Sotterley Plantation (18ST54)

The Sotterley Plantation site (18ST54) has been a farm since the early 18th century. Among the standing structures there are the manor house (built ca. 1710), the slave/tenant cabin (initially constructed between 1830 and 1850), and numerous outbuildings (18th – 20th centuries). There is also a small prehistoric component. This site is located on the western shore of the Patuxent River along Sotterley Creek in St. Mary’s County. At least one other archaeological site is present on the Sotterley property, which today is an educational center open to the public.

James Bowles built the first portion of the Sotterley Manor House sometime between 1710 and 1717. It was a single cell, earthfast structure, but was expanded before 1727. After Bowles’ death, his widow married George Plater II in 1729. His son George III, who became the 6th governor of Maryland, continued to develop the plantation into a major tobacco enterprise, and further expanded the house. The 1798 Federal Direct Tax listed 26 outbuildings and 49 slaves on the property. A series of new owners possessed Sotterley in the 19th century, making various changes to the house and landscape. In 1904, Herbert Satterlee purchased the land, restored the main house to an 18th-century appearance, and tore down all but one of the slave cabins. In 1961, Mabel Satterlee Ingalls created the non-profit Sotterley Mansion Foundation, which opened the house and grounds to the public.

Archaeology at Sotterley began in 1972 when a fallen tree west of the main house exposed a buried brick wall. Two test units were excavated there. In 1991, these artifacts were re-analyzed. They dated from the 18th through 20th centuries, but provenience information for most of them was limited. A high incidence of wine bottle fragments suggested the presence of a wine cellar at the location.

Phase I/II archaeological investigations were conducted at the Sotterley slave cabin in 1995, prior to restoration of the building. Three test units were placed adjacent to the north, east, and west exterior walls of the cabin, while a fourth unit was opened inside, near the fireplace. Three half units were placed by the chimney. A total of 10 shovel test pits were dug in and around the cabin. Midden deposits and drainage features were found on the west side of the building, and this area had more artifacts than the east yard did, but midden deposits and postholes were found on the east side. The north side of the cabin had multiple soil layers and low artifact counts, possibly the result of water run-off from the adjacent road. Testing inside the cabin revealed three superimposed floors and a possible root cellar, not excavated. A builder’s trench and a small posthole, possibly for a 19th-century gate or fence, were found in the units near the chimney.

Additional Phase II excavations were conducted at the slave cabin in 1997 ahead of construction to stabilize the area and improve drainage. Six half units were excavated in the south yard and near the east and west entrances to the structure. They exposed sections of the cabin’s foundation, two oyster shell lenses, two possible post holes, more of the shell drainage feature first identified in 1995, midden deposits, and two planting holes near the west doorway. A large, round, wooden object appeared to have been intentionally buried under this door in the mid to late 19th century.

During 1997/1998, a Phase I survey of the Sotterley Plantation property was undertaken. A total of 1,078 shovel test pits were excavated within the fenced yard of the main house, as well as in areas to the east and west. As a result of this work, the site boundaries of 18ST54 were expanded, and a Middle Woodland period site (18ST739) was identified east of the house. The survey found evidence for Sotterley buildings that are no longer extant, including possible slave quarters, as well as garden-related features.

In 1998, three trenches were excavated to install lights around the main house. A brick foundation for a no-longer extant structure was uncovered on the west side of the house. That same year, archaeological investigations were undertaken along the west wing or “New Roome” of the house in advance of termite control measures. One test unit was excavated, revealing 13 natural strata without reaching subsoil. This was followed by monitoring the trench excavated along the house’s exterior wall by the exterminators. Artifact evidence suggested the room was originally used for formal socializing. Large numbers of pins found in a later level indicate sewing-related activities. The 19th-century deposits had few domestic artifacts.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)