Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18HO254 Montjoy
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Montjoy Site (18HO254) is situated within the north-central portion of Howard County, Maryland. Red Hill Branch and its tributaries flow nearby. The site contains 19th century components connected with the occupation of the Montjoy farm, a historic property composed of a mansion and several outbuildings. The building is a two-story, L-shaped dwelling composed of stone, brick, and stucco. The main block of the house is thought to have been built between 1810 and 1835, with additions and modifications made between the mid 19th and early 20th centuries. A circular drive leads to the westward-facing front of the mansion. Three contemporary and/or related outbuildings were identified directly north of the mansion house, including the kitchen/slave quarters, a smokehouse, and a garage/work shed. The larger Montjoy property is composed of upland flats and undulating ridge tops moderately dissected by perennial tributaries. The floral setting is mostly composed of open, grass-and-weed-covered fields. Isolated patches of mature trees are present as well, and are confined to those areas along property boundary lines and stream valleys. The soils overlying the site and its vicinity are Glenelg loams.
A Phase I archeological survey was conducted at Montjoy between June and July of 2003. The property containing the site was purchased by a housing developer and in a bid to obtain a required US Army Corps of Engineers wetlands permit, the developer agreed to mitigation research at and around the site. The survey involved both historical research and archeological fieldwork. The archeological fieldwork was composed of a pedestrian survey or walk-over and a subsurface investigation through shovel testing. A summary of the historical research is presented before moving on to the archeology.
The original land patent of which the Montjoy property was a part, was issued to a Samuel Chew in 1695 and consisted of a 1,073 acre property named “Chew’s Resolution Manor”. In 1718, Caleb Dorsey, son of Captain John Dorsey and the new owner of the property, resurveyed the tract and increased its size. Caleb also owned several adjoining tracts. The property would remain under Dorsey family ownership until 1810, essentially following the family line of Caleb Dorsey Jr. He amassed additional property at Elk Ridge Landing and on Curtis Creek, where he was the iron master of the Curtis Creek Iron Works. Dorsey’s residence was known as “Belmont”, and still stands today in Howard County. Portions of the tract were eventually transferred to Caleb Jr’s heirs: Samuel Dorsey (a son), Mary Dorsey (a daughter) and their spouses. According to the 1783 tax records, no houses were situated on either portion of the “Chews Resolution Manor” tract, but there were houses located on their other tracts. Mary Dorsey was married to Dr. Michael Pue, who also had extensive land holdings. The Pue family estate was known as “Elk Ridge” and their residence was situated on the tract northwest of Montjoy known as “Search Enlarged”. It is abundantly clear from the historical records that the Pue family was wealthy by late 18th century standards. According to the 1790 Heads of Families Census for Anne Arundel County, Dr. Pue was residing with 3 white males of 16 years or older, 2 free white males under 16 years, 1 additional free person, and 19 slaves. Margaret died in 1783 and her portion of “Chew’s Resolution Manor” eventually was acquired (through both inheritance and purchase) by Edward Hill Dorsey. In 1810, Edward conveyed 1,200 acres (including portions of Chew’s Resolution Manor) to his cousin, Dr. Arthur Pue (the son of Dr. Michael and Mary Dorsey Pue). Arthur became a highly respected physician and was noted for his affiliation with the Medical and Surgical Faculty of Maryland.
Dr. Arthur Pue and his wife, Rebecca, were parents to 13 children. The Pue family (many of whom were physicians) was both well educated and well respected. Arthur travelled extensively throughout his life, including travels to the northeast and numerous trips to Europe. The 1810 Ann Arundel County Census indicates that Arthur Pue was residing in the county at this time. During his residence in the county, he built a house within the Montjoy Farm study area, at or near the location of the main dwelling currently standing. Dr. Pue’s mansion house is depicted on an 1835 survey and plat entitled, “Doctor A. Pue’s Land”. The “Old House” is depicted near the third line of one of his tracts called “Long Reach” and may be the “Elk Ridge” structure. It appears to correspond with the dwelling just northwest of Montjoy on a 1795 map. Dr. Arthur Pue moved to Baltimore during his later years and his medical practice was listed in Baltimore city directories after 1824. This information suggests that the “Chew’s Resolution” dwelling may have been a country residence during his later years. Dr. Pue died in 1847 and his will divided his extensive properties amongst his heirs. His son, Arthur Pue Jr., received that portion of “Chew’s Resolution Manor” containing the dwelling. Soon after the property partition, a Benjamin Harrison began purchasing properties from the Pue family (including Montjoy). But shortly thereafter, Harrison died in 1851 and the property was sold to Samuel Wethered. It is important to note that this deed mentions that the sale price of $16,000 included structural improvements (likely made between 1848 and 1850).
