Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18BA445 UMBC - 1
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The UMBC-1 Site (18BA445) is the archeological remains of a 19th and 20th century farmstead associated with the Wartman and Lurman families near the Arbutus area of Baltimore County. An undated prehistoric component is also present. The site occupies a low terrace remnant that gradually slopes to the north, east, and south. Although portions of the site had been bulldozed when first examined archeologically (1995), landscape features such as a road trace, old growth trees, and vegetative signatures clearly identified the site to researchers. Soils at the site are primarily Russet fine sandy loams and Keyport silt loams.
Historically, the Wartman-Lurman farm (18BA445) and the Sulpher Springs Hotel (see synopsis report for 18BA390) were held by the same property owner as one property. In 1761, a John Owings acquired 130 acres of the “Taylors Forest” tract owned by the Dorsey family. By 1783, his son, Caleb Owings, had assumed control of the property. A 1798 tax assessment records several structures on the property, including a one storey frame dwelling house, a one storey smoke house, a frame barn, a frame stable, and a log house.
Caleb Owings’ primary occupation was “farmer”, a description he included in his will dated 29 August, 1810. When Caleb Owings died in 1816, he left “all the plantation and land on which I now reside” (130 acres) to his daughter Milcah. This property is the site of the current investigations. He bequeathed 102 acres situated in a different location to a grandson. Aside from a few other special bequests, Caleb Owings divided his remaining estate among his three daughters: Aschah Stevens, Milcah Owings, and Susannah Stewart.
Owing’s personal estate inventory provides a measure of the person and an insight into his activities. Caleb Owings’ personal property estate was valued at approximately $3,513. Agriculture is well-represented in Owings’ estate inventory. Slaves accounted for 43% (approximately $1,500) of the estate value. Owings owned a total of 11 slaves, including 2 men, 4 boys, 4 women, and 1 girl. The value of the farm animals totaled approximately $717 or 20% of the estate value, and included 8 horses, milk cows, steers, heifers, bull, yearlings, sheep, pigs, and fowl. Crops listed in the inventory included corn, wheat, oats, flaxseed, and rye, totaling approximately $89. Other farm implements included plows, harrows, hoes, wagons, axes, mattocks, and carts. The total value of agricultural equipment and products, excluding slaves, totaled approximately $933 or 26% of the estate’s total value.
Household furniture included 16 bedsteads, 3 dozen Windsor chairs, 6 mahogany chairs and one armchair, one chest of drawers/desk, two chests and schranks, one large armchair, 4mahogany tables, two walnut tables, 7 dressing tables, 3 dressing glasses, a pier glass, one cupboard and chinaware, one pine table and cupboard, a long pine table, and a joined checker box table. Textiles included 11 feather beds, 19 pillows and bolsters, 6 mattresses, 3 cotton counterpanes, 7 calico quilts, 5 spreads, 12 blankets, 4 yarn counterpanes, 28 pairs of sheets, 14 pairs of pillow cases, 21 towels, 8 tablecloths, and 5 tea cloths. Utensils included 3 dozen knives and forks, a half-dozen old silver spoons, a half-dozen dessert spoons, two dozen teaspoons, and 7 silver ladles. A lot of “queensware” ceramics, a lot of glassware, and two old cases of bottles are also enumerated. The value of these household items totaled approximately $865 or 25% of the total estate value. The remaining 6% of the estate was composed of kitchenware, miscellaneous textiles, textile making and repair equipment, and miscellaneous items. Fireplace equipment included 4 pairs of old andirons. Other building materials were a barrel of shingles.
While farming and related property items composed a substantial share of Caleb Owings’ estate, the number of bedsteads, textiles, and furniture suggest other undertakings. In 1813, Mrs. Stewart (Owings’ daughter Susannah) advertised a boarding house in the American. The advertisement mentions the curative properties of iron, sulphur, and sulfuric acids contained in the spring waters. Illnesses purportedly cured by the springs included debility, bad digestion, dropsy, rheumatic biliousness, and the ague. Stage coaches operated every day during the season to transport patrons from Baltimore to the springs, Mrs. Stewart’s advertisement implied that the boarding house at the springs had already been operational for a number of years.
