Stoney Springs Site 6 (18MO639)

The site is located on a parcel of land surveyed as the Stoney Springs Development in Western Montgomery County, MD. Site 6 is located around a cluster of structures and ruins. 18MO639 has been identified as the site of a nineteenth century farmstead owned and occupied first by the Williams family and then by the Metzger family. The property continued to be farmed throughout the twentieth century and appears to have been modernized sometime after 1950.

This site was identified during a Phase I survey by Archeological Testing & Consulting between April and May 2006. Site 6 consists of a historic/modern farm-related domestic residence. The site includes a heavily altered historic foundation that shows signs of recent burning. Within the complex surrounding the residence are numerous agriculture related outbuildings. All these buildings appear to date from the modern occupation and include a trailer, three metal and block structures, and two silos. In addition, rubble piles from at least five other structures were observed. In total 97 historic artifacts and 70 modern artifacts were recovered.

Phase II testing was conducted by Archeological Testing & Consulting, Inc. between September and November of 2006. The archeological fieldwork involved the excavation of 59 shovel tests, spaced apart using a 12.5 to 50-foot increment, six 3x3' test units, and 3 feet of manual exploratory trenching. A total of 2,885 artifacts were recovered during the excavation process. Only two cultural features were discovered, including a modified historic dwelling foundation and a modern block well. The artifact recovery mostly consisted of architectural and domestic materials affiliated with the 19th and 20th centuries, including the modern period.

Despite the concentration of artifacts and the presence of the two intact features, the excavation of several test units and a single trench revealed that much of the site has been significantly impacted by the long-term occupation of the site and the modernization of the farmstead that took place during the second half of the twentieth century. Of the six test units that were excavated, only two were thought to exhibit moderate to good stratigraphic integrity, while most of the test units and shovel test pits revealed a mixture of both modern and historic materials. For these reasons, Archeological Testing and Consulting, Inc. recommended that site 18MO639 is not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Based on the information presented in the Phase II report, MHT concurred that the site does not meet the criteria for eligibility. Therefore, further investigation of this site is not warranted for Section 106 purposes.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)