Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18AP42 State House Inn
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The State House Inn Site (18AP42) consists of the archeological deposits surrounding a standing 19th and 20th century inn (MIHP# AA-1592) on the edge of State Circle in downtown Annapolis. The site is situated at 15 State Circle, between State Circle and Main Street and in the segment of State Circle bounded by School and Frances Streets. The property slopes off sharply from State Circle to Main Street, which in turn runs down to Spa Creek. At the time of the first documented archeological excavations at 18AP42, the site area was filled with construction debris and there was little to no sign of vegetation. The surrounding landscape is heavily developed as an urban area. Soils at the site are Monmouth fine sandy loams.
According to the 1718 Survey of Annapolis, the site is situated on the property of Mrs. Margaret Mercier. The notes to the survey say it was resurveyed for Mrs. Mercier “from Bladen’s Lot”, so it may have previously belonged to Governor Bladen. Mrs. Margaret Mercier married John Steele, and in 1720 they sold the property to Cornelius Brooksby. Brooksby willed the dwelling to his son John and a “butcher shop” to his daughter Mary.
The house referred to was probably the Shaw House that sits adjacent to the State House Inn. The butcher shop may have been on the part of the property now occupied by the State House Inn (i.e. at Site 18AP42). All of the property belonged to Mary (Brooksby) Long and her husband Sewell by 1751. The lower half, where the State House Inn is located, was willed by Sewell to his grandson, David L. Sudler, in 1774. A reference to the lot in the in the September 27th, 1782 edition of Maryland Gazette describes the house as, “…occupied by William Whetcraft”. A later (1787) article mentions Mary Reynolds living, “…in the house with stables formerly occupied by William Whetcroft”.
In 1811, the property was bought by Washington G. Tuck. A house was on the property at that time. Tuck apparently built a new house or rebuilt the house on Main (formerly Church) Street. An 1821 advertisement in the Maryland Gazette refers to “Mr. Tuck’s new building”. This building forms the Main Street half of the present State House Inn. It may incorporate part of an earlier structure. Fireplaces in the present basement of this structure suggest an earlier, 18th century construction.
The present State House Inn went through three major building phases. The first was the construction or reconstruction of the building in or shortly before 1821 by Washington G. Tuck. This structure comprises the front (Main Street) half of the building and was three stories tall. The first floor was occupied by stores, while the second and third stories served as a residence for Washington G. Tuck and his family. By 1891 a two-storey wing running up the eastern side of the property to State Circle had been added. Between 1908 and 1913, the two-storey ell was removed, and the half storey present building toward State Circle was added. At this time, an additional floor was added to the first part of the building, making it four stories high. Sometime between 1920 and 1964, the porch on the State Circle side was added, and the roof was changed to the present Mansard roof. The porch had a full basement which descends to the level of the Main Street floor of the building.
During all of this construction, the area fronting the State House Circle remained a yard. The buildings in all descriptions of the property were on Church (now Main) Street. The development from 1821 to the present has been from Main Street toward State Circle. Since the building is built into the hillside, there is a possibility that the built up yard surfaces may be partially due to the excavations of the full basement toward State Circle.
In the spring of 1985 8 weeks of fieldwork were carried out at the State House Inn property. The work was carried out with the permission of the proprietor of the inn prior to landscaping activities on the site. It was funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society and the Historic Annapolis Foundation as part of a larger investigation of the Baroque town plan of Annapolis, laid out by Governor Francis Nicholson in 1695. The excavation program was a first step in a program to recover information about gradual change to the city plan. Other aspects of the project (work at other sites) involved the monitoring of public utility installations and publically funded excavations in areas of significant impact.
At 18AP42, a grid consisting of forty-two 1.52 X 1.52 m (5 X 5 ft) units was laid over the site. Ultimately, six of these units were excavated across the site, along with four .76 X 1.52 m (2.5 X 5 ft) half-sized units. All units were excavated according to natural stratigraphic layers, and if any layer was thicker than 15.24 m (6 in), in was arbitrarily ended, then continued as a new arbitrary level. Excavations were conducted by shovel skimming and trowelling, and all soil, except that from a modern oyster shell driveway, was screened through hardware mesh screens.
A total of 22 features were excavated at the State House Inn. These could be divided into three broad categories: 13 architectural features (which included foundations, construction trenches, and post holes), 5 fill-related features, and 4 modern features. Numerous artifacts were recovered, however, no summary table of artifact types from the site is provided in the full site report. A minimal estimate of 100 miscellaneous objects is used in the table above.
The goal of excavations in the yard of the State House Inn was to detect any archeological evidence of curbs, fence lines, and postholes that would aid in the measurement and dating of alterations to State Circle. Also needed was a profile which would reveal the original topography of State House hill and its subsequent stratigraphy. By dating any cutting and/or filling in of the natural terrain, it might be possible to link activity at the site to specific social and political episodes in 18th and 19th century Annapolis.
A major discovery during excavations was the steep slope of the natural stratigraphy of the site. Units situated near the current sidewalk on State Circle revealed sterile subsoil at an average depth of 30.5 cm (1 ft) below the ground surface, while units 4.5 meters away revealed subsoil at an average depth of 1.22 m (4 ft) below the surface. One of the west wall profiles for the yard at 18AP42 shows not only the natural slope of the topography, but also a distinct cut just outside a line of postholes marking the outer boundary of an earlier, wider State Circle.
Even though the State Circle was in use by 1695, and a structure may have been on the State House Inn property by 1723, analysis of the archeological record indicates that there was little deposition of artifacts during the early 18th century. The top layers on the site were relatively disturbed by recent renovation to the State House Inn. Beneath modern layers and gravel fill, layers contained materials largely dating to the last decade of the 18th century. Brick fragment and charcoal were in some of the layers. The diagnostics and types of materials present suggest that there was a major deposition of rubble and soil in the yard of the State House Inn during and just after the American Revolution, presumably to level the steep natural slope of the State House Hill.
Evidence for earlier boundary markers for State Circle takes the form of a line of 7 features found toward the northern end of the site. Five of these were likely postholes and the other two features are as yet unidentified. The line they form runs about 3.66 m (12 ft) south of and parallel to the present curb of State Circle and about 91 cm (3 ft) south of the edge of the present sidewalk. All of the postholes appear to have originated in a layer with a mean ceramic date of 1792.
The excavations at 18AP42 demonstrated that intact archeological deposits were present, capable of providing information on the evolution of the State Circle area. The extent to which landscaping alterations following the 1985 excavations would have altered these deposits is uncertain. The site may still retain significant archeological deposits.
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