The property stayed in the Owings’ family until 1842. In December 1842, Wilson Worthington, Trustee, and Francis D. and Milcah Owings McHenry transferred 135 acres, part of “Taylor’s Choice”, to Charles Hoffman in Trust for Dorothy Wartman. The property, intended for the sole use of Dorothy Wartman, included all buildings and improvements and the stock of cattle, horses, mules, hay corn, oats, straw, fodder, poultry farming, utensils, and implements located on the property. This property remained in the Wartman family until 1890.
Dorothy’s husband Michael Wartman (age 50 and born in Pennsylvania) was recorded in the 1850 census as a farmer. Wife Dorothy, age 48 and born in Maryland, had no occupation listed. The census recorded six children ranging in age from 11 to 29. Also included in the census were two Irish girls, aged 18, and two black laborers. The value of their real estate was listed as $20,000. In 1860, Michael Wartman again was listed as a farmer with three black farm laborers and one black servant. Abraham Wartman, a son, apparently lived nearby (he also was listed as a farmer). In the 1870 census, Dorothy Wartman, age 72, was listed as a housekeeper, but Michael does not appear. Dorothy Wartman died in 1874.
Dorothy Wartman also operated a recreational boarding house/hotel at the Sulpher Springs. In 1844, Wartman advertised in the Sun that the house located at the springs had been thoroughly repaired, expanded with a large addition, and painted. The advertisement highlighted the medicinal properties of the springs. The proprietors offered warm and cold baths. Before the official opening, Wartman advertised for the services of a cook, waiter, a chambermaid, and a laundress. Maintaining a staff of four to operate the springs implies that it was a modest establishment. The hotel probably attracted its clientele from Baltimore for summer recreation or medicinal purposes. The establishment was not located on the major Baltimore-Washington Turnpike or on a major railroad line, so it most likely did not attract through travelers. Its major attractions were the countryside and the spring.
Baltimore County had numerous springs, primarily located near the Fall Line. Celebrated springs included the Chattalanee Spring in Green Spring Valley, Royal Springs in Ruxton Heights, and Caton, Powhatan, and Rock Crystal Springs west of Baltimore. In general, the county’s springs were characterized as clear, with little inorganic matter. Springs at Chase contained iron, while the spring at 18BA390 (near the site and owned by the Owings and Wartmans) contained sulphur.
The Sulphur Springs Hotel was included in a guide book on Baltimore published in 1852 as part of a day excursion. The entire excursion included the Relay House hotel on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, Elk Ridge Landing, and Wartman’s Sulphur Spring. The one-page tour noted the hotel and the magnificent views of the city of Baltimore. The guide book commented that the neighborhood in the vicinity of the springs possessed several boarding houses where families spent summer months. The book also provided information on another excursion up the valley of Jones’ Falls. Local attractions included the countryside and the Green Springs Hotel, described as, “large and exceedingly well kept”.
A detailed section of an 1877 Atlas of Baltimore showed the general vicinity of the site, including the hotel and the Wartman-Lurman residence under the ownership of J. Wartman. The Sulphur Springs Hotel complex contained two buildings and a small pool at the head of a stream that drained to the north. An unimproved road in the vicinity ended in a complex of 5 structures on the property.
The Sulphur Springs hotel/boarding house probably was active until the Civil War or, at the latest, until ca. 1870. In 1875, a railroad station opened along Sulphur Springs Road. During the 1890s, the station was moved and renamed Halethorpe. However, advertisements for the Sulphur Springs Hotel did not appear in 1879 of 1887 gazetteers for Baltimore County. By contrast, a prominently advertised resort was located at Relay, MD, when the Viaduct Hotel opened in 1872 and four hotels are advertised in the Catonsville area during that period. An 1881 history of Baltimore County makes no mention of Sulphur Springs. This all suggests that the complex had ceased to function by the mid 1870s.
Increased transportation between Catonsville and along the railroad lines allowed Baltimore residents to construct summer homes away from the noisome city. Since more residents owned their own summer homes, local resorts such as Sulphur Springs languished. Resorts located further away in the mountains of western Maryland became popular vacation areas.
In the 1870 census, Dorothy Wartman, 72 years old, was listed as a housekeeper. At that time, only four children remained at home. Dorothy died in 1874 after being in frail health, according to her will. Her personal property consisted primarily of household furniture and was valued at $108.00. The estate was settled in 1890, when the property was sold and proceeds divided among her children. Between 1879 and 1889, the farm property (18BA445) was rented by Joshua Proctor. Additional rents were obtained from the spring property (18BA390) and from a “shanty”. The spring property was rented for one and three month intervals. The last rent received for the spring property was recorded in 1883 for a one-year rent to Charles Wartman, Jr.
