Newman Street (18AP39)

The Newman Street site (18AP39) represents fill deposits dating from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as structural features from the late 18th and late 19th centuries. The site is located at the northwest corner of Compromise and Newman Streets.

This site was the subject of exploratory excavations by Archaeology in Annapolis in 1984. Sanborn maps indicated that a row of tenements had been built between 1897 and 1903 on what is now the southern half of a playground. Eight excavation units (5'x 5') were confined to the northern half of the playground. The excavations revealed a history of filling from at least 1837 to present and suggested that 18th-century layers may be present and relatively undisturbed below the earliest 19th-century layers excavated.

The artifacts recovered in 1984 had not been completely processed at the time of the report, but much of the material was from 20th-century deposits. The material from the few layers with only 18th or 19th century material was washed and classified first.

In October of 2019, AECOM undertook limited scope excavations for the City of Annapolis in conjunction with design plans for the construction of a new pumping station, grading and realignment of storm drains, in an effort to mitigate flooding at the City Dock. This work resulted in the discovery of intact archaeological features and occupational deposits dating from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries. A total of 3,297 artifacts were recovered. The features recorded included a late 18th-century foundation, a plank floor, a posthole dating between 1830 and the late 19th century, and the brick foundation of a building built no later than 1878.

Feature 1 was a stone foundation and associated builder’s trench. Artifacts found in association with the feature indicate it was constructed in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. The function of the building was difficult to ascertain, but the number of tobacco pipes, faunal bone and range of service and storage ceramics, coupled with the commercial nature of the neighborhood in this period led to the interpretation that this feature might have been associated with a tavern, or possibly a residence.

Features 2, 3 and 4 were possibly associated with No. 3 Compromise Street; owned and lived in in the 19th century by Daniel Hyde and his family and later, the family of John B. and Rebecca Flood, who resided there beginning in the mid-1880s. Hyde operated a tannery on this property and Flood operated a lumber yard. No. 3 Compromise Street was constructed around 1837 and owned by Daniel Hyde; Hyde sold the property to the Floods in the 1880s. Feature 2 was an area of wooden plank flooring, held together with cut nails. A structure in this location appears on the 1878 Hopkins Map and was shown as No. 3 Compromise Street on the 1885 Sanborn Map. A small addition off the rear of the building is in the location of the flooring of Feature 2. Feature 3 was a posthole/postmold combination that appears to have been associated with Feature 2. Feature 4 was a brick foundation, possibly the residence of the Hydes and the Floods.

As a result of AECOM's Phase II excavation, Phase III work was recommended.

(Edited from archeological site survey form, Maryland Historical Trust, and 2020 archaeological report, by Patricia Samford)