Catoctin Furnace, Renner Burial Site (18FR323)

Catoctin Furnace is a group of archaeological sites associated with a 10,000-acre iron working furnace complex dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries in Frederick County, Maryland. The collection includes materials from the foundry site (18FR320), a springhouse site (18FR321), an African-American slave cemetery (18FR323), and a 19th-century miner’s house (18FR324). These sites were documented in 1977 during a Phase I survey by Orr and Son for the proposed dualization of U.S. Route 15 between Putnam Road and Maryland Route 77 in Thurmont. Catoctin Furnace represents a valuable resource for documenting the development of the iron industry in the United States and increasing understanding about the lifestyles and material culture of its workers.

The Renner Burial Site (18FR323) is an unmarked, late 18th through early 19th-century African-American cemetery in Frederick County. Fieldstone markers, primarily of local quartzite and limestone, indicated the interments of probable African-American slaves associated with the Catoctin Iron Works. This cemetery was laid out in north-south rows spaced ten feet apart, with graves oriented east to west approximately four feet apart. All 35 graves were single interment coffin burials, with one exception: a child interred directly above an adult female. Individuals were buried supine, with heads to the west, and in an extended position with hands folded over the abdomen. Rectangular and pinch-toe type coffins were made of white oak and chestnut. Age at death in this cemetery population ranged from neonate to elderly, and the condition of the skeletal remains varied from poor to excellent.

Orr and Son identified the location of the cemetery. Five test excavations were conducted on the graves, which confirmed the presence of human remains. Orr and Son estimated the cemetery contained approximately 100 interments, with a third of them situated within the proposed highway right-of-way.

Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Research, Inc. (MAAR) conducted Phase III excavations on the western third of the Renner Burial Site (which fell within the proposed highway right-of-way) between July and October 1979 and in May 1980. During the 1979 field season, MAAR manually and mechanically excavated trenches to locate burials and to define the perimeters of the site. Twenty-six graves were found between a depth of 2.4 and 5.1 feet below the surface. All graves were excavated in four-inch increments, and fill was screened through ¼-inch mesh. In order to locate every burial remaining in the right-of-way, a gradall removed the topsoil at the beginning of the 1980 field season. Nine additional graves were excavated, following the procedures and standards established in the 1979 investigation.

A total of 1,312 artifacts, predominantly nails, screws, buttons, and shroud pins, were recovered from the excavation of 35 graves at the Renner Burial Site. All artifacts recovered from the graves had a date range of between 1790 and 1840. Dr. J. Lawrence Angel conducted the osteological analysis of the skeletal remains, which are curated at the Smithsonian Institution.

Flotation samples collected from the graves revealed traces of botanical remains, such as seeds. Found on or within three coffins, these seeds suggested intentional placement at the time of interment. One infant contained a cluster of raspberry or blackberry seeds, which formed a corona around its cranium, while two adult graves had sassafras on top of the coffin surface.

(Edited from Archaeological Collections in Maryland)