Barwick's Ordinary (18CA261)

Site History

The Barwick's Ordinary site (18CA261) is a multicomponent site consisting of a mid to late 18th-century ordinary & county seat, with a precontact period component consisting of Early & Late Archaic and Late Woodland short-term camps, located on the Choptank River in Caroline County, Maryland. Deed research indicated that the historic occupation at the site is likely related to James Barwick's ordinary, a "complex" consisting of a tobacco warehouse, ferry landing, and tavern/ordinary. This complex served as the first county seat of Caroline County.

Although the official county seat relocated downriver to Denton in 1791, Melville's Warehouse (or Melville’s Landing), served in the county seat capacity until that time. James Barwick, an innkeeper at Melville’s Landing, was engaged by county officials to secure a space for court proceedings, find an office for the county clerk, maintain firewood stores, and provide maintenance to the jail. In 1775 Barwick began operating an ordinary in his dwelling and a ferry service across the Choptank.

Archaeological Investigations

The landowners initially discovered the site while they were using heavy machinery to excavate a pit to bury tree stumps. Once the landowners exposed bricks and historic artifacts, they halted the excavation and contacted the Caroline County Historical Society, which in turn contacted local archaeologist Ed Otter. Ed Otter informed the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) Office of Archaeology of the discovery and Otter and MHT archaeologists visited the site in June of 2019.

MHT archaeologists documented the landowner’s artifact collection from the property, which included included 18th-century artifacts (coins, ceramics, metal objects, and kaolin pipe stems), as well as precontact artifacts (Early Archaic Palmer Point made of jasper and other non-diagnostic lithics made of quartz).

Staff from the MHT Office of Archaeology returned to the site later that summer to complete a magnetic susceptibility survey and gradiometer survey, which yielded magnetic anomalies suggestive of buried historic features. In June and July of 2020, MHT archaeologists conducted ground penetrating radar surveys to complement the 2019 magnetic surveys. The GPR survey consisted of two 20 m × 20 m and one 30 m × 30 m collection grids, which yielded soil anomalies consistent with a buried rectilinear cellar and several shaft-like features.

During this visit, a non-systematic walkover survey of exposed topsoil in the grassy field yielded precontact artifacts, including projectile point fragments and debitage made of jasper, chert, quartz, and quartzite, and prehistoric ceramics identified as a Minguannan sherd, and a Townsend sherd. Historic artifacts including sherds of tin glazed earthenware, creamware, white salt-glazed stoneware, and a hand wrought nail.

Between 2021 and 2023, Phase III excavations were conducted at the site. Three Washington College archaeological field schools were also held at Barwick's Ordinary over this time frame and the Archeological Society of Maryland held its 2022 Annual Tyler Bastian Field Session in Maryland Archaeology at the site. The archaeological deposits excavated at Barwick's Ordinary included plowzone and feature contexts. Excavations were based around anomalies detected through the remote sensing surveys. Two main areas of investigation were defined and designated as the Tavern Block and Outbuilding Block. These areas were excavated in 2 × 2m, 1 × 2m, and 1 × 1m units during the summers of 2021-2023.

Roughly 12 weeks of archaeological excavation were conducted at the site. A total of 33 features were recorded, and 17 features were excavated. Within the Outbuilding Block, two of the features are interpreted as fire pits, three as postholes, two as soil stains, and one as a collapsed structure. A 50cm wide trench was placed through the center of the outbuilding structure (Feature 3), which measured approximately 3 × 3m (6 × 6ft) The trench fill was characterized by a high density of bricks and mortar and extended to a depth of 1.5m below the ground surface. Within the Tavern Block, two features were identified as plow scars, five as postholes, one as a postmold, one as a foundation trench, one as a trash-filled cellar, and one as a soil stain. The base of the tavern cellar (Feature 5) was encountered around 1.5m (nearly 5 feet) below the ground surface. The cellar feature measures approximately 9 × 7m (29 × 27ft).

Historical references to the location of Melville's Warehouse and of Barwick's Ordinary in relation to the warehouse, combined with an evaluation of the artifacts recovered and features identified within the Tavern Block, indicate that Feature 5 is likely the tavern's cellar. Tavern Block units contained a large proportion of oyster shell, ceramics, wrought nails, and flaked stone. The density of artifacts from these categories compared to other areas on the site suggests the structure in the Tavern Block meets the parameters of an 18th-century rural tavern. The architectural artifacts recovered from the plowzone suggest a clapboard structure with glass windows and a clay-lined chimney. A greater quantity of handblown wine bottles, smoking paraphernalia, and horse-riding tack than recovered from the Outbuilding Block further supports the assignment of Feature 5 as part of Barwick's ordinary.

The large anomaly in the Outbuilding Block, Feature 3, is likely a dairy associated with Barwick’s ordinary. A paucity of window glass and smoking paraphernalia in comparison to the Tavern Block, in conjunction with the presence of plaster and location next to two fire pits, lends support to the identification of Feature 3 as a dairy as opposed to a privy or ice cellar.

Although Late Woodland Period (A.D.950- A.D.1600) Native American artifacts were identified within the Barwick's Ordinary assemblage, the precise location of activity areas or structures is unclear as the artifacts are primarily from plowzone contexts. The timing of occupations or activity is also a cloudy question as the Late Woodland (shell-tempered) Townsend period overlaps with the Late Woodland (quartz-tempered) Minguannan period for around 400 years. The wealth of precontact artifacts at the Barwick's Ordinary site and the identification of precontact sites on the Choptank River (18CA270) and Chapel Branch (18CA271) suggest an important avenue for research into the social and cultural dynamics of the Eastern Shore prior to European intrusion.

(Edited from archeological site survey form, Maryland Historical Trust)