Endotes
[1] The
soils were not as well suited for a more diverse agricultural
economy, however (Gibb 1994:166).
[2] Nine
of the sites are discussed in this paper. The remaining 10 were
not discussed because they were either short on archaeological
data, or they did not fit into one of the selected geographic
communities. These sites are St. Richard’s Manor, St.
Joseph’s Manor (18ST550), Morgan Hill Farm, Preston on
the Patuxent (18CV206, 18CV207), the Smith site (18CV92), Melon
Field (18CV169), Sotterly (18ST68), Cedar Hill, Mount Calvert
(18PR6), and Billingsley (18PR9).
[3] Discussions
of the characteristics and development of the Virginia house
can be found in Carson et. al. (1981),
Lounsbury (1994), and Stone
(2004), among many others.
[4] The
presence of casement windows at all nine sites is significant
because these windows have been cited as a luxury item that
would not be expected to appear on poorer dwellings (Michaud
2001:44). Even the two sites in this study that were never
occupied by anyone other than tenants or overseers, Anketill’s
Neck and Ashcomb’s Quarter, had window leads. This suggests
that either the tenant sites in this study were exceptional,
or that glazed windows might be more widespread among the non-planter
classes than previously suspected.
[5] In
some cases this type of architecture was relegated to outbuildings
because the main structure was brick. Nevertheless, it was still
a major form of architecture employed at the plantation complexes.
[6] The
St. Mary’s City biography files list an entry for “Pat
2 of 579, 27 February 1649/50” which stated that Halfhead
received a warrant to lay out 250 acres between Capt. Dorel’s
quarter and Mattapany house on the south side of the Patuxent
River. See also Chaney, 2000
[7] Cecil
was only 4 or 5 years old at the time, and Charles apparently
did not want to pour too many resources into the house in case
Cecil grew up to have different tastes (Chaney
2000:141). Cecil died in 1681 before reaching the age of
maturity (Chaney 2000:36).
[8] The
fireplace tile recovered at Mattapany has a geometric purple
spatter pattern and is identical to that recovered at the St.
Johns and Van Sweringen sites in St. Mary’s City (Stone
1986). Stone (1986) gives an
arrival date for a shipment of this tile as c. 1675. Unless
Ogilby’s account described Henry Sewall’s house,
rather than Calvert’s new one at Mattapany, however, then
the structure must have already been standing by 1671, indicating
that the fireplace tile was added after initial construction.
[9] Other
brick structures appeared in Maryland after 1666 including the
St. Mary’s City chapel (c. 1667), the State House (c.
1676), and Philip Calvert’s house, St. Peters (1678-1679).
[10] A
bodkin with the initials S.S. inscribed on it was recovered
at Charles’ Gift, corresponding to an occupation by Nicholas
Sewall’s family; his wife’s name was Susanna (Hornum
et. al. 2001).
[11] Feature
12 contained only 8 pieces of chinking/daub, but an abundance
of brick according to the investigators’ catalog (Hornum
et. al. 2001). Even if much of that brick was waste from
the construction of the nearby foundation, there is still enough
mortar and brick in the feature to support evidence of a full
brick chimney on the earthfast structure.
[12] Incidentally,
the late 17th-century brick foundation is only one of a number
of brick foundations uncovered in the same area. Underlying
middens and builders trenches allowed the dating of several
brick foundation features, showing not only the late 17th century
wall, but also subsequent additions, chimneys, and rebuilding
episodes.
[13] This
investment paid off for Sewall’s heirs, who kept the plantation
going until the mid-nineteenth century (Chaney
2000).
[14] Sewall’s
commitment to brick for his own foundation did not represent
an abandonment of earthfast architecture at the site, however.
Posthole/mold patterns have been exposed for an earthfast kitchen
addition to the house with the brick foundation, as well as
an earthfast outbuilding in the yard dating to the early 18th
century, and a later earthfast overseer’s house that was
still standing when a 1798 tax assessment took place (Hornum
et. al.2001:324-333).
[15] The
report states that only a small sample of postholes was chosen
for excavation because, “...the site plan had already
been recorded and there were no chronological questions that
needed to be explored” (Louis
Berger & Associates 1989:25).
[16] Richard
Smith Jr. most likely inherited the land from his father, Richard
Smith Sr., the first Attorney General of Maryland, who had lived
at his own residential complex on the plantation from the 1660s
until he died around 1689 (King 1999;
Pogue 1997).
[17] It
remains unknown whether the dairy was an addition because none
of the post holes were excavated.
[18] This
structure lasted throughout the 18th, and possibly into the
19th century, leaving cedar posts that were still not fully
rotted when excavations took place in 1993 and 1994.
[19] Some
late 18th-early 19th century trench-set walls were also discovered
near St. Mary’s City, though the function of the structure
is unknown. These trenches also had an exotic clay in them that
the King’s Reach trenches lack (Mitchell
et. el. 1999). At the South Carolina plantations such as
Yaughan, the trench-set walls could also be indicative of French
influences since plantation owners were Huguenots, but there
is no known French affiliation at King’s Reach.
[20] The
one structural posthole excavated from this quarter contained
artifacts indicative of the deposition of trash from the yard
of the larger dwelling.
[21] If
this is the explanation for the more flimsy shed and quarter
construction, however, then one must wonder why Smith bothered
to build a new plantation center at all when his father already
had one not far away. Richard Smith Sr. was living on the property
by 1665 and his dwelling’s location has been identified,
but not explored much archaeologically. It would have to have
been in very poor repair if Smith decided to build another,
relatively low-quality dwelling, amidst such chaotic events
in his own life and the life of the colony when his father died
around 1689.