Oak Creek S (18PR677)

Site 18PR677 consists of the archaeological component associated with the occupation of the former Dr. Benjamin Bird house from the mid-19th thru 20th centuries.

This site was originally identified by Archeological Testing and Consulting, Inc. (ATC) during Phase I testing in 2003. The site is composed of both historic and prehistoric components. The historic component included architecture, domestic, personal, miscellaneous, and fuel-related artifacts. Diagnostic 19th and early 20th century artifacts included blue transfer-printed whiteware, manganese-tinted container glass, and blue-gray decorated stoneware. Other artifacts recovered include clear, brown, and aqua container glass fragments, molded milk glass fragments, whiteware, redware, porcelain, flat glass, brick fragments, mortar and cement fragments, window glass fragments, coal, clinker, charcoal, miscellaneous iron and lead fragments, and a belt buckle. One piece of faunal material, an opossum humerus, was also recovered. A standing structure, the historic Bird house, sits on a knoll in the western side of the site.

The prehistoric component of the site was composed of a lithic scatter. Contiguous positive shovel tests included quartz primary waste, rhyolite secondary waste, and quartz primary and secondary waste. Elsewhere on the site isolated prehistoric artifacts recovered included quartzite primary waste, quartz primary waste, and two diagnostic projectile points. These points included Lamoka and Otter Creek points. Modern artifacts were also recovered in shovel tests including flooring tile fragments, plastic fragments, and clay pigeon fragments.

Phase II testing was conducted by ATC in November of 2004 and included excavation of 140 shovel test pits and seven 3 x 3 ft. units. The site area included the collapsed historic Bird house, ruinous outbuildings, and an old well modified during the modern period. Over 2,100 artifacts were recovered, resulting in a site dimension of 270' x 210'. While testing recovered a variety of historic artifacts largely from the plowzone at the site, the Phase II did not identify any intact features or cultural deposits. The artifact recovery was thought to be compatible with the occupation of the Bird house between the mid- 19th and mid-20th centuries.

Based on the Phase II documentation, it was determined that 18PR677 does not meet the criteria for eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places given its lack of potential to yield important information and loss of integrity.

(Edited from archeological site survey form, Maryland Historical Trust)