Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18FR324 Catoctin/Carty House
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Catoctin/Carty House Site (18FR324) is the remnant of a mid 19th century miner’s house associated with the nearby Catoctin Furnace. The site is located along US Route 15 in Frederick County, Maryland. The site consists of a roughly 6.4 meter (21 ft) square fieldstone foundation, which was identified by locals as "Earl Carty's House". Earl Carty was a miner who worked in the “Big Ore Bank” located to the south of the house. His son and daughter-in-law lived in the house, a typical log cabin, well into the 1920s.
Archival and oral history research reveal that in the year 1774, James, Thomas, Baker, and Roger Johnson constructed the first iron furnace at Catoctin, Maryland. In 1776, they began producing pig iron under the name of James Johnson and Company. Hematite ore from the Catoctin Mountains provided the raw material for production of the iron while the Catoctin forests provided charcoal for fuel. In addition, water from the local springs and streams provided the energy to power enormous bellows blowing air into the furnace, as well as power for forge hammers, mills, and other machines. A complex system of ponds, races, ditches, dams, and aqueducts ensured that the water wheels were supplied with sufficient “drop” to maintain the power levels needed. One of the most important early products of the furnace is rumored to have been supplies (including munitions) for George Washington’s Army. While pig iron continued to be produced at the furnace, other important products were machine parts, foundry rolling mills, iron car/cart wheels, cast-iron stoves, and other materials. During the Civil War, iron from the furnace was used to armor the famous iron-clad ship, the Monitor. Over the course of history, a number of additional furnace stacks, support structures, quarries, casting areas, and other structures were constructed in the area. Some structures were demolished and improved facilities were built.
Near the end of the 19th century, the Catoctin Furnace complex began to fall on hard times due to changes in technology and industrialization. The extant furnaces at Catoctin prior to 1873 were fueled by charcoal. The abundant forestland of the area during the furnace’s early days of operation was a boon, inasmuch as it supplied a ready quantity of charcoal fuel. However, more efficient methods using coal as a fuel had been developed and adopted by the furnace’s competitors. In 1873, a new furnace stack, nicknamed “Deborah”, was built which could take advantage of coal fuel. Unfortunately, now the forests surrounding Catoctin isolated it and made transportation of coal to the stacks difficult and expensive. In particular, no railroad was available nearby which could cheaply transport coal to the furnaces and iron products out. In the mid 1880s the furnace owners finally built a railroad between Catoctin and the outside world, but it was too late to stave off the inevitable decline. The Catoctin Furnaces continued to operate until 1903 when blasting ceased. Iron ore continued to be mined for a generation or so and was shipped to Pennsylvania furnaces for processing. It was during this period of decline that Mr. Earl Carty worked the Big Ore Bank at Catoctin. None of the local informants could recall when Earl Carty’s house (Site 18FR324) had been built, but one informant did recall that as a boy he had helped to transport a “laboratory shed” from the Furnace area to the Carty house. It was leaned up against the west side of the house as an addition. It was also stated that his son and daughter-in-law lived in the house as late as the 1920s.
The site was first examined by archeologists in 1977 during a Phase I survey through the Catoctin Furnace Historic District and environs prior to the dualization of US Route 15. During the investigations, the area was cleared of bush revealing a square made of fieldstone walls approximately 6.4 meters (21 ft) on a side. The walls barely protruded over the ground surface, however, at the south side of the house a stone wall held by mortar with a 0.9144 meter (3 ft) entrance passage in it was situated. A sunken area indicated that the entrance was for a cellar in this location. A decision was made to begin Phase II testing immediately and a series of test units and trenches were established around the foundations. In total, two 76.2 cm (2.5 ft) square units, two 61 cm (2 ft) square units, and a single 30.5 cm (1 ft) trench were placed against the foundations and two additional 76.2 cm units were placed in the surrounding yard area.
The units around the foundations revealed evidence of the root cellar and also identified a section of brick walkway on the west side of the house. They also yielded several fragments of mortar, 3 pieces of window glass, 1 brick, several slag fragments, several iron ore fragments, 1 button, 3 white salt-glazed stoneware sherds from a “crinkley-edged” saucer, 3 other stoneware sherds, 1 whiteware sherd, 1 metal bottle cap, 4 pieces of tin can, 2 bone fragments, 1 clay pipe bowl, and a pipe stem. The two units in the house yard revealed a slag layer and some charred wood and charcoal fragments that may indicate the presence of outbuildings. The window glass that was encountered was quite thin. The thin glass, clay pipe fragments, and “crinkley-edged” stoneware suggest an artifact complex from the first half of the 19th century.
The site was revisited in 1979 for additional Phase II testing. It had been determined that the site foundations themselves would not be impacted by the road dualization project and could be preserved in place. However, the area to the west of the house was within the project area and it was this section of the site which was the focus of the 1979 investigations. A total of 74 shovel tests were excavated on a 1.524 meter (5 ft) interval to sterile subsoil or a depth of approximately 76 cm throughout the west yard. Fragments of brick and other artifacts were recovered from 14 of these STPs. Thirteen 1.524 X 1.524 meter test units were excavated in areas yielding artifacts. Several features were identified and are described, but unfortunately, the interim report (the only report that MHT has) does not describe the artifacts encountered. Collections from the site are available and are described briefly below. The features found in the west yard included a subsurface trash deposit, a brick walkway, a brick slab foundation for a possible outbuilding, the house builder’s trench, another perpendicular trench (utilities?), and numerous postholes associated with the house. Materials such as machine-cut nails and whiteware sherds in the builder’s trench, indicate that the building was likely constructed after 1825. The majority of the material, however, dates to around the mid-19th century. It was suggested by researchers that the house may have initially been constructed around 1825, but that an influx of money into the community at the time of the Civil War (when there would have been a major demand for iron) may be responsible for the large number of items evidently acquired around that time.
A total of 5,954 artifacts were recovered from excavations at the Carty House (both the 1977 & 1979 projects). They represent the domestic refuse of the dwelling’s inhabitants between its construction around 1825 through the early 20th century, when it was abandoned. Collections in the possession of MHT contain a total of 1,214 ceramic sherds from the Carty House including lead-glazed coarse earthenwares, creamwares, pearlwares, whitewares, ironstones, yellowwares, Rockingham-type glazed wares, and soft and hard-paste porcelains. Also present were 87 white clay tobacco pipe fragments, 90 glass bottle fragments, five glass canning jar lid liners, and three table glass fragments. A number of clothing items were also recovered from the Carty House. Buttons, including 22 shell, 17 porcelain, 5 metal, 3 glass, and 2 bone, were found in various shapes and sizes. Activity items include 9 toys (7 marbles, a lead alloy toy sword, and a white porcelain doll fragment), attesting to the presence of children at the site. There are also 3 graphite pencil fragments, as well as the furnace-related slag and ore discussed above in the activity-related assemblage. In addition, five hair comb fragments and a purple glass bead represent personal items from the site. Other objects in the collections were a complete iron spoon (kitchen-related), and a copper alloy furniture tack in the shape of a shell.
No additional information is available regarding Site 18FR324. The site was preserved in place, and as the stone foundations are just beyond the US 15 right-of-way, the site may retain some additional research potential and would apparently be available to researchers wishing to explore the daily life of miners at Catoctin in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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