Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18AP37 Retallick-Brewer House
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Retallick-Brewer House site (18AP37) consists of the archeological deposits associated with an 18th century standing frame town home (MIHP# AA-517) that is part of the Annapolis National Historic Landmark District. The site is situated on a gently sloping terrace near the Annapolis dock area at 183 Green Street. Most of the surrounding landscape is heavily developed as part of the urban landscape of Annapolis. Much of the surface of the site itself has a light ground cover of grass (i.e. it is yard area). Soils at the site are Monmouth sandy loams.
The resurvey of Annapolis by James Stoddert in 1718 places the present-day location of 183 Green Street on Lot #28. The owner of the lot at the time of the 1718 survey was Amos Garrett, who served as the first mayor of Annapolis and was also a prominent merchant. Following Garrett’s death, his heirs sold the apparently unimproved property to Dr. Charles Carroll in 1735.
Dr. Carroll leased the lot to Thomas Williamson, a local entrepreneur, in 1745. It was during Williamson’s tenancy that the lot was improved and the present structure (MIHP# AA-517) may have been built. Evidence from the lease gives approximate boundaries to the property leased by Williamson and possibly alludes to the current structure at 183 Green Street. From his dwelling, Williamson operated a dry goods store. In the 1750s, in addition to the dry goods store, he also ran a tavern at the address.
During the mid 18th century, the Carroll family owned much of the land between present-day Duke of Gloucester Street and the city docks. Dr. Carroll, seeing the economic advantage of opening up his property to development, laid out Green Street in 1752. This new street bisected lot 28 and connected the well-traveled Duke of Gloucester Street with the busy city dock. The development of Green Street slowed following the death of Dr. Carroll in 1755. Although the documents do not indicate the reasons, the lease held by Thomas Williamson reverted to Dr. Carroll’s son and heir, Charles Carroll the Barrister, in 1759. Little is known of the further development of the site until 1784, when Dr. Carroll’s grandson, Nicholas Carroll, began a systematic attempt to improve and develop his Green Street properties. During that year, Nicholas had the north side of the street laid out in lots and leased as individual parcels from Duke of Gloucester Street to the city dock.
The first person to lease property on the newly designated 183 Green Street was Adam Reb, who appears on the 1783 tax list. Reb is believed to have worked at various times as both a baker and a cooper. Reb was required, as part of the 99-year lease agreement, to build a two-storey brick, frame or stone dwelling, “on 400 sq. ft. within three years”. This requirement would seem to indicate that the property was obtained unimproved. If this was the case, the improvements on Lot #28 undertaken by Thomas Williamson in the 1740s may have taken place on the south half of this property later bisected by the construction of Green Street, and not on the north half where the present structure stands. Assuming that Reb complied with the terms of the lease, the standing structure presently located at 183 Green Street may have been built sometime between 1783 and 1786. Architectural assessment, however, indicates that the earlier date (and construction by Williamson) is more likely.
In 1788, the property passed to Simon Retallick, a well-known blacksmith and ironmonger. No formal lease has been found between Retallick and the Carroll heirs, nor a sublease with Adam Reb. Retallick’s leasehold has been established, however, by references to leaseholds of neighboring property. As a blacksmith, Retallick held a prominent position in the city. He was responsible for much of the ironwork in the present State House and the Old Treasury Building, as well as ironwork for the Maryland Naval Militia. His private clientele included such notables as Williams Paca, Charles Carroll, Jeremiah Townley Chase, and Benjamin Ogle. There is documentary evidence that Retallick’s smithy was situated on his Green Street property. The 1798 Federal Direct Tax list describes the shop as a 28 X 38 ft frame building and the house as a single storey frame dwelling 28 X 28 ft. The ground rent for the property was valued at £12.12.3, and the total assessed value for the property and dwellings was £250. It should be noted that the description of the house in the 1798 tax assessment does not correspond to the property development required by the 1783 lease agreement previously mentioned. This may indicate that two structures may have existed on Lot #28.
Retallick died in 1799, leaving as heirs his son, Simon, Jr., his daughter, Elizabeth, and his wife. Retallick’s Will and Inventory survive. The inventory is complete and provides some valuable information concerning the types of tools and hardware that were necessary to operate a successful smithy. Included in the inventory are bellows, anvils, hammers, coal shovels, scales and weights, chisels, tongs and other related items.
