Fendall (18CH805)
Site History
Archaeological site 18CH805 was located and identified as part of a larger regional survey of the Wicomico River and Zekiah Run drainages; the purpose was to locate archaeological sites in the area, including the dwelling plantation of Capt. Josias Fendall, who served as governor of Maryland from 1656 until 1660, when he earned the displeasure of Lord Baltimore and was banished from the Maryland colony. Gov. Fendall had joined with the Lower House to agree to abolish the Upper House / Council, but Lord Baltimore was able to prevent the change. Fendall returned to the colony and lived on his "dwelling plantation" near the mouth of the Wicomico. Historical research suggested the plantation was located in the vicinity of Charleston and Hatton creeks; Fendall, who was again accused of treason in 1678, was tried and banished from the colony. His property was acquired by William Digges, Lord Baltimore's son-in-law and one of the men who presided at the treason trial. Fendall left the property in 1683.
Archaeological Investigations
During the summer of 2010, students from St. Mary's College tested a portion of the property where, earlier, shell middens believed to be precontact in date had been identified. During the survey, concentrations of early historic materials, including large-bore tobacco pipes, Rhenish brown and Rhenish blue and gray stonewares, Morgan Jones ceramics, Staffordshire slipware, English flint, wrought nails, window glass, red and yellow brick, and rough- and finish-coat plaster were recovered from the shovel tests (testing interval, originally begun at 100-foot intervals, was closed to 25-foot intervals in the area of the site). Large quantities of oyster shell were also present on the site, although Native American material was of low density and consisted primarily of stone flakes. The European ceramics recovered included Rhenish brown stonewares, which suggest that the site may be pre-1680 (and therefore associated with Fendall); Large-bore tobacco pipes suggest the site may be pre-1680 in date. The recovery of several fragments of dipped white salt-glazed stoneware as well as 19th- and 20th-century refined earthenwares suggest that this site may have been occupied before 1680, was occupied by Fendall and then William Digges and their respective families, then abandoned, and re-occupied sometime in the 19th century.
Shovel tests encountered two rubble features, one of stone cobbles and one of river rock. Three test units were excavated; one had what appears to be a concentration of masonry rubble (red and yellow brick, stone) that may represent the top of a robbed feature; the second contained what may have been an unusually large posthole and mold; and the third had no features.
References
2011 An Archaeological Survey of the Charleston Property: Josias Fendall's Dwelling Plantation. (St. Mary's College of Maryland) MHT # CH 155.