Samuel Wethered referred to his farm as “Santa Fe” (which was also his nickname). Wethered spent much of his early life living in that town, as well as travelling throughout the West. His past included many colorful stories that were well documented in books, such as The Beginning of the West by Louise Barry. Some of these stories involved shoot-outs, travels, and even playing host to a small band of Native Americans on their first visit to Baltimore. Although Pue and Wethered led different lives, their lifestyles had some overlap as well. Beyond living at Montjoy, both men travelled extensively, were well respected, and appeared to have little financial hardship. In addition, few people in the 19th century could afford to have their portraits painted (both did), obtain higher education, or travel far from home (let alone out West or to Europe). By 1860, Samuel Wethered resided on the property with his wife, Elizabeth, and their children, as well as with an Irish overseer named Patrick Crowley, several white servants, and 3 black house servants. Samuel died in 1873, and his estate was conveyed to his wife and 2 daughters, Mary and Eliza, four years later. The estate remained in the control of the descendants of Samuel and Elizabeth until 2002, although portions of the land were sold off over time. It was Laura Buck, their granddaughter, who named the estate itself Montjoy.
The fieldwork task was initiated with a pedestrian survey or walk-over of the entire Montjoy property area (not just the immediate environs of the main house). The walk-over identified numerous 19th and 20th century structures and cultural features within the study area. These historic resources included the mansion house, 2 tenant houses, a smoke house, a stone kitchen, a garage/work shed, 2 barns, a drive-through granary, a chicken coop, a razed 20th century outbuilding, a well, and several pet burials. Shovel testing followed the pedestrian survey. The study area was dissected into six non-contiguous segments and a grid system of shovel test locations was superimposed over each of those segments using the compass-and-pace method. As a result, several hundred shovel test locations were marked in the field and plotted on a field map. Some locations were left unexcavated because of excessive slope, poor drainage, ground disturbance, and inaccessibility. Over 130 shovel tests produced positive artifact recoveries. The resulting material recovery was composed of 81 prehistoric and 438 historic artifacts.
The historic recovery included materials from several functional groups. These included: activity items, architectural artifacts, clothing, personal objects, kitchen-related items, arms, tobacco-related artifacts, and miscellaneous objects. The sole activity item is a piece of auto glass. The architectural objects include brick (30), mortar, wood, nails (22 hand-wrought, machine-cut, & wire), screws, window glass (23), terra cotta pipe, and roofing shingle (26). A single corroded metal button represented the clothing-related recovery. The only personal item was an 1851 large one-cent coin. The kitchen-related artifacts consisted of ceramic sherds (45 whiteware, 20 other earthenware, 5 buff & gray bodied stonewares, and 1 porcelain), manganese-tinted container glass, and faunal remains (10 oyster shell pieces and 15 poorly-conditioned bone fragments). The sole firearms-related artifact was a .22 caliber shell. The tobacco-related object was a kaolin pipe stem fragment. And finally, the miscellaneous objects consist of coal (25 including clinkers and burnt coal), cellophane wrappers (2), plastic (30), rubber (1), unidentified metal and wire, and slag (8).
The prehistoric recovery was solely composed of lithic waste or debitage made from quartz and a lesser amount of rhyolite. By type and quantity, the lithic collection included the following: 7 pieces of primary waste, 37 pieces of secondary waste, and 37 pieces of shatter. The high presence of shatter was thought to be consistent with the lithic reduction process and the use of quartz. Based on the nature of the material recovery, the Montjoy Farm study area was occupied by transient, short-term, resource-procurement groups moving through the area.
Based on the distribution of artifacts, it was determined that five archeological sites were present within the area around Montjoy that was surveyed. The sites were recorded with the Maryland Historical Trust and designated Sites 18HO253, 18HO254, 18HO255, 18HO256, and 18HO257. Because collections from multiple sites are included in the Phase I assemblage, the assemblage is not included in the tables above of artifact counts. Only two isolated portions of Site 18HO254 (Montjoy) were determined to be possibly intact and likely to yield buried historic artifact deposits. All of the other sites were determined to lie within a plowzone layer and in other disturbed soils. After examining the overall development plan for the Montjoy property, it was recommended that a Phase II archeological evaluation be completed near a well feature directly west of a 19th century tenant house on site, and in the side/rear yards and possible cellar interior of the garage/work shed (where potentially significant deposits were thought to exist). The Phase II work was carried out between December 2003 and January 2004.
