Nolands Ferry I (18FR17)

The Nolands Ferry I Site (18FR17) in Frederick County, MD is a well preserved, multi-component prehistoric site with occupations form Paleoindian through Late Woodland times. The archaeological deposits relating to an apparent Late Woodland village are the most thoroughly studied at the site and appear to represent the most intensive period of occupation. The site has been known to local collectors since at least the late 1940s. It is located south of Buckeystown, on a bluff north of the Potomac River.

Spencer Geasey and August “Gus” Selckmann, two local collectors, are thought to have originally discovered the site in 1948. The extent of their collecting activities at the site is not well known, but Geasey eventually donated his entire collection to the Maryland Historical Trust. A description of the diagnostic projectile points in Geasey’s collection is provided below. According to notes at the Maryland Historical Trust, Selckmann and Geasey surface collected points, pottery, bannerstones, celts, gorgets, grooved axes and other groundstone items, a bone fish hook, and shell beads from the site.

The first excavations at the site were carried out in 1978 as part of the Monocacy Valley Survey. Work consisted of a controlled surface collection to locate the site, followed by test excavations conducted by the Archeological Society of Maryland as part of their annual summer field session.

No thorough description has been published regarding artifacts recovered during the 1978 field session however, the principal investigator at 18FR17, Donald Peck, does provide a description of diagnostic artifacts recovered from the site in his draft reports on the Monocacy Valley Survey work. This description includes not only the materials recovered in 1978, but also artifacts collected by Geasey and examined by Peck. In addition to this catalog of diagnostic artifacts, a thorough lithic analysis was performed in 1979 by Laurie Steponaitis, which provides a good description of all lithic materials recovered during the 1978 field session.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)