Vulture Site (18CH351)

The Vulture Site (18CH351) consists of archaeological remains, possibly related to a mid-18th-early 19th century dwelling, on Swan Point in Charles County.

The history of ownership of the land containing the Vulture Site begins with a 1642 land grant of 2,000 acres to James Neale. Born in England, Neale was a prominent individual in Maryland politics. He named the entire land grant, as well as his dwelling, “Wollaston Manor.” This land was subsequently divided many times among his descendants. A 1755 plat depicts division of the property into six separate parcels or tracts. This plat does not show any dwellings at 18CH351, which appears to fall within the boundary of Tract 5, also referred to as “Swann Point” in records. The parcel was divided and combined many times over the 19th century. By the mid-20th century, much of the original Wollaston Manor property would be acquired by the Maryland Realty Investment Trust and subsequently sold to the US Steel Corporation in 1969.

Site 18CH351 was initially identified during a reconnaissance survey in the early 1990s when landscape features (fence lines and large yard-grown hardwood trees surrounding an area covered with thick brambles) were discovered. A depression with nearby brick fragments was also found. Subsurface investigation consisted of the excavation of 8 shovel tests at 15.24 m intervals. The site size was estimated to be roughly 122 X 137 m (400 X 450 ft).

In 2007 Phase II testing was carried out 18CH351. In order to relocate the site, a shovel test grid spaced at 15.24 m (50 ft) increments was superimposed and excavated. Based on the distribution of artifacts, this grid was narrowed to 7.62 m (25 ft) and 3.81 m (12.5 ft) increments. In total, 177 shovel tests were excavated within the grid and the data were used in the strategic positioning of test units. Following the shovel testing to identify artifact “hot spots” or potential features, seven 91 X 91 cm (3 X 3 ft) test units were excavated. Unless specified, all excavated soils were dry-screened in the field using hardware cloth. In some test units exploratory windows were excavated within test units to obtain further information.

No cultural or natural features were identified during the 2007 Phase II fieldwork at 18CH351. In total, 1,841 artifacts were recovered from the shovel tests and test units at the site. By broad temporal affiliation and quantity, the artifact collection included the following: 1,834 historic items and 7 prehistoric items.

After examination of the research and the fieldwork results, it was concluded that Site 18CH351 had value in terms of its antiquity, but lacked archaeological value with a lack of good stratigraphic integrity, poor artifact preservation, and absence of intact cultural features and buried artifact deposits. It was determined that proposed development in the vicinity of 18CH351 would not adversely impact any significant archaeological resources.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)