Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18MO314 Brothers Content
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18MO314, known as Brothers Content, is a mid-19th to 20th century farmstead and associated family cemetery. The site is located north of the village of Olney in east-central Montgomery County, Maryland. The surrounding area is characterized by a patchwork of hardwood forest, pasture, croplands, and recently constructed housing and shopping center developments. The site itself is situated in an open area surrounded by woods and is represented by an intact 19th century cellar and foundation, along with an occupied cement block house. A set of four terraces occupies the eastern slope behind the cellar, and an orchard is located on the eastern slope southwest of the standing house. A small family cemetery is rumored to have been located at the top of this slope and a 14 X 14 meter fenced area is present, containing several old hemlock and cedar trees, but no grave markers. Several standing and collapsed outbuildings are also located on the property. The nearest water source is a natural spring found at the base of the eastern slope. The major soil types at the site are Manor and Glenelg silt loams.
Brothers Content was discovered during a Phase Ib intensive archeological identification survey along a proposed right-of-way for a relocated “S” curve corridor of Maryland Route 97. This work was begun in 1989 and continued into 1990. Systematic shovel testing throughout the ROW located a few lithic artifacts indicative of a minor prehistoric occupation within the corridor, and a number historic structural and extramural features (listed above) related to 19th an 20th century occupations. Historic records and archival research indicated that the cellar represented the location of a frame house constructed ca. 1840 that was condemned and demolished around 1980. The shovel test strategy during the Phase Ib survey included a total of 29 shovel test pits (STPs) in the vicinity of 18MO314. STPs were 45-50 cm in diameter and excavated to sterile subsoil, 30-70 cm in depth. All excavated soil was screened through hardware cloth and any artifacts found were retained for identification. Shovel tests in the terraced garden area revealed a buried lens of clay loam and charcoal fragments about 30.5 cm (1 ft) below ground surface, and containing early 19th century artifacts. This was interpreted as representing an old land surface or occupation stratum that either proceeded, or was contemporaneous with the initial construction of the garden. A possible horticultural feature was discovered near the southern side of the foundation. This consisted of a layer of quartz pebbles about 15.4 cm (10 in) below ground surface. This was posited to be a drainage feature for a prepared garden bed. A third possible historic feature was found west of the foundation and consisted of fragments of red fired clay and charcoal. The interpretation offered for this feature is that it was a possible hearth. The artifact assemblage from the shovel tests encompassed ceramic, glass, and nail types that were representative of early 19th century through 20th century occupations.
Artifacts encountered during the Phase Ib survey include 16 activity items, 109 architectural objects, 2 clothing items, 202 kitchen-related artifacts (including ceramics and bottle glass), 1 arms related artifact, and 91 miscellaneous historic objects. The activity items were a porcelain doll part, part of a light bulb, 3 pieces of wire, a metal hook, a chain link, a metal screw, a metal bar, 3 pieces of pipe, a horseshoe, a piece of pencil lead, a fence staple, and a lead fishing weight. Architectural remains include 11 pieces of brick, 16 fragments of mortar, 26 window glass fragments, 5 cut nails, 15 wire nails, and 36 corroded (unidentifiable) nails. The two clothing items were a plastic button and a metal snap. Kitchen-related artifacts included 78 ceramic sherds (8 coarse earthenware, 10 pearlware, 1 semi-porcelain, 3 porcelain, 2 ironstone, 47 whiteware, 2 miscellaneous stoneware, 1 gray salt-glazed stoneware, 4 other ceramics), 87 glass shards (81 bottle glass fragments and 6 pieces of table glass), a metal can, a metal screw cap, 2 pieces of aluminum foil, 21 animal bones, 10 oyster shell fragments, and 2 peach pit fragments. The arms object was a spent shotgun shell. And the miscellaneous objects were 63 unidentified pieces of glass, 4 unidentified pieces of metal, 9 pieces of plastic, and 15 chunks of coal. In addition to the historic remains, 4 possible prehistoric artifacts were encountered; a quartz fragment, 2 quartz flakes, and a rhyolite flake.
Because of the potential for Site 18MO314 to yield important information on the 19th century settlement of the Montgomery County area, a recommendation was made that Phase II investigations be conducted to evaluate the site’s possible eligibility for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. A Phase II study carried out in 1990 included both historical and archeological studies. From the available documentary evidence it appears that the property encompassing 18MO314 was part of the large landholdings of James Brooke in the 18th century, and was probably used for pasture or timber. Although tenants were settled on various lands of the Brooke estate according to Chancery records, there is no evidence that a residence was located on the property at that time. The property appears to have been settled around 1841 by John Harris, and was maintained as a small, family farm during the 19th century, with income possibly supplemented by a cottage industry of tailoring. The 1840 census records that two members of the Harris household were employed as tailors/drapers. The house was probably built at this time, with additional rooms added at a later, unknown date. The farm passed to Harris’ son Henry in the early 1850s. Henry appears to have maintained the farm into the 1870s, after which he may have retired, as he does not appear in the agricultural census for the county in 1880.
