CARROLL-CATON HOUSE COURTYARD
18BC6

Introduction

The Carroll-Caton House Courtyard (18BC6) project area encompasses a 50-by-138 foot area adjoining the Carroll-Caton House at the intersection of Front and Lombard Streets, south of an area historically known as Jones Town or Old Town.

 Archaeological Investigations

Phase II archaeological investigations were conducted at the Carroll-Caton House Courtyard by the Center for Urban Archaeology on behalf of the Baltimore City Life Museums.  Fourteen test pits and 22 5-by-5 foot square units were excavated.  A brick hypocaust (a sub-floor form of central heating), a brick-domed cistern, and a partially subterranean brick-lined rectangular pit associated with the Carroll-Caton era, circa 1818-1845, were revealed in excavations.  As hypocausts were normally associated with rural 18^th-century estate gardens, this hypocaust is recognized as the only one known from an early 19^th-century urban context.  Several kitchen refuse deposits dating to the early history of the property were also identified, as were features associated with a Vocational School, ca. 1919, and the Carroll Recreation Center, circa 1930.  Features associated with the Carroll-Caton era were recommended for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

 Archeobotanical Studies

Floral materials were examined from residential contexts in the Carroll Mansion Courtyard dating to ca. 1818-1900.  Analysis focused on floral materials recovered from the brick hypocaust, the brick-lined pit, a midden, and the brick-domed cistern.  Analysis was conducted by Cheryl Holt.

A total of 12 flotation samples were analyzed, and 57 floral elements were recovered.  None of the recovered plant remains were carbonized.  Identified species include pigweed, barberry, carpetweed, goosefoot, chickweed, crabgrass, elder, goosegrass, grape, jimsonweed, knotweed, mulberry, spurge, and vetch. 

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