The Drechsler Site (18CR224)

The Drechsler Site (18CR224) is located east of Westminster in Carroll County, Maryland. A modern house is located at the site along with several obtrusive features. In addition to the house, above-ground features at the site consist of several identifiable structural components: (1) a stone foundation and stone-lined cellar with accompanying stone wall structures (for interior support) as well as a later concrete foundation attached to the original stone foundation and extending to the north; (2) a collapsed wooden shed with a concrete foundation in the northwest corner of the site; (3) a standing wooden shed with stone foundation east of the collapsed shed; and (4) a gable-roofed springhouse with German siding built over the spring in the northeast corner of 18CR224. Much of the site is obscured and obstructed by brush and abandoned/deteriorating farm equipment dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although not part of the archaeological site, a cemetery with interments from the Lockard, Holmes, and related families is located approximately 152 meters northwest of the site in a small copse of trees.

In 1993 and 1994, the Maryland State Highway Administration sponsored a Phase Ib survey of proposed alternates for a bypass around the town of Westminster in Carroll County. The examination in the vicinity of 18CR224 consisted of a pedestrian survey and the excavation of 33 shovel test pits. The Phase Ib survey identified the foundations and structures noted above and recovered artifacts dating from circa 1840 to 1920 from shallow unplowed contexts. A total of 126 other artifacts were found in the vicinity of the stone cellar hole/concrete foundation. Four pieces of melted glass and 4 pieces of burned ironstone (kitchen-related) were recovered near the foundation, suggesting that the structure may have burned down.

Interviews with landowner, Mr. Charles Drechsler, revealed the structure represented by the foundation and cellar hole did burn down during World War II. Mr. Drechsler stated that the structure was an “old, old” house that was already abandoned when he was a young boy. Phase II excavations and historical research were recommended for the site.

The Drechsler Site was initially established in 1839 by Joshua Lockard and his wife Julian Lockard. While Joshua and his wife owned the property for four years, they were responsible for the construction of the first dwelling. In 1843, the farm passed to William Lockard, Sr., whose family resided there and operated a successful farm for 42 years. In 1885, the property was conveyed to another Lockard, William H., who sold the land in 1900 to Andrew Drechsler. Drechsler owned the land only a short time, returning the deed to the Lockard family once again. Lockards continued to own the site until 1942, when the land was conveyed again to a Drechsler. The Phase II archaeological investigations at the Drechsler Site indicate that the primary period of occupation represented by the artifacts recovered dates to the time when William Lockard Sr. and his heirs (1843-1885) operated the farm.

Thirty-six additional shovel tests and nine 1 X 1 meter test units were excavated at 18CR224 during the Phase II testing. Overall, 171 artifacts were recovered from the STPs. The 9 test units were placed in high-yield areas or within the abandoned house foundations. Two buried artifact-bearing soil deposits were identified, containing two strata: mixed deposits with artifacts from the 1840s to mid-twentieth century, and unmixed deposits of domestic artifacts dating to the period that the Lockards owned the site. These buried deposits from the middle of the 19th century may represent in-filled cellars or other structural features. All units situated within or near the foundations exhibited evidence of the conflagration reported by local informants to have destroyed the house circa 1940. Evidence of stages of mounding around the foundation provided some basic evidence regarding construction chronology. In general, the site seems to represent a small, family-owned freeholding in Piedmont Maryland, similar to about one-quarter of the farms in the County. Given the date of the artifact deposits, the site is almost certainly the remains of the farmstead established by the Lockards in 1839.

While there is some evidence that portions of the site contain undisturbed artifact deposits relating to the mid-19th century, strata in several units could not be tied directly to particular periods during the site’s occupation.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)