century through the late 19th century. Features indentified include a well, cellar, a probable meat house, a probable potato house, a possible slave quarter, and numerous post holes. Most notable for the artifact analysis was the assemblage from the stratified well. Four distinct fill episodes were identified, and the lower waterlogged layers exhibited preservation that allowed for the discovery of a leather saddle, shoes, textiles, wood, and grass clippings. The lower three fill episodes in the well point to its use for disposal c. 1720-1750.

The second Phase III was conducted by John Milner & Associates in 1988 on the southern portion of the property. One of the main areas of excavation was a c. 1680s earthfast structure with a cellar and passageway. This storage cellar was apparently the magazine used by the Addisons to store the local militia’s arms. The building burned around 1730, providing a closed date range for the debris in the cellar and passageway features.

References

The Oxon Hill Manor archaeological collection is owned by the Maryland Historical Trust and curated at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.