The Phase II fieldwork completed for the archeological evaluation of Site 18HO254 was composed of shovel testing and test unit excavation. Shovel testing was spaced apart using a 4.572 meter (15 ft) interval. A closer spacing interval was employed when the horizontal boundaries of several cultural features were being defined. The grid system was composed of over 150 shovel test locations. All but 8 of these locations were excavated. Ground disturbance in the form of road grading, and inaccessibility were the two reasons why these shovel test locations were left unexcavated. Based on the results of shovel testing, nine test squares of a 91.44 cm (3 ft) dimension were excavated in the various yards surrounding the mansion and associated outbuildings. Test Units 1 and 3 were excavated directly west of the garage/work shed. Test Unit 2 was located in the yard situated between the mansion and three outbuildings. The yard north of the garage/work shed was the location where Test Unit 4 was placed. Test Unit 5 was positioned to the west of the mansion and outbuildings. At the corner of the main block of the mansion and its addition was the location of Test Unit 6. Test Unit 7 was excavated in the garden area south of and adjacent to the mansion addition. The yard to the rear of the mansion was the location of Test Unit 8. Finally, Test Unit 9 was excavated just north of the smokehouse. Within the STPs and shovel tests in these areas, the soils consistently revealed at least three strata, with several matrices containing 5 to 8 distinctive layers. This complexity of soils was thought to be related to a 200-year occupation of the site and its associated activities, disturbances, and discard habits.
During the archeological evaluation of Site 18HO254, eight cultural features were identified. Five of these features in the inventory were classified as masonry-related. The other three were non-masonry-related and involved the recovery of artifacts. The inventory of features included the following: Feature 1, a domestic artifact midden; Feature 2, a fieldstone garden patio or walkway; Feature 3, an isolated concrete mass; Feature 4, a C-shaped line of brick; Feature 5, a cellar hole with a stone-lined floor; Feature 6, a small buried trash pit; Feature 7, a fieldstone walkway between the mansion and outbuildings; and Feature 8, a possible trench.
The historic material encountered at the site included activity items, architectural artifacts, clothing objects, kitchen-related items, tobacco-related artifacts, an arms object, and miscellaneous objects. The assemblage of activity items includes part of a porcelain toy teapot, a horseshoe, a tool fragment, and at least 38 fragments of barbed wire. Architectural objects include 347 pieces of brick, 1 fragment of ceramic brick, at least 15 pieces of masonry stone, a piece of roofing slate, 61 fragments of mortar, 11 fragments of concrete, 3 pieces of plaster, 357 nails (50 wire, 5 machine cut, 67 hand-wrought, and 229 unidentified), 298 shards of window glass, 2 construction staples, 1 metal bolt, and 2 miscellaneous pieces of architectural hardware. The clothing-related articles were a wood button carved with the date ‘1851’, a stamped brass button dating between 1837-1865, and a thimble. Among the kitchen-related artifacts were 904 earthenware sherds (3 creamware, 29 pearlware, 585 whiteware, 5 yelloware, 3 Rockingham, 75 ironstone, 177 redware, and 27 other earthenware sherds), 44 stoneware sherds (22 American Blue-Gray and 22 other stoneware sherds), 13 porcelain sherds, 244 container glass fragments, a knife, 439 animal bones/teeth, 122 oyster shell fragments, 2 clam shells, and 11 walnut shells. The tobacco-related artifacts were 2 kaolin bowls, a kaolin pipe heal or spur, and 6 kaolin stem fragments. The arms-related artifact was a gunflint. And finally, the miscellaneous objects were 9 unidentified glass pieces, 86 metal pieces, 15 stone objects, 89 pieces of coal, 88 clinkers and burnt coal pieces, 9 pieces of charcoal, and 20 chuncks of slag.
Montjoy (18HO254) was discovered to be a significant historical resource, both from a temporal and material-content standpoint. Based on material content, the resource was determined to lie in soils considered to have good stratigraphic integrity, and in selected areas, contain high-density and stratified artifact deposits. Furthermore, these deposits contained well-preserved artifacts, including bone, nails, metal, and wooden buttons, and coinage. Finally, several intact features were identified within the Montjoy portion of the site. Based on these findings, the Montjoy Site is believed to have important historical and archeological research value, particularly towards better understanding of the lifeways of those occupying Montjoy during the early-to-mid 19th century.
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