Smith Tavern (18FR1031)
Site History
Smith Tavern (18FR1031), located in New Market, Maryland is a site containing a late 18th- century log structure with 19th- and 20th-century additions. The structure served as a tavern in the 18th and 19th centuries, as a parsonage in the 19th century, and as a residence and commercial enterprise in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Archaeological Investigations
Phase I and II archaeological investigations by the URS Corporation took place on the half acre Smith Tavern property in 2013. Testing included ground penetrating radar (GPR), followed by the excavation of 32 shovel test pits, 9 5 × 5 ft. test units, one 3 × 5 ft test unit, and a 3 × 3 ft. test unit.
While modern disturbances have severely impacted portions of the site, many areas retained a high degree of depositional integrity. In many locations, modern fill was underlain by intact historic strata, including a buried 19th-century surface in some locations. In a small portion of the yard immediately north of the 18th-century main block and immediately east of the 19th-century addition, numerous archaeological features were identified, variously attributable to the property's use as a tavern and later domestic occupation. Numerous post holes, post molds, pits, and sheet middens associated with the property’s 19th-century domestic use were identified. These were superposed above 18th-century features associated with the property's use as a tavern, including several post molds, three post holes, a single unidentified pit, and a rectangular trench that once served as a structural sill for a small satellite structure, possibly an external bake oven.
The site's tavern component is represented by the possible back oven footprint and the associated post features. No strata could be definitively tied to this occupation. Most of the historic material recovered from the site is reflective of the site's 19th-century domestic use and is typical for a rural residential site type.
References
2014 Phase I/II Archaeological Investigations in Support of the New Market Streetscape Project: MD 144 from Royal Oak to Bye Alley, Frederick County, Maryland. (SHA Archeological Report No. 465) (URS Corporation) MHT # FR 285.
