Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18BC188 Stinchcomb Farmstead
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18BC188, also known as Stinchcomb Farmstead, is 19th-20th century farmstead site. The site is situated between the Leakin Park Tennis Courts and the Carrie Murray Nature Center. Soils mapped in the study area are generally moderately well drained soils. The USDA NRCS soil survey maps the majority of the study area as Legore loams, 0-8% slope and 8-15% slope. Small areas of Jackland silt loam.
Land ownership between the initial patents and the early nineteenth century is not clear. The oldest specific land reference located during archival research indicates that Adam Smith obtained a substantial portion of the area as part of a 58 and one-half-acre purchase from William Matthews in 1792. Portions east of Eagle Drive appear to have been part of this land purchase, and remained under Smith family ownership until 1844, when Caleb Stinchcomb purchased nine acres from Eli and Clare Smith.
Caleb Stinchcomb, with his family of five, was listed as a laborer, and his nine -acre property valued at $1,000. Stinchcomb does not appear in the 1850 census agricultural schedule, and it is possible that his was not an active marketing farm at that point. Maps and deed description indicate that settlement was focused along Windsor Mill Road, in place for over a century at that time, and an ancestral form of Ridgetop Road which connected to the Bell and Shipley farms to the southeast.
The Stinchcomb farm is listed in the 1860 census as a farm worth $4,000 in real estate and $700 personal estate. Caleb Stinchcomb died in 1859, and the farm passed to his wife Rachel, although this is not noted in the census listing. The agricultural schedule indicates the farm consisted only of 10 improved acres. Livestock was restricted to a single horse, two milk cows and three pigs. The Stinchcombs had 15 bushels of wheat, 80 bushels of corn, 150 bushels of oats in field crops, 20 bushels of irish potatoes, 100 pounds of butter, and 6 tons of hay in other crops. They had slaughtered $30 worth of livestock over the last year. This would suggest a farm worked for family use; field crops are primarily animal field, although part of the oat crop may have been intended for the market. The butter was likely fully for family consumption.
Although Caleb’s only son John enlisted in the Union Army in 1863, he appears to have survived and appears in the 1870 census listing along with his mother and sister (Lavinia in census listing, Ruth Lavanah on land records). The elder daughter, Laura, presumably had married and moved out of the household, or died prior to 1870. Fourteen year old Andrew O’Toole was also listed in the household, although his relationship to the family is not known. The farm is listed as $5,000 in real estate at this time, and Rachel claimed $500 in personal estate. Rachel was not located in the 1870 agricultural census, so no further information on the farm management is available. The 1876 Hopkins Atlas indicates a residence and one outbuilding on the parcel, but misidentifies the owner as Charles Campbell, who land records indicate owned the small triangular parcel to the south.
The Stinchcomb farm remained within the Stinchcomb family, but John Stinchcomb disappears from the federal census series. A cursory census search failed to identify a comparable John Stinchcomb anywhere in the state, so it is possible that John either moved out of state or died, between 1870 and 1880. In the 1880 federal census Rachel Stinchcomb is listed as living with her eldest daughter and son-in-law John Henry Gordon, two grandchildren, and George Long, a boarder. Rachel was not located in the 1880 agricultural census, as John Henry Gordon had not been identified as a resident at the time the research was undertaken. Although most of the census listing provide an occupation, none are provided for any member of the JH Gordon family in 1880. Rachel died in 1882, and passed the nine-acre farm down to her oldest daughter and her son-in-law (BCWB Liber TP 7, folio 170). The 1896 Bromley Atlas reflects little change in the complex up to that time (Figure 7). In 1901 the Gordon sold a narrow strip of land, between the Crimea Chapel and the mid-point of the tennis courts, to Celeste Hutton, providing an even property line for Crimea between the chapel and Windsor Mill Road (BLR Liber NBM 254, folio 47).