In 1890, John Wartman, the estate executor, sold the entire 105 acre property to Theodor Lurman for $10,581.00. The Lurmans were a wealthy Catonsville family. Their primary home was “Farmlands”, now the site of a local school. Gustav Lurman was listed in the 1860 census as a merchant. The value of his real estate was $225,000. He had 7 children, including Gustav (15) and Theodore (11). The father died in 1866. Although the owner of record of the former Wartman property after 1890 was Theodor Lurman, maps of the period depicted that other family members resided on the property. Mrs. F.L. Lurman lived on the southern portion and Gustav Lurman (the son) resided on the farm property. Gustav was an active board member of the Baltimore Manual Labor School during his lifetime.
In 1895, the Baltimore American reported that a portion of the Sulphur Springs Hotel had fallen into ruin. The local newspapers reminisced that the hotel flourished 40 years before. The property appeared on an 1898 atlas of the county, which showed a single structure located near Sulphur Springs Road, at the head of a small stream draining to the north. The northern portion of the property remained part of the Manual Labor School. The unimproved road depicted in the aforementioned 1877 atlas was still depicted in the new map, but only a single house and barn are shown, rather than the 5 structures previously recorded.
In 1908, Theodor Lurman sold the 105 acre property to Frank Primrose. Primrose continued to farm the property until he sold it to John Lohmuller in 1926. In 1929, Lohmuller et. al. deeded 108 acres (including the farm) to the Board of Managers of the Spring Grove State Hospital, who owned the property until transferring it in 1965 to the University of Maryland for its Baltimore Campus. John W. Lohmuller, Salvatore Demarco, and Augustine Palmisano, Jr. retained approximately 19 acres, including the spring property. In 1951, Samuel R. and Rose Zetzer, and Joseph L. and Mabel T. Leitzer transferred the 19 acre property to the Board of Regents of the University of Maryland as well.
In 1995, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) was beginning to undertake the construction of the UMBC Research Park and Playfields on the former Wartman-Lurman property. The area would be impacted by the construction of 4 new buildings, access roads, parking facilities, and two stormwater management ponds, as well as grading for the construction of new sports fields. A combined Phase I/II project was carried out, leading to the identification and testing of 18BA445. The work was undertaken in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and in accordance with Article 83B, Section 5-617 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The project also was undertaken in accordance with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) reached between the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), the US Dept. of Commerce, UMBC, and Baltimore County.
Phase I work at the site entailed the excavation of shovel test pits (STPs) in a systematic 15 m grid pattern, along with pedestrian survey. Additional testing was carried out around select positive STPs at 7.5 m intervals when site boundaries were unclear. Shovel tests measured 40 cm in diameter and were excavated to a depth of 10 cm into the B2 horizon, or to a minimum depth of 50 cm below the ground surface. Soil was removed to natural stratigraphy and screened through hardware cloth. The location of each test, the depth of the stratigraphic levels, and the presence or absence of cultural materials was recorded in the field. All soil characteristics, including color and texture, were recorded utilizing standard soil nomenclature and color identification conventions. Forty-two of the 58 STPs placed on the site during Phase I work produced cultural materials.
A total of 205 historic and 16 prehistoric artifacts were recovered and road traces were defined near the southern and eastern margins of the site. Extensive disturbance in the form of modern refuse, mounded earth, and truncated and disturbed soil profiles also were documented. The historic sub-assemblage was dominated by architectural and kitchen-related artifacts. The architectural assemblage included 23 wire nails, 9 cut nails, 4 other nails, 28 window glass fragments, 1 screw, 1 spike, 4 other pieces of hardware, a brick fragment, and a ceramic electrical insulator. The kitchen objects included 28 ceramic sherds (13 whiteware, 4 porcelain, 4 redware, 7 other), 81 pieces of kitchen glass, 5 pieces of bone, 1 piece of oyster shell, and a screw cap. Other historic artifacts included 5 pieces of lamp glass, 3 flowerpot fragments, a thermometer fragment, and 8 miscellaneous/modern objects. Diagnostics point to a 19th century occupation. The prehistoric sub-assemblage included 1 biface, 3 flake tools, and 12 pieces of debitage.
