MONEYSWORTH FARM
18MO470

Introduction

The Moneysworth Farm site (18MO470) is located Clarksville, in Montgomery County. It is an 18th- to 20th-century farmstead with standing structures and a scatter of historic artifacts. The house is a pre-1783 Tidewater Style log cabin with a 3rd quarter of the 19th century Greek Revival wing. A smokehouse, believed to be pre-1783 as well, and a small shed stand nearby. The site also contains a prehistoric lithic scatter.

Archaeological Investigations

Four separate Phase I investigations have been conducted at Moneysworth Farm, each in response to development projects impacting the property.

In 1998, a Phase I investigation was conducted in the area to be affected by a new access road to the County Detention Center in Clarksburg, north of the standing barn. A total of 241 artifacts were recovered from 21 shovel test pits and one 5x5 foot test unit, including wrought nails, wire nails, and machine made brick. The site contained an agricultural outbuilding which produced artifacts dating to the latter half of the 19th century and the 20th century. A small prehistoric component was also noted. Based on historic photographs, soils, stratigraphy, and the mixing of early and modern artifacts, the majority of the site appears to have been disturbed.

Another Phase I survey was conducted in April 2000 in the area to be affected by the proposed construction of parallel water/sever lines from the new County Detention Center to the Moneysworth Farmhouse. Students from the Kingsley Wilderness School assisted in all aspects of the project. Oral history research and analysis of historic aerial photographs identified the project area as a kitchen garden in the 20th century. A total of 42 artifacts were recovered from 10 shovel test pits and one 1x1 meter test unit placed within the former garden area on the north side of the house. The domestic artifacts, principally glass, ceramics, bone, and nails, probably represent kitchen debris and garden fertilizer from the 19th and 20th centuries. One non-diagnostic prehistoric artifact, a notched quartz flake, was also recovered.

In June 2001 an investigation was conducted in the root cellar of the Moneysworth Farmhouse by Elizabeth Anderson Comer. Recordation of the interior shelving, potato bins, and recovered artifacts, as well as oral history research, confirm the use of the root cellar as a food storage area. The root cellar is located under the original section of the Moneysworth Farmhouse, which was constructed c. 1783 Analysis of flotation-recovered archeobotanical remains was undertaken from soil samples taken within the root cellar. A total of 375 artifacts were recovered. Of these, 234 were modern, 52 historic, and 89 could not be assigned a temporal period. The modern domestic artifacts, principally glass, ceramics, bone, and nails, represent canning and food storage uses for the root cellar in the second half of the 20th century. The historic artifacts from the cellar dated to the first half of the 20th century. Earlier period artifacts may have been removed through routine cleaning of the cellar throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries. Twelve shovel test pits at 5 meter intervals were placed in the alignment of a planned underground electric line from the northeast corner of the farmhouse to the northeast corner of the garage. Six artifacts were recovered, mostly modern debris. A single prehistoric quartz flake was also found.

Additional Phase I survey was conducted by Doug Comer in 2001 in the area to be affected by the proposed construction of the Kingsley Wilderness School. A total of 62 shovel test pits were excavated at 10 meter intervals. No artifacts were recovered or noted.

Archeobotanical Studies

As part of investigations into the rootcellar at Moneysworth Farm, two 2-liter flotation samples were processed and analyzed by Justine McKnight for the recovery of historic plant remains. Processing using a Flot-tech flotation machine produced 0.34 grams of carbonized plant macro-remains (an average density of 0.085 grams per liter of processed soil). Recovered remains include a carbonized wheat seed (Triticum aestivum), 25 fragments of wood charcoal (predominantly white oak), and an array of non-carbonized remains, including seeds from a variety of food plants (squash, strawberry, cherry, raspberry or blackberry, elderberry, and grape). It is likely that these non-carbonized seeds relate to the use of the rootcellar, and were preserved in the protected interior environment of the feature.

References