Maps from 1865 and 1879 depict an additional structure on the site labeled “Black Sh.”. Researchers during the Phase Ib survey interpreted this label to designate the presence of a school for black children. However, schools are labeled elsewhere on these maps (and on other maps of the period) as “School H.” or “S.H.”, and it was suspected by the Phase II research team that the label denoted a blacksmith shop rather than a school. The structure appears unlabeled on early 20th century maps, but according to a long-time resident, “they used to shoe horses down there”. After Henry Harris’ death in 1896, the property remained in the family, although it is unclear who lived on the property during the first four decades of the 20th century. When the property was purchased in 1946, the farm was in disrepair, and it is assumed that the land had been unimproved for some time. The occupants of the house at that time were apparently in-laws of the Harrises, and it seems likely that during the first half of the century, the house was occupied by various members of the Harris family. Local historians were unfamiliar with the family. The fact that the property consisted of only ten acres for 100 years would suggest that the farm was a marginal one, and the residents were poorer and hence rather elusive in the historical/archeological record. Census records from the second half of the 18th century reveal that ten acres represented about the smallest farm unit recorded on the agricultural schedules.
The property was tenant occupied until modern times, with a black family (the Butlers) living in the old farmhouse until around 1980, when it was torn down and a cottage was built next to the remains of the older house. The tenants maintained the property and were engaged in a number of agricultural activities, including the raising of various types of stock, crops, market vegetables, and orchard products.
Phase II excavation work entailed a systematic shovel testing survey over the site area, followed by controlled test unit excavations. A total of 111 shovel tests were excavated on Site 18MO314. These were excavated in north-south oriented transects that ran parallel to the length of the highway right-of-way. The easternmost line of STPs was placed approximately on the eastern ROW boundary. STPs measured approximately 50 cm square and were excavated on a 10 m interval. These units were excavated to sterile subsoil. All soil was screened through hardware cloth and in those STPs where more than one distinct artifact bearing soil horizon was evident, an attempt was made to segregate artifacts by stratum. One wall of each STP was also cleaned and soil descriptions were recorded. The second stage of Phase II fieldwork consisted of the excavation of formal test units measuring 91.44 X 91.44 meters (3 X 3 ft). Ten of these were placed in areas that were determined through shovel testing or the site landscape to have a high likelihood of features, midden deposits, or other attributes necessary for evaluating the size and depth of the site as well as the distribution of features or activity areas. Test units were excavated in 7.62 cm (3 in) arbitrary levels within natural soil levels. Excavated soil was screened through hardware cloth. Three liter macrobotanical and one liter microbotanical flotation samples were also removed from each level (but their analysis is not reported).
The data provided through the subsurface investigations, in conjunction with both the oral history and visible transformations of the land surface, demonstrated that the landscape environs of Site 18MO314 had been greatly modified over the course of the past 150 years. More notable modifications in this regard include the terracing along the hillside, the construction of two houses and several outbuildings, the subsequent destruction of several of these outbuildings, and the addition of topsoil to create a stable backyard area behind the new house. Historic artifacts encountered during the Phase II work include 83 activity items, 3,186 architectural objects (548 window glass fragments, 54 cut nails, 1,141 wire nails, 651 unidentified nails, and 792 other objects), 14 clothing artifacts, 1,487 kitchen-related artifacts (177 creamware sherds, 12 pearlware sherds, 9 porcelain sherds, 51 ironstone sherds, 1 Bristol-slip stoneware sherd, 4 slat-glazed stoneware sherds, 2 other stoneware sherds, 177 redware sherds, 3 yelloware sherds, 2 fragments of table glass, 883 glass bottle pieces, 35 pieces of oyster shell, 6 other mollusk shells, 4 fish bones, 10 bird bones, 84 other animal bones, and 27 other kitchen objects), 33 personal items, 2 furniture objects, 12 arms object, 1 tobacco-related item, and 501 miscellaneous objects. In addition to these historic remains, 10 prehistoric objects were encountered. These include a grit-tempered pottery sherd, 5 quartz flakes, 1 rhyolite flake, a piece of quartz shatter, 1 piece of quartz crystal shatter, and a piece of rhyolite shatter.
The historic research indicates that Site 18MO314 was established by the Harris family ca. 1841 and remained in the family until the end of World War II, when the property was bought by Joseph Richards, Sr. and occupied by African-American tenants, the Butler family. Available evidence suggests that the original farmstead was small (ca. 10 acres) and that the Harris family probably occupied a lower socioeconomic status. The house represented by the extant cellar was originally (according to the Butlers) a 12 room structure of log and frame construction, and apparently was a typical vernacular style design for this region. Terraces and an orchard to the east of the original house seem to be contemporary with its early occupation. The archeological investigations found evidence of 19th and 20th century artifacts around the structure complex and immediately surrounding areas. A thin sheet midden with a mix of late 19th and 20th century artifacts was found to the south of the cellar, but this was shallow and appeared to lack stratigraphic integrity. Subsurface investigations failed to find firm evidence for intact cultural features or deposits elsewhere on the site, including the terrace area which originally demonstrated a potential for holding sealed 19th century deposits. The terraces appear to have been disturbed by plowing that occurred well into the 20th century. In addition, the prehistoric component at the site appears to have been ephemeral.
Both the historic and archeological components of the Phase II research demonstrated that Site 18MO314 possessed little or no potential to yield significant information on the prehistory or history of Maryland. Almost all of the site was located within the right-of-way for the proposed realignment of the highway. Thus, the site has now been effectively destroyed by road construction.
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