Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18PR374 ADDWAT V-6
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18PR374, also known as ADDWAT Area V Site 6 (ADDWAT V-6), is a sparse scatter of prehistoric Late Woodland and historic artifacts near the Oxon Hill area of Prince George’s County. The site covers an area of approximately 7,600 m2 located on a high terrace of the Potomac River Floodplain. Soils at the site are primarily Downer and Hammonton loamy sands and sandy loams.
The land on which the site lies was probably first cultivated by Europeans in the late 17th century around the time it was purchase by Benjamin Rozer in 1679. In 1662, George Thompson patented the area as part of his “Admirathoria” tract. George Thompson sold the 2,500 acre tract to Benjamin Rozer in 1679 for £8,000. A 1712 map of the area confirms this sale, indicating a plantation on the east side of the Potomac River owned by a Mr. Rozer in the general vicinity of 18PR374.
Benjamin Rozer was a merchant who held the office of High Sheriff of Charles County. Land records indicate that at the time he bought the Admirathoria tract, he already owned a substantial amount of land in Charles County. An inventory taken at Benjamin Rozer’s death described him as “late of Portobacco”, suggesting that he resided in the town of Port Tobacco and not at Admirathoria. The tract eventually passed to Rozer’s son, Notley Rozer, who was named for his godfather Thomas Notley, the deputy governor of Maryland from 1676 to 1679. From his godfather, Notley Rozer also inherited nearby tracts of land called Duddington Pasture and Diddington Manor, which encompassed all of what is now Southwest Washington, DC.
Notley Rozer resurveyed the land at Admirathoria in 1715, and in 1717 sold 80 acres of the 2,137 acre tract to Thomas Addison. Unlike his father, it appears that Notley Rozer resided on the property at Admirathoria. When he died in 1727, the extensive inventory of his estate described him as “late of Prince George’s County”, and in his will he referred to, “the tract of land I now live on called Admirathoria”. While he lived at Admirathoria, he apparently derived additional income from the properties he inherited from his godfather. In 1714, for instance, he leased 50 acres of his land in Duddington Pasture to Charles Collyer at an annual rent of 500 pounds of tobacco. According to the terms of the lease, Collyer was required to plant fifty apple trees near what is now Buzzard’s Point. Notley Rozer also leased 50 acres, which included the present site of the Washington Monument, to Matthew Rogers under similar conditions.
The detailed 1727 inventory of Rozer’s estate reveals that Admirathoria was a sophisticated colonial plantation. The inventory of the main house was roughly arranged to show the contents of various rooms, such as the hall, and the rooms of Madame Rozer and a man named John William Whelenhall. It gives a detailed picture of the Rozers’ household goods, including such items as a japanned chamber table, linens for beds and windows, clothing, and cooking and eating utensils. The inventory also includes a listing of the items found, “at the Quart[ers] by the great house”. This list of tools, a chariot, twenty slaves, and 36 swine, probably referred to the contents of the various outbuildings on the plantation. An addendum to the inventory indicated that Notley Rozer owned an additional 140 swine and 83 cattle, and 100 barrels of Indian corn. One portion of the inventory listed Rozer’s belongings at “Turkey Buzzard viz.” This portion of the inventory doubtlessly referred to his plantation by that name located near present Buzzard’s Point, which is now the site of Fort McNair in Washington, DC. The items in the inventory suggest that Rozer farmed that tract as well, because it included “working tools for the plantation”, 13 slaves, two draft horses, and a mare. Although the inventory suggests that Notley Rozer was a prosperous planter, the total value of his property (£1,378) was significantly less than that of his neighbor, Thomas Addison, whose entire inventory was evaluated the same year at 3,656 pounds.
According to his will, Notley Rozer left all of his estate to his second wife, Elizabeth, stipulating that she was to leave Admirathoria to his only son, Henry, who was the child of his first wife, Jane, and was only six years old at the time. Rozer left to his daughter, Ann (who was also the child of his first wife), his land holdings within present Washington, DC. When the land became the national capital in 1800, Ann’s son Notley Young was one of the new city’s largest landholders, which made him and his family prominent members of early Washington society.
Elizabeth Rozer appears to have continued to run the plantation at Admirathoria after her husband’s death, because a 1733 inventory of her property indicated that she owned land and 29 slaves there worth a total value of £1,277. At some point in the mid 18th century, Elizabeth Rozer complied with her husband’s wishes and passed the plantation to his son, Henry Rozer. Census records indicate that by 1790, Henry Rozer was still running a large plantation at Admirathoria. According to the census, he owned 120 slaves. Tax assessments from 1796 indicate that he owned 99 slaves and 2,031 acres of land worth a total value of £9,799.