Baltimore City annexed the project vicinity in 1918. As part of that annexation, the City Department of Engineering prepared a series of topographic sheets covering the newly annexed territory. The Stinchcomb/Gordon farm is depicted in more detail; nine frame structures including the main house, and a single stone structure. The represents a substantial change between 1896 and 1922, primarily the addition of a number of frame support structures, and possible the abandonment of an older support structure which set directly north of the main house.
East of Eagle Drive, the history of the Stinchcomb/Gordon farm becomes murky. In 1955, the Hoddinotts exchanged interest in the property with Britt Marie Thornander, of unknown relationship to the Hoddinotts, and then immediately transferred the interest back to themselves (BLR Liber MLP 9935, folio 13 and Liber MLP 9935, folio 16). By 1966 the aerial photograph sequence suggests that the fields are starting to grow over, vegetation is encroaching on the main house, and several of the outbuildings appear to be down (Figures 9 and 10). In 1969 Emily Louise Hoddinott and her son Charles W Hoddinott sold the property, now including the small rectangular lot to the south (1902 Ridgetop Road), to Baltimore City for incorporation in Leakin Park (BLR Liber RHB 2577, folio 614). Archaeological evidence indicates the main house burned, although the date of this fire has not been determined. After sale to the City, Recreation and Parks established a trail east to the Carry Murray Nature Center, a wide graded trail clearly visible in a 1993 aerial photograph for the area, but quickly overgrown to its current state.
Review of the cultural resource survey maps maintained by MHT indicated that one formal study and one informal study previously included portions of the present Limit of Disturbance. A 1977 reconnaissance study was conducted as part of the planning process for proposed extension of Route 70 through Leakin and Gwynn Falls Parks. This study included two segments of Alternative 3, near the western terminus and within most if the alternative’s overlap with B-45 (Crimea). Harrison conducted only limited testing, relying primarily on surface inspection, and with even this limited examination noted seven historic features. No accurate mapping of these features was presented in the report, but it is likely that the group of stone foundations and dry laid well noted by Harrison refer to the 18BC188 Stinchcomb site reported by the present study.
The Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology (BCUA) conducted an informal study in 1988, which consisted primarily of a walking inspection of the surviving structural elements of the Crimea estate, but there was no report prepared for that study and no field notes are available for review. BCUA revisited in 1993 when they were informed, after the fact, of a brick foundation encountered during excavation to the east and south of the Crimea Chapel. BCUA staff interviewed park staff who had been present, and collected a small number of generally non-diagnostic artifacts from excavation backdirt, but again, no formal report was associated with the visit. These studies resulted in the registration of sites 18BC96 and 18BC101, but have limited additional documentation on file with MHT.
In 2015, EAC conducted a Phase IB and Phase II survey of the site for the BGE Granite Pipeline Relocation Project. The objective of the Phase I study was to determine if there were undocumented prehistoric or historic archeological resources within the defined project LOD. The objective of the subsequent Phase II evaluation study was to evaluate the National Register eligibility of 18BC101 foci and site 18BC188 identified during the survey, primarily under Criterion D, the ability to yield important knowledge through further research. Both Phase II studies were primarily focused within the project LOD although some portions of the resources extension beyond the LOD was also studied. Evaluation of the foci identified within 18BC101 was largely centered on the question of artifact density and variability within the foci, and the degree of depositional integrity retained. Evaluation of site 18BC188 examined the characteristics noted above, and also include archival research meant to address issues of social and ethnic affiliation of the resources, to examine if the resource would be associated with groups or processes important to local or Maryland history.
Forty-seven test locations were located in the LOD east of the 18BC101 boundaries. Thirty-one locations produced cultural material, which represent the Phase IB boundaries of 18BC188, the Caleb Stinchcomb site. The density peak of this distribution is centered on the structural remains present near the center of the site, and extends some 100 to the west. This concentration represents 313 artifacts and ecofacts.
