Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18CV474 CCNPP Site 1
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18CV474, also known as CCNPP Site 1 or GAI Site 1, is a mid 19th to early 20th century domestic site located on the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Facility in Calvert County, Maryland. The site is located on a small, narrow ridge in a forested area approximately 76 meters west of an access road and west of a large developed spring that is probably associated with the site. The site first slopes gently to the west, then increasingly steeper into a tributary of John’s Creek. A railroad grad lies 60 m to the east. Extant stone ruins (a partially intact chimney stack and foundation remnant) make the site easily recognizable. Soils at the site are of the Downer-Dodon complex.
The site was first investigated archeologically in late 2006 during a Phase Ib investigation of the property. The Phase Ib study was conducted because of the proposed expansion of the nuclear facilities at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The project impact area included approximately 683 acres of former BG&E property south and west of the existing nuclear facilities. A new nuclear power generating facility would be constructed, along with ancillary facilities, temporary construction laydowns, and wetland and stream mitigation. As a result, Phase I survey was carried out throughout the 683 acre parcel, with many areas progressing to Phase Ib or Phase II levels of investigation.
Phase Ib investigations at 18CV474 consisted of systematic 15 m interval shovel testing (STPs), followed by radial STPs around positive finds and close-interval shovel testing within an apparent cluster of historic artifacts. Both radial and close-interval STPs were spaced 5 m apart. Both radial and close-interval STPs were spaced 5 m apart. STPs measured 50 cm in diameter and were hand-excavated in natural strata to at least 10 cm into the subsoil and 10 cm below the deepest point of artifact recovery. Excavated soils were screened through hardware mesh and field notes were recorded on standardized forms. A total of 50 STPs were excavated within the site (defined as roughly 50 X 50 m in size), with 31 positive STPs producing 170 historic artifacts. An additional 9 artifacts were recovered from the surface of the site in exposed areas.
Shovel tests revealed an Ao/A-B soil horizon sequence with no evidence of plowing. Artifacts were generally recovered from the A horizon. Two possible activity areas were identified: the South Activity Area and the Southeast Activity Area. The South Activity Area lies immediately south of the aforementioned foundation. Two attempts to excavate STPs down to subsoil in the South Activity Area encountered flat stones and pieces of brick at approximately 15 cm below the surface. The Southeast Activity Area is represented by two large rocks and a light scatter of brick lying on the surface approximately 10 m south of the foundation. The artifacts assemblage is discussed in combination with the Phase II artifacts below, but generally, diagnostics pointed to a mid to late 19th century date for the site. Based on these findings, Phase II testing was recommended, which was subsequently carried out in 2007.
As part of the Phase II study, archival background research was conducted. Archival background evidence is limited due to fires at the Calvert County courthouse that have destroyed many public records. But, deed and probate records link the 18CV474 property (known as the “Bay Farm” tract) to the Somervell family, prominent local slave holders in the 19th century. The Somervell’s tenure as Maryland Planters on Bay Farm may have begun in the 18th century. The Proprietary Debt Book places John Somervell farming part of “Preston’s Cliff” (a historic name associated with an area north of the site) in 1754. In October of 1795, and again in 1805, a William Somervell was party to some land transactions in the general area. Somervell’s residence may have been located at a large farm complex at Site 18CV480 (see synopsis report).
By the mid-19th century, at least two Somervell males are described as heads-of-households in the area. The 1860 Census identified a Charles Somervell in the area. He is listed as a 27-year-old farmer with a wife and four children. In addition, the Slave Schedule for that census identified Alexander Somervell (Charles’ father) as the owner of 52 slaves, and Charles Somervell as the owner of 16 slaves. Housing for Somervell slaves may have been dispersed throughout their plantation, with locations determined by proximity to water sources, roadways, and cultivated fields. The 1870 Census identified Charles Somervell as a 37-year-old farmer with a wife and five children.
Charles T. Somervell dies in 1873 intestate and in possession of farmland near the village of St. Leonard’s (the property in question). Court-appointed commissioners of his estate partitioned it into three parcels for the widow’s dower. Alexander Somervell, Jr. purchased lot 2, and Margaret E. Somervell (Charles’ widow) purchased lots 1 and 3. However, Margaret died before the sale was ratified and before she made the first payment. Furthermore, all of the papers in the case were burned in a courthouse fire according to records filed in the estate equity case. Therefore, the court ordered the sale of the two lots purchased by Margaret Somervell. An Edwin D. Weems purchased lot 1 in May of 1883. Lot 3 contained “the dwelling house occupied by the said Charles T. Somervell at the time of his death”, and it was eventually acquired by Willis G Dowell and John B Dowell. John B. Dowell had the property deeded to this son, Bell Sewell Dowell on October 3rd, 1889. A structure is depicted in the location of Site 18CV480 on a 1904 USGS quad map. Thus, a structure was present by at least 1904. It is, however, unlikely to be the site of Charles and Margaret Somervell’s residence, which is thought to be located at nearby Site 18CV480.
Bell Sewell Dowell transferred the property to Benjamin N. Gray and Clinton B. Gray On February 12th, 1915. The following May (May 17th, 1915), it was sold to a Joseph C. Webster. In his will, Joseph C. Webster bequeathed the farm to his daughter, Sarah Catherine Glascock. She and her husband transferred the parcel to Irving M. Kolker, et. ux., on July 1st, 1940. The tract was sold to a Goodman Goldstein in 1957, who would eventually combine it with three other tracts that would come to be known as the “Bay Farm”. An inventory of Goldstein’s estate taken in 1957 described the condition of the buildings on the various parcels he owned in his lifetime. The tract he obtained from Kolker is described as containing a shed, a barn, and a house, which was noted as “largely depreciated”. Bay farm produced tobacco at that time, but evidently not on the Kolker tract. The heirs of Goodman Goldstein would eventually sell the entire farm property to BG&E, which would transfer it to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Facility.