Four years later, in 1800, the tax assessment and census records appear to indicate the presence of two separate Rozer households on the property: that of Henry Rozer (who was by then nearly 80 years old), and that of Francis Hall Rozer. Henry owned 2,201 acres and 93 slaves, one of whom was trained as a carpenter, and two who were trained as smiths. Francis Hall Rozer owned only 436 acres and 21 slaves. The Assessment of Henry Rozer’s property also included 75 pounds for a new dwelling.
The presence of two separate households, as well as Henry Rozer’s assessment for a new house, may account for the construction of another dwelling on the property, although it cannot be positively confirmed whether the new building was Upper or Lower Notley Hall. According to a history of Upper Notley Hall (still extant, MIHP# PG 80-5) undertaken by MHT, that dwelling was the newer of the two. Based on architectural details, Upper Notley Hall is believed to have been erected sometime in the 1790s after Francis Hall married Henry Rozer’s granddaughter, Maria, in 1792. Hall took his wife’s surname, becoming Francis Hall Rozer, and the couple possibly moved into the new house at Upper Notley Hall. MHT files also state that architectural details in the existing building at Upper Notley Hall indicate a late 18th century construction date. If that is the case, then it is possible that it was Lower Notley Hall that served since the early 18th century as the Rozer family seat. An 1878 map of the Oxon Hill District of Prince George’s County depicts Upper Notley Hall in its approximate modern location with Lower Notley Hall positioned to the northwest, much closer to the Potomac River. Lower Notley Hall is situated southwest of Site 18PR374, along the southern shore of Smoot Bay (on the Potomac). Archeological evidence suggests that it was situated in the vicinity of 18PR376 (see associated synopsis report).
When Henry Rozer died in 1802, he left the portion of his land including Upper Notley Hall and perhaps Lower Notley Hall, to Francis and Maria Rozer. He left a portion of land to the south of both residences to his other daughter, Harriet.
The Rozer family maintained the plantation system throughout the period from 1815 to 1870, continuing to farm the land with slaves and passing it from generation to generation. Throughout this period, however, portions of the plantation were gradually sold off, and the number of slaves used to farm it consistently decreased. After Francis Hall Rozer died in 1803, his wife, Maria remarried William A. Dangerfield. She kept part of the farm in the Rozer family, however, and in 1822 deeded 500 acres of Admirathoria to Francis E. Rozer, one of her sons by her first husband. Until his death in the 1840s, Francis occupied this remaining portion of Admirathoria, which by then was consistently referred to as Notley Hall. It is likely, however, that he occupied the newer dwelling at Upper Notley Hall. Although the Rozers are not listed in census records after 1800, a tax assessment of 1829 indicates that Francis Rozer was farming 500 acres there with 20 slaves. The 1841 tax assessment indicates that by that time, Francis E. Rozer was farming the land with only 3 slaves.
Tax assessments suggest that Francis E. Rozer died between 1841 and 1845 when his heirs were assessed for the 500 acre tract and four slaves. The estate passed to Francis Rozer’s sons, Charles B. and Francis W. Rozer, neither of whom ever appears in the census as a resident of the area. The fact that Maria Rozer Dangerfield requested in her will to be buried in the family vault at Notley Hall, even though she was living with her son by her second marriage, suggests that the family still had a significant presence at the plantation. By that time, however, the plantation was probably in decline.
By the time of the Civil War, in fact, tax assessment records appear to indicate that both Upper and Lower Notley Halls were unoccupied (at least by their owners). In 1862, the Rozer brothers were assessed for land and improvements at Notley Hall plantation, but neither was assessed for livestock or household furniture there. In 1862, Charles B. Rozer sold all of his interest in Notley Hall to his brother Francis for $15,000 Although the deed listed Charles Rozer as a resident of Prince George’s County, Francis Rozer was very clearly not living on the property because he was listed as a resident of Charles County.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Francis W. Rozer reportedly sold 66 acres of Admirathoria to the federal government for the construction of Fort Foote. Because of the vicinity of Washington, DC, and the fortification at Forte Foote, the project area was documented by a number of Civil War-era maps. Unfortunately, these maps appear to show the area with varying degrees of accuracy. An 1861 map shows only the building of Lower Notley Hall, which is labeled simply as “Notley Hall”. In contrast, an 1863 map shows a cluster of buildings that probably represent Lower Notley Hall, but does not indicate the property’s owner or occupant. A building to the southeast at the present site of Upper Notley Hall, however, is labeled “Rozers”, although land records seem to suggest that the Rozers did not occupy the house at the time. No structures are documented anywhere near 18PR374 on any of the maps.