The most common type of material recovered from 18BC188 is architectural material, primarily nail fragments (N=117). Many of the nails recovered from 18BC188 during the Phase IB study came from a single test location, STP 402 within the basement of the main house foundation. Other architectural materials include a full handmade brick with other brick fragments, window glass fragments, a primarily sand based hard mortar, lumber fragments, and asbestos composite tile fragments.
Domestic material from 18BC188 is more evenly divided between ceramics and container glass. Ceramics recovered are primarily utilitarian wares; eight redware sherds, one gray-bodied stoneware sherd, two buff-bodied stoneware sherds, and two possible terra cotta sherds. Refined earthenwares include seven whiteware sherds, two pearlware sherds, a single semi-porcelain sherd, and a small chip of an unidentifiable refined earthenware. Domestic glass was primarily container glass (N=18), but also included one piece of lamp glass, two glass sherds whose function could not be identified but which most likely represent tablewares or decorative vessels, and a small chip of indeterminate type.
The third largest class of recovered material is items which could not be assigned a function or class. This category consists mainly of various corroded ferrous plate fragments, corroded lumps, bolts of indeterminate use, two pieces of possible ceramic pipe, a small semi-porcelain cylinder or rod, and three glass sherds of indeterminate form.
The Utilities class is composed exclusively of unburned coal fragments, and the faunal class of small fragments of oyster shell. Other types of material were generally recovered in small numbers. The sole personal item recovered was a catseye glass marble.
The overall distribution of artifacts is concentrated around the former structural complex, with a drop off to sparse material at the eastern and western end. This pattern also holds true for recovered architectural material. Distribution of domestic materials exhibits some shift to the north and east marking a possible workyard or disposal area. There appears to be little difference between domestic glass and ceramic distribution. Tablewares appear throughout the domestic distribution pattern. Utilitarian ceramic types were more restricted in distribution, generally strongly associated with structure locations, and were generally recovered in multiples within a single test location. Faunal material were recovered from only four test locations, two within the possible yard or disposal area, and two east of the main house structure. The one personal item recovered (a child’s glass marble) was also recovered from within the potential yard or disposal area.
Vertical distribution of the recovered assemblage varied according to setting. Materials recovered within the former structural complex and the potential yard or disposal area most typically was recovered from Layers I and Layer II, and Layer I was generally a thin developing A Horizon. In the few cases were the upper soil layer was the thicker abandoned plowzone, artifacts were recovered from only that Layer I. At the western edges outside the structural complex, artifacts were more typically recovered from only the abandoned plowzone, even when a developing A Horizon was present above it.
This site includes six identified above ground features, including the main house foundation, a springhouse, a barn/garage foundation, a large cellar hole south of the main house, a stone-lined well sink, and concrete feeding or water troughs surrounded by large piles of fieldstone. The 47 test locations within the defined boundaries produced over 300 artifacts, and exhibited peaks and voids indicative of intra-site patterning. The assemblage exhibits functional variability, with a strong architectural component as would be expected given the number of structural remains within the site, but also notable domestic and faunal assemblages, as well as personal, and activities components reflective of use of the site as a farmstead in at least the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Chronological diagnostics include a high proportion of cut nails in the nail assemblage, suggesting a primary construction date before the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a small number of pearlware sherds indicating a possible occupation start date in the earlier nineteenth century and a predominance of undecorated whiteware suggests a primary use period from the mid-nineteenth century or twentieth century. The relative ratio of ceramic sherds to container glass sherds (4:3) suggests either a primary occupation period in the nineteenth century, or a change in disposal patterns to dispose of twentieth century materials offsite.
Based on the results of the Phase IB Identification Survey, EACA recommended Phase II evaluation study be conducted of 18BC188 as potentially eligible to provide information on chronological change in the character of a small nineteenth and early twentieth century farmstead in Baltimore County.