Based on the Phase I findings, Phase II testing was carried out at 18BA445. A total of ten 1 X 1 m test units were excavated at the site oriented to the same grid utilized during the Phase I survey work. Test units were excavated in 10 cm levels within natural stratigraphic horizons and screened through hardware cloth. Soil characteristics were recorded using standard nomenclature and methods on standardized forms. A representative stratigraphic profile for each test unit was drawn and photographed. The units were placed to test a light concentration of 19th century materials in a stand of older growth trees, to sample areas in which Phase I work had indicated a potential for 19th century deposits and features, and to sample areas in which topographic and other considerations suggested the presence of potential intact deposits.
Phase II work clearly showed that 18BA445 was the remains of the historic Wartman-Lurman farmstead dating minimally from the early 19th century. Though it is possible that the site originated as the Owings farmstead during the late 18th century, archeological evidence for an earlier 18th century occupation was sparse and inconclusive while 19th century occupation evidence was extensive. The architectural remains of the domestic structure and barn shown on historic maps were not identified and appear to have been completely destroyed. The partial remains of a smaller structure, probably an outbuilding, were identified near the road trace in the southwestern portion of the site. Historic maps and 1971 aerial photographs of the site area indicate that the central agricultural complex, including the residence, was located on the western margin of 18BA445. The last vestiges of the site were probably destroyed as a result of the construction of a nearby road.
Historic features identified at the site included a pipe trench and a portion of a foundation wall. The pipe trench contained modern architectural, kitchen, and activities debris and probably dates from the last half of the 20th century. The upper levels included a variety of refuse such as plastic, battery carbon, tin cans, crown caps, a roller skate, and a variety of mixed architectural and kitchen-related refuse. The lower levels of this feature contained a mix of architectural and kitchen-related debris, including such modern artifacts as wire nails, lamp glass, and machine-made bottle glass.
The foundation wall appeared to date from the 19th century. The dry-laid stone foundation wall was approximately 25 cm wide with a poorly constructed two-brick-wide wall abutting its exterior face. The brick wall was constructed on a two-brick-wide dry –laid “footer”. Its width and makeshift construction suggest that it was probably not part of the main house, but is the remnant of an outbuilding, shed, or possibly a porch connected to the house. The majority of the brick wall was extensively disturbed. Past bulldozing activities to the north and south of the wall have isolated the foundation and made it impossible to determine if it was part of a larger structure.
The historic artifacts recovered from the site included a wide range of architectural, domestic, and other materials ranging in age from the late 18th century to the present. The full Phase II assemblage included 3,285 historic and 90 prehistoric artifacts. The historic assemblage included 293 activity items (4 toys, 60 storage items, an ink bottle, 83 pieces of hardware, a horseshoe, and 144 other), 1,351 architectural artifacts, 25 clothing-related artifacts, 11 furniture items, 1,461 kitchen-related artifacts (2 Jackfield sherds, 14 creamware sherds, 48 pearlware sherds, 2 miscellaneous earthenware, 14 early porcelain sherds, 21 later porcelain sherds, 192 whiteware sherds, 3 yelloware sherds, 48 redware sherds, 2 British Brown stoneware sherds, 36 miscellaneous stoneware sherds, 15 other ceramic sherds, 737 glass fragments, 5 container lids, 172 animal bone/teeth fragments, 148 pieces of oyster shell, and 2 peach pits), 1 personal item (a perfume bottle), 4 tobacco-related artifacts (2 clay bowls and 2 clay stems), 6 arms objects (a shotgun shell and 5 .22 caliber rimfire cartidges), and 133 miscellaneous objects. The prehistoric assemblage consisted of 1 core, 4 flake tools, 65 unmodified flakes, 12 pieces of shatter, and 8 fragments of fire-cracked rock.
The prehistoric component at 18BA445 appeared to be concentrated in the eastern portion of the site within the Ap and various disturbed soil horizons. Historic and modern activities had clearly disturbed the component rendering its research potential moot. The integrity of the historic component of 18BA445 was found to be substantially compromised as well. Nearly all features and cultural deposits at the site were disturbed. The few that remained lacked a substantive context within which to interpret them. A few primary sheet refuse deposits were identified, but these were found to be of long duration, containing artifacts within them dating from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. Given their limited integrity and context, both prehistoric and historic contexts at 18BA445 possess no research potential.
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