Pentland Hills (18PR557)

The Pentland Hills Plantation (18PR557) is the cultural remains of an 18th-19th century plantation house and farmstead. The site is located north of Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County. The building complex includes the main dwelling, four outbuildings, and the surrounding domestic landscape.

The site was first examined archaeologically in 1998 pursuant to new housing construction, known as the “Beech Tree Development”. The work immediately progressed to Phase II and eventually to Phase III. As part of these investigations, extensive archival research was conducted.

Pentland Hills initially was patented to Colonel Ninian Beall in 1671. By the middle of the 18th century, the property had been acquired by the Whitaker family. The 1798 Federal Direct Tax recorded an “old” frame house measuring 48 X 32 ft. The property was sold to Henry Harvey in 1803. Upon Harvey’s death in 1813 Pentland Hills was bought by John Hodges, who also purchased other adjoining tracts. Hodges family descendants owned the property until 1912. After a series of owners and tenants, the property was ultimately sold to developers. The house structure was abandoned in 1960.

The initial Phase I investigation consisted of a reconnaissance over the site and immediately adjoining land. A total of 93 STPs were dug and recorded with their intervals spaced at 6.1 m. Excavated soils were sifted through hardware cloth.

A series of nine excavation units were dug as part of a Phase II testing program. The units ranged from 3 X 3 foot to 4 X 4-foot in size. As a result of these excavations, a buried architectural material deposit was found associated with a domestic artifact concentration.

A total of 2,533 artifacts encountered during the Phase I and II excavations at 18PR557 including 46 activity items, 1,583 architectural artifacts, 8 clothing artifacts, 1 furniture item, 875 kitchen-related artifacts, 13 personal items, and 7 tobacco-related artifacts.

In 2006 Phase III data recovery testing consisted of shovel testing and test unit excavation in an extended area around the house. A total of 131 shovel tests were excavated utilizing a 20 ft grid. Following the shovel testing, a 10 X 15 ft block, subdivided into six 5 X 5 ft test units, was established northwest of the house. Ten additional test units were excavated in the general environs of the house.

Few features or intact deposits were found. The outbuildings still extant on the property were relatively modern. The construction/renovation of these buildings largely obscured the archaeological signature of any possible earlier activity or occupation in the main yard area. Most of site was heavily impacted and or destroyed by construction of the Beech Tree Development following Phase III work.

The artifacts encountered during the course of Phase III work include 18 activity items, 5,542 architectural artifacts, 3 furniture items, 13 clothing remains, 3,146 kitchen-related artifacts, 3 personal items, 4 tobacco-related artifacts, 3 arms objects, and 2,721 miscellaneous objects.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)