The 1790-1800 Account Books of a William Faris indicate that Retallick’s son assisted his father in the smithing business until his father’s death. An advertisement which appeared in the August 20th, 1801 edition of the Maryland Gazette indicates that Simon, Jr. carried on his father’s business at least until 1802. Evidence for the use of the site as a smithy beyond that date does not appear in historical documents.
That same year Simon Retallick’s only daughter, Elizabeth, married Captain William Rawlings. Captain Rawlings owned three merchant ships which carried products to England and the Continent. In 1820, Captain Rawlings and Elizabeth purchased the title to the property from Nicholas Carroll’s daughter, Ann, and her husband. According to the 1837 Will of Elizabeth Rawlings, wife of Captain Rawlings, the property was willed to their daughters, Elizabeth Brewer, wife of James Brewer, and Mary Brewer, wife of Dr. William Brewer. At this juncture the assessment books contain a reference indicating that each sister received a lot and house on Green Street. The records are unclear as to which property was the 183 Green Street address. Presumably the properties were adjacent to each other.
A reference in the 1845 assessment book indicates that for a brief period, Elizabeth Brewer may have operated a small dry goods business from her Green Street Address. That assessment accounted for $300 in groceries, $32 for livestock, $150 of household furnishings, $2 in dishes, and $15 in other properties. The primary 19th century use of this site, with this exception, was domestic.
It appears that by 1888, the Brewers may have fallen on difficult times. The last Brewer heir to own the property, Mary E. M. Brewer, directed that her executor sell her property on Green Street and use the money to pay debts and to divide the remainder between her children. The property changed hands to a Mr. John Geoghan in that same year. Geoghan’s heirs held the property until 1932, and like many others in that decade, faced foreclosure. The property was auctioned and fell into the hands of Farmer’s National Bank in 1937, who in turn sold it several months later to Dorothy and Nettie M. Strickland. The Historic Annapolis Foundation (then Historic Annapolis, Inc.) acquired the structure and lot at 183 Green Street in 1976 as a donation from a descendant of the late Dorothy Strickland. Dorothy Strickland had requested that the property be preserved and the donation was made in accordance with this wish.
The first documented archeological work at 18AP37 took place in 1982 in the rear yard of the property. At that time, Historic Annapolis, Inc. (who had acquired the property in the 1970s) began planning the restoration of the standing structure at the site. These plans included the construction of a kitchen and bathroom addition to the rear of the structure. The exterior of the house as well as the grounds are under an easement agreement with the Maryland Historical Trust and, as a consequence, the Trust requested that archeological excavations take place to determine if significant subsurface archeological deposits existed in the proposed impact area. These were carried out over two consecutive field seasons in 1982 and 1983.
The 1982 excavations consisted of arbitrarily placed test units and auger tests placed throughout the rear yard, for the purpose of sampling potential artifact deposits within the yard. A total of 9 auger holes and three 1.524 X 1.524 m (5 X 5 ft) excavation units were placed in the back yard. Units were excavated following natural stratigraphic levels using the Harris Matrix System as a tool to retain vertical control over excavated material. Profiles and plan views were recorded in tenths of feet on standardized forms and soils were screened through hardware mesh.
The 1982 excavations yielded approximately 1,000 artifacts, but no features and few artifacts which would suggest the presence of a busy ironsmith operation were encountered. Based on these findings, it was decided that the planned 1983 field season excavations should only focus on obtaining a 20% sample of the 7.62 X 7.62 m (25 X 25 ft) area that would be directly impacted by construction of the addition.
The 1983 work consisted of the excavation of three 1.524 X 1.524 m units and one .762 X 1.524 m (2.5 X 5 ft) unit interspaced along the proposed alignments for the footings of the addition. Excavation methods followed those utilized during the 1982 fieldwork. The 1983 excavations yielded over 5,000 artifacts, but like those in 1982, did not expose many artifacts related to an ironsmith operation. One feature, located in the northwestern-most unit, consisted of a brick platform of pavers one course thick. It was believed to be associated with an outbuilding present on the 1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the area.
Generally, the excavated units consisted of several strata of mixed 18th, 19th, and 20th century artifacts overlaying an original surface containing artifacts dating from the late 18th century. These artifacts included creamwares, pearlwares, dark olive green bottle glass, and a large amount of faunal refuse. Sterile soils were located approximately 76.2 – 91.4 cm (2.5-3 ft) below ground surface.