A total of 45 additional STPs were placed within 18BC188 as part of the Phase II study, extending the original site boundaries both north and south of the LOD, and eight one-meter square excavation units (Figure 43). STP excavation noted similar soils to those reported during the Phase IB study, although the area in general exhibited more clay content than the testing area west of Eagle Drive. Artifact distribution patterns based on the full STP grid exhibits a consistent sheet of low density historic material which extends well beyond the project LOD, with density peaks around the structural complex and extending to the north.
Eight controlled excavation units were placed within 18BC188 during the Phase II study: three completely within the LOD, two along the northern LOD boundary in the western yard, two close to the southern LOD boundary, and one outside the LOD in the adjacent area between the springhouse, main residence, and well.
Feature 1 was a remnant of a wall or a foundation built with natural fieldstone (Feature 1-1/6-1) in TU 7 and continuing into TU 12. At a length of approximately 170 cm, Feature 1 appears truncated, and the void is filled by the Layer II soil matrix. Thus, Feature 1 was not preserved in the southeastern corner and it was also not preserved in the eastern profile of TU 7. Feature 1 was first uncovered during Layer II excavation and recorded down to Layer V, although the base of Feature 1 was not excavated. The maximum recorded measurements were a length of 170 centimeters by a width of 43 centimeters by a depth of 48 centimeters. The fieldstones were irregular and had the measurements between 3 x 4 centimeters and 41 x 18 centimeters. No construction trench existed at the side of the wall, suggesting the stones were laid directly into and against the intact Layers III, IV and V possibly from a construction trench visible on the opposite (unexcavated) face of the wall.
In TU 12, Feature 1 was superimposed by Feature 3 in the southwest corner and also by Feature 4 and Feature 7 in the center of TU 12. Both the latter features represent concentrations of architectural material in the soil matrix, probably displaced from Feature 1. The surface courses of fieldstone in Feature 1 were also disorganized and irregular, suggesting that the wall may have truncated during the grading and excavation which created the Layer II trench feature. Only a relatively small segment of Feature 1 was exposed during the Phase II study. This makes it difficult to give strong statements about function or construction date of the wall or foundation.
Feature 2 was a rodent burrow in the northeastern part of TU 7. Feature 3 was a very shallow lens in the southwestern part of TU 12. It consisted of a concentration of crushed oyster shells in a soil matrix, and in a lesser amount of crushed coal especially in its southwestern portion. Feature 4 was a stone and brick concentration in the center and southern part of TU. Feature 7 was a mortar concentration primarily in the center of TU 7, which also appeared as a few discontinuous lenses in the northern part of TU 12. Feature 8 was area of decayed stone, likely poorly formed shale or limestone in the northwest corner of TU 12, extending to the north wall and continuing into the west wall.
Test Unit Thirteen was meant to be placed against the exterior of the south wall of the garage/barn foundation, on the north LOD boundary. Excavation of the unit determined that the stone along the north edge of the test unit actually represent wall fall and not the wall itself. Feature 5 was a shallow basin roughly 30 cm x 20 cm at the Layer II surface in the southwestern corner of the unit, which had relatively indistinct edges and was filled with a matrix of Layer II soils and flecked with charcoal. Feature 5 had no associated cultural material, and no interpretation is offered.
Test Unit Fourteen was placed in a void in the artifact distribution which cartographic resource suggested may be associated with the former presence of barn or stable within the project LOD. Surface examination of the area identified no trace of structural remains at this location. Feature 9 was initially defined at base of Level 1b, and consisted of ten brick bats and one whole brick, and two stones embedded in the surface of Level 2a. Additional material with the brick and stone included a large number of asphalt shingle fragments (a roughly 15-20% sample was collected yielding 15 pieces). While Feature 9 was originally defined as the embedded brick and stone, as excavation of the surrounding excavation level progressed, it became clear that Layer II represent soils accumulated in a wide depression with a number of smaller ruts near the base. The brick and stone defined as Feature 9 are interpreted as an informal attempt to fill and level that depression. It is possible that this feature represents a effect of traffic for the building noted on cartographic resources, but insufficient evidence was recovered during excavation to support that interpretation.