Phase II field investigations began with the excavation of 142 additional STPs at 4.6 meter (15 ft) intervals. STP excavation methods were the same as those utilized during the Phase Ib study. Of the 142 STPs excavated, 48 positive STPs produced a total of 228 artifacts. Shovel test artifact distributions were plotted on site maps and the distribution of artifacts were, in part, used to guide the placement of subsequent test units. Most of the positive shovel tests yielded a low density (<10 artifacts per STP) of artifacts. The distribution of all artifacts from Phase II STP excavations revealed three low-density artifact clusters. Cluster 1 included the stone foundation and part of the north yard. Cluster 2 fell in the west side of the south yard area. Cluster 3 included the west yard to the edge of the ridgetop. It is interesting to note that there were few positive STPs located east of the structure in an area designated as a “field” on an 1861-1862 map of the area.
The STP work was followed by the excavation of 12 judgmentally placed test units. The STP artifact distributions were used to determine test unit locations. The test units varied in size (30 X 90 cm up to 1.5 X 1.5 m), but a total of 15 square meters (164 square feet) was opened up. Test units were typically hand-excavated by arbitrary 10 cm levels within natural strata to a minimum depth of 9.1 cm (.3 ft) into the B horizon and 9.1 cm below the last recovered artifact. Excavated soils were screened through hardware cloth and recovered artifacts were placed in bags labeled with the appropriate provenience information. Select diagnostic artifacts were point provenienced and bagged separately. Relevant data was recorded on standardized forms and measured profiles and photographs of one wall were used to document completed units in profile. Potential cultural artifacts exposed during test unit excavations were troweled clean to clearly determine boundaries. Plan views and photographs were then taken before cross-sectioning of the feature for profiling. A portion (generally at least 3 liters) of the fill was collected as a flotation sample. The remainder of the feature fill was screened through hardware cloth. A measured drawing of the feature profile was then drawn before excavating and screening the remaining features fill. For large or linear features, only a portion of the feature was exposed and sampled during Phase II testing.
Phase II excavations identified four features associated with the historic-period occupation of the site. Feature 1 Complex (1, 1a, and 1b) are the foundation remnants and chimney base for a dwelling mentioned previously. Features 2a, 2b, and 2c are builder’s trenches found on the interior and exterior of the west foundation and in the west foundation of the structure addition. Feature 3 is a stone paving located near the south side of the house in the South Activity Area (from Phase Ib). Feature 4 is a possible pier support for an addition to the north side of the house. No features were identified within the Southeast Activity Area. Preservation of features is very good. There does not appear to be any post-occupation plowing or logging disturbances within the site.
Phase I/II investigations produced a total of 3,644 artifacts. Only one object was prehistoric in origin, an unidentified lithic. The historic assemblage included 72 activity items, 1,921 architectural artifacts, 12 clothing-related items (11 buttons and a shoe part), 16 furniture-related items (unidentified), 1,512 kitchen-related artifacts, 1 personal item (a blue bead), 13 tobacco-related artifacts (white clay pipe bowls/stems), 2 arms objects (a gunflint and an ammunition item, and 94 miscellaneous objects (a piece of coral and unidentified pieces of plastic and metal). The activity items were a recreational item, 2 wooden objects, 8 small pieces of hardware, 9 pieces of lamp glass, 22 machine parts, 15 farming implements, a can or container fragment, and 14 other activity items. Architectural objects were 160 brick/block fragments, 1,208 mortar/cement pieces, 87 window glass fragments, and 466 nails/spikes (213 cut nails and 14 wire nails). The kitchen assemblage consisted of 337 ceramic sherds (3 pearlware, 249 whiteware, 15 ironstone, and 31 yelloware), 5 decorative table glass fragments, 1 tumbler/stemware object, 699 bottle/jar fragments, 1 glass lid liners, 2 other glassware items, 2 pot/utensil objects, 19 pieces of bone, and 445 fragments of shell. Temporally diagnostic artifacts and cartographic sources suggest that the site was occupied from ca. 1850 to 1910.
Site 18CV474 appears to be a mid 19th to early 20th century domestic site with good preservation and intact deposits. Archival evidence in concert with archeology suggests that the habitation site is located away from the landowner’s domestic complex in an area that may be considered marginal land (since it appears not to have been cultivated). The 50 X 50 m site reflects the size of the domestic complex (house and yard area). Ancillary areas, such as the spring (located west of the former house), are located outside of the current site boundary. Most of the ceramics were undecorated. The limited quantity and variety of decorated ceramics suggests that the residents were of a lower socioeconomic status than the landowner of this large land tract. Based on the results of the archeological investigations and archival research, this site may have been the residence of tenants, sharecroppers, slaves, and/or freed African-Americans.
Site 18CV474 possesses good integrity and does not exhibit evidence of plow disturbance or significant 20th century refuse. This small farmstead site was established by the time of the Civil War and was occupied during the economic recovery of the Post-bellum era and into the 20th century. The site has the potential to address research questions relating to domestic agricultural sites of the 19th century in Maryland’s Western Shore region. The site should be considered a significant archeological resource. The Phase II excavation team recommended the site be avoided and that Phase III data recovery be carried out should that prove impractical.
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