Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18CV22 Battle Creek North
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18CV22, also known as the Calverton Site, Calvert Towne, or Battle Creek North Site, is a multicomponent site that includes a 17th–18th Century County Seat and prehistoric shell midden. Calverton is located approximately six miles southwest of the town of Prince Frederick, Maryland, and is located south of the terminus of Adelina Road in Calvert County. Soils at the site are a well-drained Hazelton loam, and the site is subject to erosion.
The site was first occupied by indigenous people and later served as the first seat of government for Calvert County. Also known as Battle Town, Calverton was one of the few towns created within southern Maryland during the first century of the colony’s existence. Originally laid out in 1668, the town served as the county seat until the court/assizes functions of the town were moved to Prince Frederick in 1725. Calverton was originally laid out as a 20-acre tract that was subdivided from the 500-acre plantation owned by William Berry. By 1682, with the town flourishing, Berry appears to have had designs on including the tract as part of his own holdings and his actions resulted in town residents petitioning the Maryland Assembly to confirm the 20-acre tract through a resurvey. This resurvey of Calverton by Robert Jones, the county surveyor from 1682-84, resulted in the creation of a plat showing the organization of the town and the location of some of its key buildings and residences. This is one of the most important primary sources of knowledge that we have of this early town.
Jones’ map of the town illustrated a relatively small community with four residences; with one belonging to William Berry, one belonging to Michael Tawny, and one belonging to Thomas Cosden. Additionally, five outbuildings, two landings, a prison, a courthouse, and a chapel were identified. No formal streets are illustrated on the plat which may indicate that they were not considered useful for the purposes of the petition rather than that they did not exist. The ownership of one of the structures is attributed to Banks, but this structure is illustrated without a chimney, which may indicate it possessed more of a governmental function. Pogue notes that clerk’s offices often did not have fireplaces due to the threat of fire, and that given its location close to the courthouse the two structures may be related. The three remaining structures with names associated are all believed to be the domestic residences whose owners resided within them. Berry was a wealthy landowner who immigrated to the colony in the 1650’s, and Tawny was initially indentured to Thomas Letchworth and moved to Calverton after completing his term of service. It appears that the two men may have been competing in their attempt to profit from the town of Calverton and that Tawny may have been one of the key players in demanding the petition for resurvey. Eventually Tawny purchased Berry’s plantation and at the time of Berry’s death in 1691, Berry appears to have moved to the Eastern Shore.
Tawny died a rich man the year after, in 1692, and transferred all of the land he had purchased from Berry to his son Michael. The other resident, Thomas Cosden, served as the innholder at Calverton from at least 1675 until his death in 1683.
As noted previously, the resurvey plat does not illustrate any streets within the town, although the original 1668 order to survey Calverton did specify convenient streets of 60 feet in width and Ogilby’s 1671 description depicts the town as being uniform in design with streets and quays. The resurvey plat does show the town as being somewhat organized, with a line of structures running parallel to the shoreline and the public buildings all grouped together. In Pogue’s article he notes that illustrations of 17th-century structures within the Chesapeake Bay region are extremely rare and so the inclusion of the depictions of the various Calverton structures within the 1682 plat provides an excellent glimpse as to what the structures may have looked like. He does warn that some of the details may be artistic representations rather than a direct record of the structures, but still these illustrations can provide some clues as to what type of archeological resources may remain. Importantly, he notes that all of the structures appear to use a wood frame with exterior clapboarding and possess similarly clapboarded roofs that are steeply gabled. From these illustrations it is unclear whether the chimneys are constructed from brick or mud-and-stud. Based on this information, none of the structures are likely to have possessed brick or stone foundations and would have used a post-in-ground style of construction.