No table showing the quantities of common artifact types from the 1982 and 1983 excavations is provided in the full site report (though a catalog of artifacts by provenience is provided). Therefore, the artifacts from the 1982 and 1983 excavation are accounted above as 6,000 miscellaneous objects, less the 200 diagnostic ceramic sherds accounted separately in a table in the original report and also above. The diagnostic sherds consisted of 82 creamware sherds, 79 pearlware sherds, and 39 whiteware sherds. Based on the forms of decoration (or lack thereof), these provide a mean ceramic date of 1843 for the assemblage.
A mean ceramic date of 1843 indicates a probable mid 19th century occupation date, with a possibility of some earlier or later dates. No ceramics, such as white salt-glazed stoneware, indicative of an earlier occupation date, were found, thereby calling into question the mid-18th century date suggested by documentary and architectural evidence. Based on the rear yard archeological evidence, Adam Reb’s lease date seems the most probable construction date for the extant house.
Additional excavations took place at 18AP37 in 1992, this time in the front yard of the property. After purchase of the property from the Historic Annapolis Foundation, the Griffis Foundation (a private interior design group based out of New York) requested that archeological work be conducted in the front yard of the house. The work concentrated on areas that the Griffis Foundation indicated were likely going to be impacted by future renovations. The goal, in this case was to document architectural details and modifications to the front façade.
In all, three .762 X 1.524 m units were excavated along the original grid established in 1982. Two excavation units were placed directly against the structure’s foundation and the third was located just south of the front porch. Excavation was carried out using picks, shovels, and masonry trowels. Levels were dug by natural/cultural stratigraphy, and in the case of deep fill layers, arbitrary levels of 15.24 cm (6 in) were excavated. Recorded data for each level included photographs, maps (profile and plan views), a listing of artifacts, soil definition, and elevations taken from line levels. All soil was screened through hardware mesh.
While revealing much about the architecture, again, few artifacts suggestive of the presence of an ironsmith were found. Along the south wall of the house, a sealed cellar entrance (original to the house) was encountered, filled with a large amount of later (early-mid 19th century) refuse/fill. Also, a narrow builder’s trench was encountered at the base of the fill episode deposited after the sealing of the cellar door. It was thought that this represented foundation repair work conducted concurrently with the removal of the cellar door. Additonal work along the south hall was recommended at a future date. Artifacts recovered during the course of the 1992 excavations included 884 ceramic sherds (258 creamware, 139 pearlware, 136 whiteware, and 351 coarse earthenware), 2,096 animal bones, and 3,341 miscellaneous objects.
A small monitoring project was conducted in November of 1997 for the removal of several bushes in the front yard. A few artifacts (estimated at 10 miscellaneous objects above) were recovered from mixed fill contexts. After the bushes were removed, the resulting holes were documented for stratigraphy and soil colors, and any apparent artifacts were removed. No screening was done.
The most recent archeological project to be conducted at 18AP37 occurred in March of 1998. The house had been sold in the intervening years and in 1997, the new property owner (a Mrs. McKean) submitted plans to build an enclosed porch and garden shed in an area to the north of the house. This area of the house had never been archeologically tested and since MHT still held a perpetual preservation easement agreement, they required that the areas of impact be archeologically tested prior to construction.
A total of twelve shovel test pits (STPs) and one 1.524 X 1.524 m test unit were excavated during the course of the 1998 work. Eight STPs were excavated along the north and west perimeter for the porch at 1.524 m intervals. Two shovel tests were located in the proposed area for the garden shed, and an additional 2 shovel tests were necessary to test an area which would be disturbed by the utility line from the corner of the kitchen to the garden shed. Deep deposits of artifact-bearing soil were encountered in two of the STPs along the north perimeter for the proposed porch, necessitating the excavation of the formal test unit.
Within the test unit, one feature was encountered that may be a privy. Analysis of artifacts from intact contexts places the occupation related to the privy in the mid-late 19th century. It consisted of a dark stain containing artifacts that generally dated to the period 1840-1870. The feature was encountered at a considerable depth. After partial excavation (about ¼ of the feature), the decision was made to terminate further digging and preserve it in place. It was deemed unlikely that the construction of the porch would reach deep enough to impact the feature. In fact, the porch would likely protect the feature further. No tally of the artifacts recovered during excavation in 1998 is provided in the full site report. The table above includes a minimal estimate of 500 miscellaneous objects for the 1998 work.
Several season of work at 18AP37 demonstrate that the site is intact, with intact features and is capable of addressing research questions related to 19th century lifeways and potential 18th century culture in Annapolis. Unfortunately, little has been discovered to date that definitively dates the house or provides evidence of blacksmithing (historically documented) at the site. Fortunately, the site is well-preserved with perpetual easement through MHT.
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