Digging into history

[JohnRich 4]

Attached is a presentation on my continued participation in the archaeological dig at the Groce home site, an 1830's Texas plantation, northwest of Houston.

It's in html format, and clicking the file should bring it up on your internet browser. Use a full-screen view for best viewing. Scroll down to read.

Enjoy!

[pbwing 0]

That is pretty cool!! Thanks for sharing.

We (my family association) are looking to continue an archaeological dig at our family homestead in Sandwich, MA which dates back to 1637. A couple of years ago, they did a preliminary dig and now they want to see what else they can find.

[shropshire 0]

Nice ... Does your team use Geo-Physics (e.g. Ground Penitrating Radar or Resistance measuring) to map the areas first, so that you can locate the best sites to be dug? Knowing where to diug can be very difficult., I'd imagine.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JohnRich 4]

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Nice ... Does your team use Geo-Physics (e.g. Ground Penitrating Radar or Resistance measuring) to map the areas first, so that you can locate the best sites to be dug? Knowing where to diug can be very difficult., I'd imagine.

Yes, they did use GPR initially, and that turned up some rectangular areas which we hope to explore in the future. They include out-buildings from the main house, that would be the bachelor's quarters, the doctor's house, and the kitchen.

We also probe the ground with a rod, and you can feel it when you hit something solid like a brick. You can then follow that line of bricks, delineating the area where they lie underground. So you just move around a little at a time, poking a rod in the ground, to get a feel for what's under there, and to help understand where you might want to dig.

Metal detectors have also been used, and you tend to get concentrations of metal in certain areas, which may indicate an occupied site. We've done that in the slave quarters area, and hope to dig over there too.

Groce had a full time resident doctor to help take care of his slaves, and this amounted to the first official doctor's office in Texas. Kitchen's in those days were usually separate buildings because they tended to catch on fire, and they didn't want an accident like that to bring down the main house with it.

Attached: sketch of the plantation home

We've dug up the foundations of three of those four chimney's now. About 20 years after this was built, it was dismantled and the components used to build another home elsewhere. Only the foundation remains. The bricks were made by the slaves, using clay from the nearby Brazos riverbed.

The cannons you see in the sketch are called "The Twin Sisters". These were donated to Texas by the people of Cincinnati, Ohio, to help Texas fight for its independence. They were used to help defeat Santa Anna. About 30 years later on, they were seized by Union soldiers after the Civil War. Some enterprising ex-Rebels stole them back, and buried them somewhere, to keep the Yankees from getting them. They have never been rediscovered.

Gen. Sam Houston staged his army at this plantation just prior to the battle of San Jacinto, where Texas won it's independence from Mexico. Everybody who was anybody in Texas history, passed through this location.

Also attached: photo of the child's jack, and a brass buckle that may have been from suspenders.

[JohnRich 4]

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We (my family association) are looking to continue an archaeological dig at our family homestead in Sandwich, MA which dates back to 1637. A couple of years ago, they did a preliminary dig and now they want to see what else they can find.

That's very neat that you can trace your ancestry that far back, to the way-early days of American settlement by Europeans. If they do it again, offer yourself up as a volunteer - I'm sure you would enjoy it, especially since you have a personal connection to it.

[Squeak 17]

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Nice ... Does your team use Geo-Physics (e.g. Ground Penitrating Radar or Resistance measuring) to map the areas first, so that you can locate the best sites to be dug? Knowing where to diug can be very difficult., I'd imagine.

Is this the Tony Robinson in you coming out Baldrick

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[pbwing 0]

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We (my family association) are looking to continue an archaeological dig at our family homestead in Sandwich, MA which dates back to 1637. A couple of years ago, they did a preliminary dig and now they want to see what else they can find.

That's very neat that you can trace your ancestry that far back, to the way-early days of American settlement by Europeans. If they do it again, offer yourself up as a volunteer - I'm sure you would enjoy it, especially since you have a personal connection to it.

Yeah, it really is neat. We are very lucky to still have the home owned by the family. It's the oldest home continuously in the possession of members of the same family through successive generations. All if it is maintained through family donations and from visitors to the museum.