In 1708, Ebenezer Cook included a reference to “Battle-Town” in his satyr “The Sot-weed Factor: Or a Voyage to Maryland”. Described as being written in “burlesque verse”, the story he tells in his account is believed to hold some elements of truth. While beginning with expectations of crowds, justice and law, on his arrival he finds the town to be a riotous scene of drunkenness as local planters waited for the court to commence its hearings. The scene continues to further devolve into a fist fight, before Cook retires, drunkenly, to bed. Unfortunately, there are no free rooms to be found and so instead he makes his bed in an old corn loft. This proves a bad decision as when he awakes, he finds his shoes, hat, wig, and stockings have all been stolen and his horse run off. His guide leaves to chase the horse and he dejectedly collapses, which in turn causes much amusement to the residents. Pitying him, they offer him drink and new clothes, as well as use of another horse and he soon rides off to find new adventure. Despite Cook’s 1708 account, Pogue’s research indicates that references to Calverton become relatively uncommon as the 17th century draws to a close, and the town’s significance appears to have continued to decline during the first quarter of the 18th century.
Finally, in 1725, the county courthouse was removed from Calverton and set up in “William’s Old Field”, what is now Prince Frederick. At the time, the courthouse was described as old, decayed, and inconvenient. This seems somewhat of a far cry from a general description in 1697 where the courthouse was described as “very good” and located at a good distance from other houses or “ordinaryes”. The courthouse is also described as not having a chimney, a key concern for a building that stores official records due to the threat of fire. Little information is available for what happened to Calverton after the removal of the courthouse. The Taney family (alternate spellings – Tawny/Tawney) is believed to have continued to reside on, and own much of, the peninsula throughout the 18th century and into the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1820, after the death of Michael Taney V, father of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of Dred Scott decision fame, his heirs sold the property to Benjamin Hance whose family retained much of the property into the 21st century. During the 19th century, the Berry/Taney plantation is thought to have been run similarly to other plantations in Calvert County.
Local narrative suggested the settlement at Calverton slowly faded away until its alleged sacking by British Marines during the War of 1812. The popular recounting of the story of Calverton’s sacking is that the British Captain, Joseph Nourse, is thought to have burned the village of Calverton to the ground on July 16th, 1814, as part of Admiral Cockburn’s campaign in the Patuxent. However, analysis of the artifacts from the 2017 field session do not indicate the town site occupation extended into the 19th century, nor do the artifacts exhibit signs of widespread burning. Writing to Rear Admiral George Cockburn from the Patuxent River on July 23rd, 1814, Nourse recounts that on Sunday 17th, he had marched to Huntingtown, a distance of seven miles from the estate of God’s Grace where he moored. Monday, 18th July, he records as being too rainy for action, but on Tuesday, 19th July, he marched nine miles to a place called the Court House, where the Calvert County Assizes are held, and burnt it and the jail to the ground. This is believed to refer to Prince Frederick, where the courthouse was moved in 1725. No account could be found in Captain Nourse’s writings for the burning of a place called Calverton. Commodore Barney corroborates this story of the sack of Prince Frederick in his letter to the Secretary of the Navy on July 21st and provides no additional information regarding the potential burning of Calverton. On July 24th, Barney notes that when Captain Nourse went to burn Calvert court, he got his horses from OId Major Taney, suspected to be Michael Taney V, and that Nourse and his fellow British officers were well received by Taney. Taney is also recorded as receiving a written protection from Nourse for his estate. If “Old Major Taney” is indeed Michael Taney V, it would seem unlikely that Captain Nourse would have burned down the settlement of Calverton, being that it was part of the Berry/Taney plantation. Also, later in 1814, Taney writes to Governor Winder about providing an account of his actions during that summer.
In his letter, he describes the actions of the British in the Patuxent and makes no reference to his property having been razed. Some years later, the son of Michael Taney V, Roger B. Taney, takes up the case of his deceased father in requesting compensation for his father’s losses during the War of 1812. Roger B. Taney makes no reference to any of his father’s property being burned by the British and concentrates on compensation for the loss of his African American slaves. More research on this subject is required, but it seems quite possible that whatever remained of the settlement of Calverton, if anything, was not razed by the British during these sequences of skirmishes along the Patuxent. If that is the case, then perhaps the town of Calverton instead just fell into ruin after the removal of the courthouse after the second quarter of the 18th century.
