Lost Towns Project – The Lost Towns Project

Whitehall Overseer’s Quarter: Connecting Local African American Histories Through Archaeology on the Broadneck Peninsula

18April2024Lost Towns Project19th century, African American history, Anne Arundel County, architecture, fieldwork, Whitehall

By Jennifer J. Babiarz (Anne Arundel County), C. Jane Cox (Anne Arundel County), and Lisa H. Robbins (Lost Towns Project consultant). This blog post was originally published on Our History, Our Heritage, the blog of the Maryland Historical Trust, and is cross-posted here.

In 2022, The Lost Towns Project, Inc., in collaboration with the Anne Arundel County Office of Planning and Zoning’s Cultural Resources Section, began a county-wide study—documenting and contextualizing architectural and archaeological sites representing African American households living through enslavement, resistance, and freedom during the 19th century. This project was possible thanks to an FY 2022 Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Award from the Maryland Historical Trust.

Products of the study include a comprehensive database of these site types in Anne Arundel County; a report providing an historical, architectural, and archaeological context for Anne Arundel County’s 19th-century African American households; and updates to, or creation of, over a dozen historic archaeological inventory forms to ensure that the state’s inventory more fully and holistically reflects the existence and importance of African American households in 19th-century Anne Arundel County.

The work undertaken at the Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters (AA-326A) was one of the more compelling sites the team studied not only because it was poorly documented in state inventory records, but also because it sparked a new level of engagement, interest, and connection with the area’s descendant community and the possibility of future partnerships and discoveries.

(*Note: This building and site is on private property, and should not be visited without the express permission of the owner(s).)

The Whitehall Overseer’s House, which stands about 40 feet west of the Overseer’s Quarters, was built in 1750 by Governor Horatio Sharpe as a one-and-a-half story frame, whitewashed house with an attached kitchen. After Sharpe’s death in 1790, Whitehall and its associated properties were willed to John Ridout, and the Whitehall Overseer’s House (AA-326) remained in the Ridout family until 2022. Horatio Ridout II and his wife Jemima Duvall were the first Ridouts to live in the Overseer’s House and likely constructed the duplex quarter for enslaved families.

The Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters is a 1½-story log structure that rests on a roughly coursed, cut stone foundation. Its style is referred to as a double-pen saddlebag, or duplex, and consists of two independent dwellings under one roof, which were separated by a central chimney with a partition wall and likely would have housed two families. This is a common vernacular architectural form in the mid-Atlantic and the South, though this is the only surviving double-pen log quarters in Anne Arundel County and one of only a few surviving double-pen log quarters in Maryland.

Surviving evidence indicates that the building was originally constructed as one story with an accessible attic/loft, arranged in two bays (each about 14’x12’), with doorways in each corner of the façade. Based on the evidence of the surviving fasteners and finishes, the building likely was constructed between 1840-1860. Remnants of whitewash survive on surfaces throughout the interior of the building, including both logs that were added to create the half-story and logs forming the walls below. The exposed end grain of the logs forming the dovetail corner notches is remarkably unweathered, suggesting that the building may always have been enclosed with siding.

*The Whitehall Overseer’s Quarter, viewed from the northeast; the sheathing boards and the shingles are 20th century; the roof frame was replaced in the 19th century.*

In the 1840 Census, Horatio S. Ridout II is documented as enslaving 24 individuals; by the 1850 Census the number of individuals he enslaved was 13, and in 1860 the count had dropped to nine.

There is only one recorded manumission by Horatio Ridout II: a man named John Wright in March of 1864 based on his service in the 30th Regiment of the US Colored Troops during the Civil War. Records referred to as the “Slave Statistics,” are particularly important due to their recordation of the full given name and surname of those persons who had been enslaved until the enactment of the Constitution, as well as their age, physical condition, and term of service. In reference to Horatio Ridout II, the statistics are as follows:

John Wright, 35, Male, Good, For Life, Enlisted in US services
Thomas Kemble, 34, Male, Good, For Life
Benjamin Simpson, 22, Male, Good, For Life
Gilbert Calvert, 16, Male, 16, Good, For Life
Moses Bullen, 16, Male, Good, For Life
May Smith, 30, Female, Good, 8 Years to Serve
Hester A. Simpson, 7, Female, Good, 28 Years to Serve
Isaac Smith, 3, Male, Good, 32 Years to Serve

Benjamin and Nellie Ross were interviewed by George McDaniel about the log house they moved into in the 1880s in Charles County, Maryland:

“Everybody pretty much lived in log houses back then. There were very few frame houses, and let me tell you, White and colored lived in log houses.”(McDaniel 1982:139)

The roofs of frame and log structures were typically covered with shingles, clapboards/planks, or thatch (made from grass and possibly straw in Southern Maryland).

