Abell’s Wharf (18ST53)

Abell’s Wharf (18ST53) is a multi-component site with nearly continuous Early Archaic to Late Woodland period occupations, including a possible Early-Middle Woodland village, and a late 17th to mid-18th-century farmstead. The site is located on Breton Bay, south of Leonardtown, in St. Mary’s County, and covers about four acres, although artifacts were found well beyond that core area.

Documentary records on the Abell’s Wharf tract are scarce, but they indicate that it was patented by English settlers as early as 1641. Robert Ford, Jr. acquired the property in 1729, and the archeological ruins visible there today may be the remains of his house. Ford died in 1753.

The site was first identified by Barbara McMillan during her 1972 archaeological survey of St. Mary’s County. Residents informed her that the site had been collected by locals for at least 50 years. In 1975, the site was excavated by archaeologists from the State and from St. Mary’s County. Each team produced its own report. The investigations included a controlled surface collection and the excavation of seven test units and three trenches, two of them quite long. Thirty-six features were uncovered, and all but 15 were at least partially excavated. They included postholes, trash pits, and an 18th-century trash midden in one area, and prehistoric shell pits and possible historic period fence ditches or wall trenches in another area. A third area, further inland, produced prehistoric shell middens and pits, a hearth, and concentrations of fire-cracked rock and lithic debitage. It also revealed a large historic period pit or cellar, post holes, and probable wall trenches or fence ditches. The fourth area tested revealed a shell midden up to three meters thick.

The artifacts recovered indicated that prehistoric occupation of 18ST53 was most intense between the Late Archaic and Middle Woodland periods. The investigators identified activity areas for trash disposal, flint knapping, butchering and hide preparation, the production of wood and bone implements, and food processing. Historic occupation of the site occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. A brick cluster in the north-central portion of the site suggested that a structure was located there, with a barnyard and trash dump to the south.

Excavations at Abell’s Wharf continued in 1976, most of it as part of the Annual Field Session of the Archeological Society of Maryland. Unexcavated features from 1975 were explored for the first time, while eight new test units revealed 27 additional features, 16 of which were at least partially excavated. They were similar to the features found the previous year. Charcoal recovered from two features gave uncalibrated radiocarbon ages of 320±95 BC and 385±95 AD.

Excavations continued at the site in 1977 and 1978, but no report on them is available. In 1995 a Phase I survey was conducted on a large parcel that adjoins Abell’s Wharf, and all finds from that project were assigned to 18ST53. The site was surface collected, and 25 shovel test pits were excavated. This work revealed a Late Archaic through Middle Woodland period occupation, as well as historic artifacts dating from the 18th through 20th centuries. Phase II testing began in the summer of 1995. Six test units and 31 shovel test pits were excavated, and only one feature encountered. The finds largely corroborated the results of previous investigations at the site.

The Abell’s Wharf excavations revealed a large multi-component site. The prehistoric occupation included short-term camps in the Early and Middle Archaic periods and the Late Woodland period, with more intensive use between the Late Archaic and Middle Woodland periods. The historic period resources were associated with a colonial farmstead, and date primarily from ca. 1690 to 1740.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)