Although the Rozer plantation had begun its decline before the Civil War, during the period between 1870 and 1930, it was further subdivided, and its land was increasingly used for non-agricultural purposes. In 1870, Francis Rozer sold 246 acres of the Notley Hall tract, which included the brick house at Upper Notley Hall, to Daniel Seltzer of Juniata, Pennsylvania. Seltzer invested in the improvement of the house, adding a new mansard roof, and he resided on the property until the 1880s. Francis Rozer retained the portion of the tract containing Lower Notley Hall. Both dwellings are shown on an 1878 Atlas of Prince George’s County, Upper Notley Hall labeled with Seltzer’s name and Lower Notley Hall, erroneously identified as the property of both “Frank and Charles Rosier”.
In February of 1881, Francis Rozer, who was then residing in Montgomery County, sold 100 acres of the Notley Hall tract to Mary Anderson, also of Montgomery County. The metes and bounds described in the deed appear to encompass the portion of the tract containing Lower Notley Hall. Later that year, Francis Rozer sold about thirty of the remaining acres of the Notley Hall tract to John Swift. Swift was probably already residing on the property, however, because a dwelling labeled with his name is shown on the tract in the 1878 map and possibly earlier.
Despite these land transfers, the house at Lower Notley Hall remained in the Rozer family, because Mary Anderson was married to a Charles B. Rozer. In 1900, Charles B Rozer was assessed for taxes on Lower Notley Hall, which was described as having 65 acres plus improvements. By that time, the land surrounding both Upper Notley Hall and Lower Notley Hall had been transformed into an amusement park. Designed for the African-American community, the amusement park was founded by the Notley Hall Asociation in 1894 and was run in cooperation with the Independent Steamboat and Barge Company. The waterfront park, which included three buildings and a pier, was accessed by steamboat. It featured a dancing pavilion, bowling, horseback riding, swings and a shooting gallery, and was touted in the Washington Bee (a DC paper for African-Americans) as a first-class excursion resort. The park was in operation until 1924.
The site was first examined archeologically in 1987 as part of a Phase I survey of a 123 acre area referred to as the Waterfront and Gudelski parcels. This project was later expanded to a Phase II testing program at 18PR374 (and other sites). The work was conducted for the PortAmerica Development Project (later the National Harbor) in order to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, and other federal and state legislation.
The Phase I work at 18PR374 entailed the excavation of shovel test pits (STPs) at 30 m intervals. Shovel tests were excavated to sterile subsoil, generally 35 to 45 cm below surface in the absence of cultural material, or to the limit of practical excavation. When artifacts were found, radial STPs were excavated to define the extent of the cultural deposit(s). Radial STPs were excavated in each cardinal direction from the location of the original find until two consecutive sterile STPs had been excavated. The interval between radial STPs was reduced to 10 m. Soils were passed through hardware cloth to ensure uniform recovery of cultural remains. Artifacts were retained in bags and marked with provenience information.
A total of 14 STPs were excavated during the Phase I within the boundaries of what would be designated 18PR374. The site was found to encompass both prehistoric and historic components. The prehistoric component, defined on the basis of Late Woodland ceramics, was confined to the eastern one-third of the site. The historic component, which primarily occupied the western two-thirds of the site, consisted of whiteware, stoneware, a cut nail, bottle glass, and glass buttons. Both the prehistoric and historic artifacts occur in the plowzone to a depth of 30 to 40 cm below surface. Portions of the site have been disturbed by roads and pipelines.
The full Phase I assemblage consisted of 2 Potomac Creek sherds, 1 cut nail, 2 glass buttons, 2 whiteware sherds, 1 stoneware sherd, and 4 glass bottle fragments.
The paucity of prehistoric artifacts and the disturbed nature of the cultural deposits render the prehistoric component of 18PR374 unlikely to yield significant information. However, the presence of buttons and a cut nail suggests a structure or domestic dwelling may have been located in the vicinity. Consequently, the historic component of the site was recommended for Phase II testing.
