Library Lane (18CH894)
Site History
The Library Lane Site (18CH894) was recorded in 2015 during Phase I testing of five sites at Naval Support Facility, Indian Head. The site is a small historic era site with deposits recovered dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Site 18CH894 consisted of a light scatter of mixed historic artifacts dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, likely representing the remains of occupation related to twentieth-century Navy residences and nineteenth-century field scatter. A few prehistoric lithics of an undetermined time period were also found. Three separate investigations yielded comparable results in finding no evidence of intact features or cultural deposits and demonstrating that the site area has been extensively disturbed by grading and construction activities. Based on these results, Site 18CH894 does not meet the criteria for eligibility in the NRHP given its inability to provide important information and loss of integrity.
Archaeological Investigations
The site was identified in 2015 through shovel testing, and the site had previously been heavily disturbed through grading and repeated development. While soil disturbance was widespread in the site area, some deep features were preserved. Several courses of what appeared to be a brick foundation were found in one shovel test. In another shovel test, multiple thin bands of fill extending to 3.0 feet below ground surface may represent cellar fill.
In 2019, Phase I/II testing was conducted, including 26 additional shovel test pits and three excavation units. The bulk of cultural materials related to the demolition of several early-mid 20th-century dwellings constructed as domestic living quarters for the officers on base. There was also limited evidence of a pre-military occupation in the archaeological record, including a mid-to-late 19th century shell-edged whiteware, as well as the presence of a cut nail.
In 2022, additional areas around the edges of the defined site were surveyed using 28 shovel test pits and four radial STPs at closer intervals. Twelve historic and precontact artifacts were recovered. No cultural features and no diagnostic prehistoric artifacts were recovered. Because the area has been so heavily disturbed by construction and demolition events, research potential is low for the prehistoric component of the site.
References
2023 A Phase I Archaeological Survey of Two Acres Near the Indian Head Main Gate, Naval Support Facility Indian Gate, Charles County, Maryland. (Marstel-Day, LLC) MHT # CH 262 .
2016 By the Shores of Mattawoman Creek, Phase I Survey and Phase II Evaluation of Five Sites at Naval Support Facility, Indian Head, Charles County, Maryland. Prepared for NAVFAC Washington, by Marstel-Day LLC. and Louis Berger U.S., Inc. MHT # CH 213.
2020 Intensive Phase I archaeological surveys for ECP Gate 1 improvements, site 18CH894, areas A, B, and C at Naval Support Facility Indian Head, Charles County, Maryland. (Marstel-Day, LLC) MHT # CH 235.
