Young Property (18CV344)

The Young Property (18CV344) consists of a cluster of mid-18th-early 19th century structures of an impermanent nature in Prince Frederick, Calvert County.

The property was part of a 250 acre tract of land, “Overton”, owned by the Hance family by 1682 through the early 19th centuries. In his 1709 will, John Hance, the first Hance owner, left Overton to son, Benjamin. By 1746, he controlled at least 1,136 acres. Benjamin held Overton until his death in 1773. The main dwelling is believed to have been located over 500 ft. east of 18CV344. Benjamin’s son Samuel was left Overton. Given his extensive landholdings, slaves, and other possessions, Benjamin Sr. appears to have been a man of significant wealth. Overton Plantation had at least the main dwelling and two outlying “quarters”.

Benjamin Hance manumitted the Overton slaves in 1783 and converted to the Quaker faith. Three generations of Calvert County Hances before him had been Quakers, but Samuel Hance appears to have left the Society of Friends in the late 1770s. Benjamin Hance’s 1783 conversion to the Quaker faith was thus a return to family tradition. In 1803, Benjamin moved his family to Farmington, New York, selling his portion of the family plantation to his brother Francis. Francis retained ownership of the Overton Plantation until 1815. The 1810 census lists 12 slaves in the ownership of Francis Hance. It appears that the issue of slavery divided the Hance brothers. In 1805, Francis Hance attempted to convey his lands to his children, but he was sued by a family from whom he had borrowed money. Settlement of the lawsuit in 1815 involved the transfer of 400 acres, including Overton to Robert Lowe. Through a series of subsequent transactions, the property would eventually pass to the Young family, form which the site takes its name.

The site was first identified as a scatter of 18th-century domestic artifacts in 1995 during a Phase I survey prior to the widening of Maryland Route 2/4. In 1997, the site was examined again, this time for a private development company. A Phase I/II project was carried out at 18CV344.

The Phase I entailed the excavation of 183 shovel test pits. Phase II testing was carried out in 1998 and included additional shovel tests, surface collection, excavation of fourteen test units, the use of ground penetrating radar, and magnetometer studies. Excavation uncovered a storage pit/root cellar and a hearth on the northern edge of the site, and multiple buried plowzones in the central and southern parts of the site. A total of 3,450 artifacts recovered during the 1997/1998 Phase I and II project.

Phase III data recovery was carried out at 18CV344 in 1999 and involved three tasks: excavating test units to systematically sample the plowzones, scraping and removing the plowzones with a Gradall in order to expose features, and documenting and excavating uncovered features. Fifteen5 X 5 ft. units were excavated. Nine possible features were uncovered Of the 9 potential features, three were determined to be burned roots or trees. The remaining six features related to the historic occupation of the site in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cultural features included two 4 X 2 ft. rectangular storage pits, 2.5 ft. diameter circular storage or trash pit, a cluster of 5 postmolds (treated as one feature), a line of 5 postmolds (treated as one feature), and a shallow trench perpendicular to the line of posts. The storage pits (along with as additional storage pit and hearth features identified in the previous Phase II study) were probably associated with a group of small wooden dwellings. The presence of a fairly small amount of brick at the site, and a possible hearth feature that had been identified during the Phase II site evaluation suggested that the buildings had brick hearths. It appeared that previous plowing destroyed any evidence of the structural elements of the buildings except for the pit features. The posts and trench appear to represent fence lines. These features may post-date the domestic occupation of the site.

Based on a comparison of the features found at Site 18CV344 with similar features found at other sites in the Chesapeake region, it appears that the site was the location of a group of small, impermanent dwellings. The features taken together with the artifact types and quantities recovered suggest that 18CV344 was not the residence of the owners of the plantation (the Hances), but may have been left by any or all of a variety of household types: tenant, overseer, junior family member, slave, or free black.

Site 18CV344 was significant as one of the few 18th century sites that had been intensively investigated in Calvert County. It provided unique information about a group of people (tenants or slaves) who are not widely documented in the Chesapeake region.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)