The Calverton Site has been the subject of historical and archaeological research multiple times during the last 83 years. The Calverton Site was first identified by Richard Stearns in 1936 during an unsystematic search of sites based on the John Smith’s writings during his sail along the Patuxent River. Stearns recorded the site and included reference to a deposit of oyster shells along the shore.
The site was not re-visited again until the 1970’s. At that time Charles Walt Tremer of Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and one of his students, David H. Childs, set out to find the town of Calverton. The extent of Tremer’s excavations are not known exactly, but in a letter to the property owners, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, he states that they included twenty-five 50’ x 3’ long trenches excavated to the top of subsoil. Field maps, records, and most of the artifacts from Tremer’s excavations have been not been recovered, however a small artifact assemblage is currently housed at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab).
According to Tremer, eight human burials were also excavated from the eroding bank, however a recent re-analysis of the remains identifies the minimum number of individuals as eleven. Tremer concluded that the burials dated to the mid-late 19th century, and the few cultural features and artifacts identified during the trench excavations dated to the 19th or 20th century. Tremer went on to conclude that the archeological excavations provided negative evidence for the existence of the town and that the town is not located in the area he tested. In his letter to the Allens he sets out the basis for this conclusion based on the following findings:
1. A large community such as Calverton would have generated a larger artifactual sample of items dating to the period in question.
2. His excavations revealed a total lack of foundations and/or communal features such as roads, middens, and wells.
3. The historical records only indicate the intent to build the town, but it is uncertain if the community was built using this configuration of in the area that Tremer excavated.
4. The settlement may very well have been lost to erosional tide processes.
In his concluding paragraph Tremer emphasizes that the negative evidence he collected during his excavations indicates that Calverton was likely located elsewhere.
Nevertheless, historical research into the location and likelihood of Calverton’s preservation continued. Dennis Pogue, then the Southern Maryland Regional Archaeologist, disputed Tremer’s findings and authored a National Register Nomination for the Calverton Site. Pogue’s research into Calverton was published in the Maryland Historical Magazine, and highlighted the significance of the town, the likelihood that a sizeable portion remained, and the potential for archaeology to contribute to understanding of colonial town development. Although the Calvert County Historic District Commission approved the submission of the form for listing on the NRHP on August 13, 1986, a second hearing was convened on November 12, 1986, where the nomination was formally contested by the Allens. Specifically, the Allens contested the nomination on the grounds that the site of Calverton has been destroyed by erosion. Pogue issued a coherent and sensible rebuttal to the appeal, as detailed later in this section, but ultimately, the Allens won the appeal and the site was never listed on the NRHP.
Despite this setback, Pogue’s research paved the way for future research interests and a return to archaeology at Calverton. By 2003, part of the property was under the ownership of the McDougall family who prior to the construction of a new house, met with Kirsti Uunila. Uunila began to monitor the condition of the site annually. In the spring of 2003, Uunila identified cultural features eroding out of the bank into Battle Creek. Feature 1 was a pit-like feature containing bone, oyster shell, tobacco pipe, wrought nails and brick. The feature was drawn in profile and recorded using GPS. Three small shell pits were also identified east and west of Feature 1. A prehistoric midden recorded by Pogue in 1986 was also recorded and measured 100 feet long. Taking the baton from Pogue, Uunila continued to monitor the Calverton Site and the effects shoreline erosion on the already exposed cultural features while simultaneously maintaining a constructive dialogue between archaeologist and landowner. Without Uunila’s commitment to the site it is perhaps likely that the site would have faded into memory.
