Brothers Content Site (18MO314)

The Brothers Content site (18MO314) was a 19th/20th-century farmstead located near Olney in Montgomery County, within the Patuxent River drainage. Investigation of the site was done in advance of a proposed relocation of Maryland Route 97.

18MO314 was on property known as “Brothers Content,” which was patented by James Beale, Jr. in 1728. The site area was acquired by James Brooke sometime before 1784, and probably used for pasture or timber. By 1836 the property was in the possession of John W. Harris, an English-born tailor. He does not appear to have lived there before 1841, and probably built a house at that time. His son Henry Harris inherited the farm in the early 1850s. A house, a probable blacksmith shop, and possibly a springhouse are depicted at the property on mid-19th-century maps. 18MO314 stayed in the possession of the Harris family until 1946, when it was acquired by Joseph Richards, Sr. Various tenants then resided in the farmhouse until it was torn down and replaced around 1980. The old house was described as a three-story, twelve-room structure. Its oldest section was log, while a newer wing was mixed frame and log, with a cellar. A variety of outbuildings surrounded the house.

A Phase I survey was conducted at 18MO314 in 1990. Visual inspection of the site area identified a fieldstone house foundation and an associated stone cellar hole, remains of two collapsed outbuildings, and remnants of a terraced garden. A total of 29 shovel test pits were then excavated around these ruins. They revealed that the site was stratified and well preserved. Garden features, such as a buried gravel layer to improve drainage for the planting beds, were uncovered. The artifacts recovered around the foundation suggested the house was built circa 1840, which would make it the home of John W. Harris.

Phase II investigations in 1990 began with the excavation of 111 shovel test pits, followed by 10 test units. This work confirmed the site dating sequence suggested by the Phase I testing, and revealed a thin sheet midden to the south of the cellar. However, the site’s stratigraphic integrity was not as good as had been assumed. Although earlier artifacts were more abundant in lower levels than in upper ones, 20th-century artifacts were found in all levels, indicating that mixing had occurred, probably as a result of both plowing and yard modifications. Plowing had also impacted the terraced garden. The Phase II work found no firm evidence of intact cultural features or deposits, and therefore no additional investigations were recommended. However, the existing artifact assemblage and landscape data were felt to be useful comparisons to other 19th-century farmsteads.

(Written by Ed Chaney)