The full assemblage from 18BC188, from both Phase IB and Phase II investigations, consists of 3,747 items representing 11 functional classes and nine depositional contexts. In general, despite varying horizontal distribution patterns between materials from the major functional classes (Architectural, Domestic, and Faunal), the functional profiles of the four sitewide depositional contexts is indicative of a domestic site, with slightly stronger presences for the Agricultural Activities class and the Utility class potentially resulting from the more rural setting of site 18BC188.
Direct chronologically diagnostic artifacts were restricted to ceramics and a small number of container glass sherds. Pearlware is the earliest diagnostic ceramic type recovered from any subassemblage, and was recovered in small numbers across the vertical span of depositional contexts. Whiteware was the most common ceramic ware recovered, and although the majority of whiteware sherds were undecorated, the handful of diagnostic sherds are scattered around a mid-nineteenth century span, with one late to early twentieth century example. Diagnostic glass includes one sherd of solarized glass from the late nineteenth to c. 1915 recovered from Layer 2, and eleven sherds representing early twentieth century manufacturers.
Overall, the artifact assemblage recovered during archaeological testing at 18BC188 supports the archival evidence available. The complex was likely initially constructed in the later 1840s or early 1850s, when it may have consisted of primarily the main house and the similarly constructed springhouse. Over time additional support structures were constructed, with the fieldstone foundations and associated ceramics suggesting that the garage/barn and the southern cellar hole were likely constructed in the later nineteenth century. The construction materials used for the Feature 1/6 wall segment suggest it may have been part of later nineteenth century expansion. Finally, based on archival records and negative evidence, it seems a construction stage utilizing purely frame construction was completed prior to 1923.
Most of the ceramics recovered were undecorated wares, readily and cheaply available in neighboring Baltimore markets at the time, and are consistent with the lower middle or middle class family occupying the farmstead during the mid-to late nineteenth century. The relative paucity of bone in the faunal assemblage may be a reflection of the low number of livestock reported on the farm, with the Stinchcombs acquiring meat cuts from local markets or neighbors rather than slaughter livestock more valuable for reproduction.
The primary issue when evaluating the potential National Register eligibility of site 18BC188 was its potential to support informative future study, i.e. eligibility under Criterion D. Archival research did not identify any individuals, social or historical patterns, or events of national, state, or local importance associated with the farmstead, and the structural remains, while potentially informative, do not represent unique examples of a either a craft tradition or leading craftsman (Criteria A, B, and C). The National Register eligibility of site 18BC188 therefore rests on the integrity of its depositional contexts, and the richness of its potential data. More specifically, it is anticipated that if site 18BC188 has the potential to yield significant new information, it would be through study addressing issues of mid-to-late nineteenth century farm organization, and social and economic change across time.
In the case of the 18BC188 resources, analysis of the deposition distribution of the artifacts recovered again indicates that the majority of the deposits have been subject to disturbance either through plowing or through past excavation activities. It is therefore considered unlikely that stratified deposits, a critical requirement for any study examining changes in social systems across time, are unlikely to have survived in the majority of the site. However, Phase II investigations did identify potentially intact soils adjacent to the standing structures, and did identify intact subsurface features, even if the bulk of these features were either mid-to late twentieth century in origin or uninformative due to amorphous forms and limited association with cultural material. Therefore, intact stratified deposits may exist in some areas of the larger site, outside the limits of this particular Phase II study.
Given the lack of stratified deposits, potentially significant features, and artifact density within the LOD, it was EACA’s recommendation that those portions within the project LOD are sufficiently compromised that they do not represent a significant potential resource, and that the proposed project activities within this area would not represent an adverse impact if adequate provisions were followed to protect structural remains and site soils adjacent to the LOD.
No further work has been completed on this site at this time.
|