In 2005, Uunila, now with the Calvert County Department of Planning and Zoning, Ed Chaney of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, and volunteer Lauren Morrell investigated the archaeological potential of the house site chosen by Don and Jean McDougall. A transect of shovel test pits (STP’s) spaced 25 feet apart, and two perpendicular transects of STP’s were laid out across the area in order to test the proposed footprint of the house. The STP’s ultimately did not identify any cultural features but did reveal that the stratigraphy across the site consisted of a 0.7 to 0.9-foot-thick plowzone with a yellowish-brown sandy loam subsoil beneath it. Artifacts consisted mainly of oyster shell and brick although three wrought nails and three white clay tobacco pipe fragments were also recovered. Prehistoric artifacts consisted of a quartz flake. A reconnaissance of the shoreline after excavation of the STP’s identified a probable brick chimney base and several other concentrations of brick and nails suggestive of potential building locations. Ultimately, the house was not constructed, but the fieldwork conducted provided valuable information towards understanding the Calverton Site. Uunila, as well as the landowners, continued to monitor and record the condition of the site over the next decade thereby maintaining interest in the significance of the site.
In 2015, AAHA assessed the vulnerability of the site to storm surge, rising water, and erosion during a shoreline archeological survey of Battle Creek for Calvert County under a CLG Grant provided by MHT. Using a canoe and limited pedestrian survey, Tyler identified previously recorded features and found evidence to support Pogue’s hypothesis that the central portion of the town was likely preserved despite the impacts of erosion. Tyler recommended the site boundaries be extended to match those proposed by Pogue (1986) and the site form for Calverton was revised to reflect those boundaries. Given the importance of this site, Tyler recommended that steps be taken to either protect it from future erosion or mitigate the potentially complete loss of some of Calvert County’s earliest colonial history to the rising sea levels.
Prior to field work beginning during the 2017 Field Session, Uunila was able to discuss the excavations from the 1970’s with Mr. Tremer. Tremer confirmed that much of the collection and field notes had been lost, but he was able to turn over human remains and a scatter of artifacts which had been collected during the excavations. The artifacts, but not the human remains, are now housed at the MAC Lab. The artifacts were catalogued by AAHA, and the human remains analyzed by Dana Kollman and colleagues at Towson University.
During the early summer of 2017, the Calverton Site was the focus of the ASM’s Annual Tyler Bastion Field Session. Run in conjunction with the ASM, the Maryland Historical Trust, and the Calvert County Department of Planning, archaeologists and volunteers excavated portions of the Calverton Site located on the McDougall property. The goals of the 2017 ASM Field Session were to 1) investigate what remains of the town, 2) examine the accuracy of the locations of structures as indicated on the georeferenced 1682 plat, and the magnetic susceptibility results, and 3) to examine the Native American shell midden.
Prior to the 2017 excavations, a magnetic susceptibility survey of the area was conducted by Dr. Matt McKnight and Dr. Charles Hall of the MHT to identify areas of greater archaeological potential. A Bartington Model MS2 fitted with MS2D Surface Scanning Search Loop was used. The grid was comprised of 868 squares measuring 5 by 5 meters, however erosion and dense vegetation limited the sampling of some areas of the site. Ultimately, 607 readings were recorded covering an area roughly 15,175 m2 (or roughly 3.75 acres) and extending well beyond the anticipated northern limits of the site. In general, background readings on the property were 10 SI or lower, with readings above 20 representing anomalies and readings approaching 30 SI being considered more significant anomalies.
Together, the results of the magnetic susceptibility study and a geo-referenced 1682 plat were used to determine where to excavate during the 2017 Field Session. Utilizing this data, ten STP’s, ten 2 by 2-meter test units, and four 1 by 2-meter test units were placed in four areas across the site. All four of the areas showed high readings on the magnetic susceptibility survey, three of which also coincided with the placement of structures depicted on the 1682 plat.
Walk-over survey of the beach was conducted daily during low tide and artifacts collected. Observations on the degree of erosion were also made. One area which yielded a high quantity of artifacts was designated Feature 1 and is located near the depiction of the Tawny house on the 1682 plat. This feature is designated as Feature 1 (2017) to distinguish it from Feature 1 identified by Uunila in 2003.
A total of six features were identified and recorded. All soil profiles for the STP’s were similar ranging from 22-25 cm deep and consisting of a dark yellowish brown to brown (10YR3/4 TO 10YR 4/3) sandy loam overlaying a B-horizon subsoil consisting of yellowish brown (10YR5/6) sand. STP’s were excavated 10-15 cm into subsoil which was devoid of cultural materials.
