The Puma Site (18ST334)

The Puma Site (18ST334) is a multicomponent site with an 18th-century tenant farm component and a possible Late Archaic/Early Woodland and Late Woodland small prehistoric component. This site is located aboard the Webster Field Annex, Patuxent River Naval Air Station (NAS WFA), at the Naval Electronics Systems Engineering Activity (NESEA), in St. Inigoes, Maryland. The site is located in a field on a large peninsula bounded by St. Inigoes Creek to the north, the St. Mary’s River on the west, the Potomac River on the south, and Smith Creek to the east.

The NESEA facility is located on the large land tract historically known as St. Inigoes Manor, although occupation at the site dates to the prehistoric period. The 2000-acre Manor had served as a plantation and as a mission operated by the Society of Jesus of the Catholic Church (Jesuits) for more than 300 years. The area known as the Old Chapel Field appears to have served as the main activity area of the Manor from as early as ca. 1638 until the mid-18th century.

From ca. 1755 until the Navy’s acquisition of the property in 1942, the area known as Priest’s Point served as the main area of activity. St. Inigoes Manor was patented in 1634 to Richard Gerard. In 1637, Gerard sold his property to the Society of Jesus. By 1638, the manor had a main residence, a storehouse, a tobacco barn, and other structures. Throughout the 17th century, the manor consisted of a semi-autonomous plantation with gardens, orchards, stables, barns, a store, a grist mill, and a blacksmith shop, with hundreds of acres of tobacco and grain fields. In 1705, a new Priest’s house was built at St. Inigoes. Another, possibly third, St. Inigoes Manor house appears to have been built at Priest’s Point ca. 1755. The Old Chapel Field Manor house was dismantled and moved to Priest’s Point in the middle of the 18th century.

Beginning in 1806, new structures were built on the property including a brick barn, a weaver’s house, a windmill, a miller’s house, cow and hen houses, workshops, and slave quarters. During the War of 1812, the dwellings were looted, but the Priest’s House and all the other structures were spared from being burned, allowing the mission to recover and continue to prosper. In 1872, a fire gutted the brick Priest’s House. The east wing was rebuilt into a smaller dwelling. In 1876, a 4-story “Villa House” was built nearby to house mission students. In 1919, the priest’s residence was transferred from St. Inigoes to St. Michael’s. Operations continued on a smaller scale with tenants continuing. In 1942, when the US Navy acquired the north 773 acres of manor land, the Villa house and all the Jesuit buildings were removed. The remainder of the original 2000 acres not bought by the Navy or lost to erosion remains in the possession of the Jesuits.

Archaeology

A Phase I/II survey was conducted in 1981 by the St. Mary’s City Summer Field School in Archaeology. No final report was produced. A synopsis of the 1981 survey was written from field notes, catalog sheets, and site forms. This synopsis is presented here.

During the 1981 survey, 18ST334 was located in the southern portion of Tract 45. Only the diagnostic artifacts were retained during a systematic surface survey, although all artifacts were inventoried. Items noted in the field but not always retained included fire-cracked rock, flakes, cores, oyster shell, nails, and bricks. The 1981 study revealed several discrete areas of brick concentrations. This suggested the presence of at least one structure.

A Phase I/II was conducted at the Puma site in 1989 ahead of proposed development. Goals of the project were to determine the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the Puma Site, and identify, if possible, the age and function(s) of the Puma Site. Based on the systematic surface collection, 3 historic artifact clusters were identified (Clusters 1-3). Cluster 1 roughly corresponds with the concentrations identified at the site in 1981. Cluster 2, located at the western edge of the site, and Cluster 3, located at the southern edge of the site, represented subsequent and unrelated (19th and 20th century) historic components. Prehistoric artifacts were scattered across the entire site.

Five 1.524 m² test units were placed in areas of highest artifact concentration. Test units 1, 2, and 3 were excavated within Cluster 1. Test unit 4 was excavated in Cluster 3, and test unit 5 was excavated in Cluster 2.

Cluster 1 represents a late 17th to mid- to late-18th century occupation at the site. The architectural debris suggested that a wood framed building may have at one time stood there, possibly a tenant farmer household. Three features were identified in Cluster 1: two postholes and a possible large pit. Cluster 2 consisted primarily of a scatter of oyster shell and a few historic and prehistoric artifacts. It appeared to be a later historic field scatter, which may include materials displaced from Cluster 1. Cluster 3 primarily consisted of brick fragments, which suggested that a single load of construction debris may have been dumped in the area during the 20th century. The prehistoric component appeared to represent activities indicating its use as a short-term camp site, rather than a special-purpose site such as a procurement site.

In 2010, Phase II archaeological investigations were conducted at 3 sites at the Webster Field Annex, one of which was 18ST334. The Phase II investigation of 18ST334 consisted of the excavation of 9 formal test units. Eight of the test units were concentrated in the area where the 18th century house, possible pit, and postmolds had previously been encountered. The 9th test unit was situated where an undifferentiated scatter of historic and prehistoric artifacts had been previously identified.

Test units measured 1 X 1 m and were excavated into subsoil. Below the plowzone, excavation levels followed natural stratigraphy with arbitrary 10 cm levels for vertical control.

Excavations in 2010 revealed that 18ST334 had been impacted by installation of an unmapped fiber optic line but had not been critically affected and still retained information potential. Most of the test units encountered intact soil columns, and a feature was identified, a shallow pit of unknown age and function, which may relate to one of the occupations of the site, or be disturbed soil from the utility line installation. The principal site component is an 18th-century residence, including a lightly built, post-in-ground structure. Research suggests that the residence belonged to a tenant farmer. The prehistoric component is less substantial and appeared mainly to be a Late Archaic encampment. Although the earlier studies of the site revealed a fairly rich assemblage with numerous artifacts recovered and three features identified, a relatively meager collection of artifacts was recovered during the 2010 Phase II study.

The historic component at the Puma Site (18ST334) is considered particularly important because few 18th-century sites outside of the immediate vicinity of St. Mary’s City have been documented and investigated. The relatively insubstantial structure and low number of artifacts suggest a tenant farm.

(Edited from Synthesis summary by Patricia Samford)