Phase II investigations were also carried out in 1987 and entailed the excavation of 66 additional shovel test pits and thirteen 1 X 1 m test units. All Phase II STPs were excavated at 10 m intervals, allowing for a more accurate determination of site boundaries. STPs were excavated in the same manner as Phase I shovel tests. Test units were excavated by natural or cultural stratigraphic soil layers. If a layer was more than 10 cm thick, it was excavated in 10 cm arbitrary layers. Soils were passed through hardware cloth to ensure uniform recovery of cultural remains. Artifacts were retained in bags and marked with provenience information.
Phase II testing recovered historic artifacts from the plowzone in 28 of the 66 shovel tests and in 12 of the 13 test units. One hundred and sixty-eight historic artifacts were recovered, the majority of which (129) were kitchen ceramics and glass, recovered in approximately equal amounts (estimated at 65 and 64 pieces respectively). Plain whiteware (55% of the ceramic assemblage) was the predominant kitchen ceramic recovered, followed by porcelain (at 20%). The remaining 25% of the ceramic collection was various types of decorated whiteware, stoneware, and yelloware. Kitchen glass was 90% bottle glass fragments and 10% table glass. Architectural artifacts were present in small numbers with 72% of this category being window glass. Two toys, a ceramic marble and a plastic gaming piece were also recovered.
The density of the historic artifact scatter is very low, approximately 4.6 artifacts per test unit. In general, artifacts appear to be fairly evenly distributed across the site. Most shovel tests had at least one historic artifact, however, shovel tests in the east half of the site tended to have more artifacts than the west half. The increased number of artifacts per shovel tests was slight. No features were encountered.
The stratigraphy of the site was straightforward, the result of plowing. The vertical extent of the site was examined through the excavation of test units which provided a better exposure of the stratigraphy. The stratigraphy was uniform across the site in both STPs and test units: a thin layer of humus laying over a plowzone, which cut into subsoil. The thin humus layer developed in the recent past as the agricultural fields that covered the area in the early 20th century were replaced by forest. The plowzone reflects the agricultural period. Plowing has destroyed the natural stratigraphic profile at 18PR374, resulting in the loss of site integrity.
Although the Phase I suggested Site 18PR374 was something more than a field scatter, the means of artifact deposition was determined to be the result of refuse disposal in agricultural fields in the 19th through 20th centuries. The artifacts are not associated with a known occupation of the site location and the origin of the artifacts is unknown. The artifacts were all recovered from the plowzone. The historic component of the site lacks stratigraphic integrity and the artifacts have been removed from their context.
The boundaries of the prehistoric component were, however, enlarged as a result of the Phase II testing strategy. Prehistoric artifacts recovered during the Phase I were restricted to two consecutive shovel tests at the east end of the site. Excavation of shovel tests at a closer interval (from 30 m to 10 m) during the Phase II testing resulted in the recovery of additional prehistoric artifacts and artifacts recovered during the Phase II better reflect the prehistoric occupation of this location. Prehistoric artifacts were recovered from both the east and west sides of the site. Except for a lone STP which contained 2 potsherds, no prehistoric artifacts were recovered from the central portion of the site. No features were identified and all artifacts were recovered from the plowzone.
The prehistoric occupation on the west site of 18PR374 is situated at the edge of a terrace overlooking the Potomac River floodplain. This area appears to be the focus of the occupation because the artifact density is greater here than elsewhere at the site.
Prehistoric artifacts recovered included 2 quartz flakes, 1 quartzite flake, 1 quartz shatter fragment, 1 hammerstone, 17 Moyaone sherds, 2 Potomac Creek corded sherds (1 rim), and 5 Potomac Creek plain sherds. There did not appear to be any horizontal differences in the distribution of the prehistoric ware types. However, all of the lithic artifacts were recovered from the western portion of the site.
The prehistoric component at Site 18PR374 reflects a short-term exploitative camp on the edge of a terrace overlooking the Potomac River floodplain. The site may have functioned as a support camp to the large Late Woodland Site 18PR11, which was located approximately 1 km to the southwest. Presumably the site was occupied sporadically or at specific times of the year to harvest resources from the natural environment. Alternatively, if the vicinity of the site was used by Native Americans for agriculture, the site may represent a location used for rest or minimal food processing.
Site 18PR374 is a sparse scatter of both prehistoric Late Woodland materials and historic artifacts. Phase I and II research revealed the artifact density of both occupations to be low and thoroughly mixed within the plowzone soils. No cultural features were identified. Based on these findings, 18PR374 has little potential to contributed meaningful information related to Maryland prehistory and history.
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