The STP’s contained 211 colonial period artifacts, and 3 prehistoric artifacts all from the plowzone layer. Kitchen class artifacts clustered in the southeast while the prehistoric artifacts were excavated from the southeast STP’s. A small concentration of gunflints and smoking related artifacts were more common in the western areas.
Fourteen test units totaling 48m² were excavated during the 2017 ASM Field Session in four areas across the portion of the site on the McDougall property. All fourteen units consisted of a plowzone layer overlying a sandy clay subsoil. A total of 20,710 historic period, and 107 prehistoric period artifacts were collected from the excavations and represent periods ranging from the Late Woodland Period (A.D 950- A.D 1600) to the 20th century, although a vast majority date to the late 17th to 18th centuries. Six features were identified below the plowzone layer. Shearn et al. concluded that the excavations conducted on the western portion of the McDougall property likely represent the Tawny household depicted on the 1682 plat map.
Excavations in the central portion of the property likely date to the late 17th to 18th centuries despite no associated building shown on the 1682 plat, and the structure which would have housed the cellar feature (Feature 3) may date slightly later than the area associated with the Tawny dwelling.
Overall, the 2017 excavations supported Pogue’s conclusions regarding the occupation period of Calverton, and lack of occupation through the 19th century and during the War of 1812. Additionally, contrary to Tremer’s conclusions, the results of the 2017 Field Session indicated that a large portion of the site remained intact despite erosion, and the Calverton Site continues to have the potential to reveal significant information regarding the colonial townsite. Prehistoric artifacts recovered during 2017 also confirmed the presence of a Native American occupation in the area during the Woodland Period (1250 B.C – A.D 1600) with most of the prehistoric artifacts concentrating towards the eastern portion of the site.
In 2018, further excavations were conducted. Within the area of the 2017 excavations, a total of ten 2 by 2-meter and one 1 by 2- meter test units were opened, and three 2 by 2-meter test units from 2017 were re-visited. Two additional areas were also tested, adding two more test units. This resulted in a total of 13 additional test units.
A walk-over survey and collection of artifacts from the shoreline of Battle Creek at the Calverton Site was conducted on two days during the 2018 Field Session. Artifacts within 10- meter intervals were collected together. Artifacts were kept separate by collection day, and include historic, prehistoric, and modern material. A total of 43 artifacts was collected. Material included prehistoric lithics and pottery, colonial and postcolonial ceramics, brick, blown and machine-made glass, white clay tobacco pipe stems and European flint. While the artifacts span a wide time period, the presence of white clay tobacco pipe, English brown salt-glaze stoneware, and European flint flakes indicate that artifacts related to the Calverton Site are being displaced along the shoreline due to erosion.
The 2018 ASM excavations consisted largely of plowzone contexts and architectural feature excavation. A total of 13 new test units were excavated during the 2018 session. Blocks A, B and D from 2017 were revisited, and single test units in two additional blocks, E and F were added. A total of 10,943 artifacts were recovered by the ASM in 2018 and analyzed by AAHA. Artifacts from feature contexts compose 31.6% of the 2018 assemblage (n=3,490). The remaining quantity of artifacts were collected from plowzone deposits (n=7,410) and beach collection (n=43).
The excavation of test units in Block A began in 2017 and three additional test units were opened within the block in 2018, along with one 1 by 2-m unit. Mechanical excavation was used before test unit excavation to remove the top 3 to 4 inches of sod over the plowzone layer using a smooth bucket mini backhoe. Block A 2018 test units were all placed to the north of 2017 test unit N7008 E0037. A total of six features were identified in Block A during 2018, accounting for all newly identified features during the 2018 season. Features 7, 9, and 11 were identified as post hole/post molds while Features 8,10, and 12 were identified as shallow indeterminate pit features. All features were excavated. Test units in Block A contained artifacts dating to the colonial occupation of the Calverton Site within the plowzone layer. Prehistoric artifacts were also identified in Block A. A total of 4,078 artifacts were collected from the plowzone. A total of seven prehistoric artifacts were recovered. Historic period artifacts made up 99% of the assemblage (n=4,071) and include architectural artifacts, ceramics, bottle and table glass, tobacco pipe, arms related artifacts, and faunal material.
Despite the lack of a corresponding structure on the 1682 plat, test units totaling 12m² were placed in excavation Block B in during the 2017 session due to an anomalous signature identified during the magnetic susceptibility reading. In 2018 excavations resumed in the block to further investigate the possible cellar feature (Feature 3). Two new test units totaling 8m² were added to the east and north of test unit N7002 E0079. All test units excavated within Block B contained a plowzone over subsoil configuration. A single feature, Feature 3, was identified below the plowzone. A total of 2,969 historic and 8 prehistoric artifacts were recovered from the 2018 test units. Historic artifacts include architectural, ceramic, bottle and table glass, imported tobacco pipe fragments, flint flakes and faunal material. Prehistoric artifacts include lithics and pottery. While it was only feasible to test a small portion of Feature 3 during the 2018 session, it is possible to make several observations regarding the nature of the feature and the artifacts contained within it. The northwest and southeastern edges, as exposed in Quads 2 and 3, slope towards the center of Feature 3. The southwest border, Quad 1, is either not a true edge of the feature, or has a straighter sided wall. It is not clear as to why there is a difference between the feature’s edges in the various quads. It is possible that the sloping edges of Feature 3 might represent the slumping of the walls inwards towards the center of the cellar, with the straighter sides visible in Quad 1 representing the original format of the cellar. Alternatively, the differences in the edges of the feature might indicate the presence of multiple pit features, each constructed slightly differently, overlapping one another. There may be additional evidence of this at the base of Quad 1, where a band of subsoil is visible between two feature fill areas at the base of the 20-30 cm level and appears to separate the feature into two different sections.
Block E consists of one test unit, N7014 E0072, opened during the 2018 season to investigate a high magnetic susceptibility reading. The unit was placed between Blocks A and B and consisted of a layer of brown (10YR4/3) silt loam, the historic plowzone, with subsoil at the base. At the base of plowzone, a darker area of soil was noted in the southwest corner of the unit and was originally speculated to be the remnants of a buried of topsoil layer. Upon further excavation it was determined the feature more likely represented the remnants of a rodent hole. Additional features were not identified in the unit. A total of 173 historic period artifacts was recovered from the unit, the most abundant types being brick and oyster shell (n=149).
Block F consisted of one test unit, N6985 E0040, opened during the 2018 session to investigate the area surrounding the Berry structure as identified on the 1682 plat map. The unit was placed at the same location as a 2017 STP (N6985 E0040) excavated during the 2017 Field Session and located south of Block A, near the shoreline at the southwest corner of the site excavations. The test unit was composed of a plowzone layer consisting of a brown (10YR4/3) silty loam, over a yellowish brown (10YR5/6) sandy loam subsoil. North-south and east-west oriented plowscars were visible at the base of plowzone. The unit did not uncover any cultural features related to the occupation of Calverton.
A total of 230 artifacts was collected during the excavation of N6985 E0040, all of which were historic period artifacts produced during the mid-late 17th century until the end of the 18th century. While the artifact types have a long range of manufacture, the assemblage is more characteristic of the end of the 16th century to the early/mid-18th century.
The Calverton Site represents a multi-component prehistoric and historic period site located along the shore of Battle Creek in Calvert County, Maryland. Minimal development on the property has resulted in a well-preserved archaeological site with intact cultural deposits below an agriculturally disturbed layer. Despite minimal threat from development and being under the stewardship of cultural resource sensitive landowners, the Calverton Site faces destruction through the threat of rising sea level and weather-related occurrences.
Overall, the assemblage at Calverton indicates a Late Woodland Period (AD900-AD1600), and late 17th-18th century colonial occupation. Artifacts dating to the 19th century were absent in both the 2017 and 2018 excavations. A few artifacts dating to the 20th century were identified, but nonetheless indicate a continued agricultural and residential use of the property through to the present day.
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