*Detail of the northeast corner of the log crib with well-carpentered full-dovetail joints exposed below the current wall covering.*

Being located on private property, and now under the stewardship of relatively new owners, the team’s initial site visit was designed to develop a rapport with the new owners, and to gather previously unrecorded details about what we found to be a rapidly deteriorating structure. Dr. Dennis J. Pogue and MHT staff joined on some of the first visits to the site, working with the team to document and interpret this rare surviving building type. Pogue generously shared his extensive experience documenting enslaved housing for the last 15 years with the Virginia Slave Housing Project. The original MIHP form, last updated in 1976, sorely lacked architectural details, a clear statement of significance, and any consideration of possible archaeological value.

While the research design included developing measured drawings and taking photos for architectural documentation, the team also gained the trust and support of the new owners, who agreed to allow a limited Phase I archaeological survey around the Quarters. Excitement built as we began to realize the rare chance to see if there might be undisturbed and archaeologically significant deposits here, that might tell us about the families that had lived in the building during the last half of the 19th century. The team set to developing an achievable research plan for a brief one-to-two-day field session.

Having worked on other nearby sites in the area in previous months, we had also cultivated several points of contact within the local descendant communities, and knowing that they would be interested, and some had even received some limited archaeological training on other projects—we invited them to participate in the archaeological fieldwork. Our hope was that in addition to having their help with the dig, that their collective and individual memories shared through generations of their communities would also help to inform the interpretation of the site—and perhaps guide future research. In fact, we got so much more!

*Volunteers and Descendants Doing Fieldwork in April 2023*

Over two days in April 2023, more than a dozen volunteers signed on to help excavate 21 close-interval shovel test pits on the lawns and terraces surrounding the Quarters. Everyone pitched in on every level of work that needed to be done, from paperwork to wielding a shovel, and their stories, laughter, and curiosity made the excavation days fly by. As volunteers from the first day shared this experience with their family and friends, the numbers swelled on the second day and cars packed in along the edge of this narrow dead-end end single-lane driveway. As they trickled in over the day, several shared that they had grown up in the area, and could connect their roots back to those who had been enslaved on the Broadneck Peninsula. Team members scrambled to monitor the digging, while also giving impromptu tours—explaining the history of the site and detailing the architecture of the building. One couldn’t help make the connection that their forefathers and mothers may well have lived in dwellings much like this one—yet most all traces of such old homes have been lost to time.

While some joined us just to see the site and spent a short time visiting, others were so intrigued that they stuck around, and jumped right in getting their hands dirty. In addition to two of our favorite volunteers April Chapman and Ann Green, we were visited by representatives from the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, including Director Chanel Compton and Commissioner Elinor Thompson. Well-known local historians Janice Hayes-Williams and Bernadette Pulley-Pruitt, both of whom have direct and profound connections to Broadneck, the Whitehall properties, and the Ridout family were there. Members of several organizations that have missions to help raise up and celebrate this local history also joined us, including representatives of Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. Foundation, Inc., the Annual Fathers Day Foundation such as Devon Edwards and Rev. Randy Rowe Sr, as well as representatives from the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Task Force at St Margaret’s Church.

The archaeology was successful. We found evidence of historic compacted living surfaces, likely indicating swept yard spaces to the east and south of the structure, and recovered domestic and architectural artifacts that could yield new information about the historic use and layout of the space, including lead glazed redware, cut nails, and coal slag. The work clearly demonstrated that the site has research potential and further archaeological work could provide important details of everyday life for those enslaved, and later tenant families, living in this building. The archaeology however was also important to better acknowledge and appreciate such a site for state and local history, including for generations of descendants.

For the descendants of those who resisted violence and coercive control by building families, and vibrant households that have survived through generations in the same area, the chance to discover and hold everyday items that had likely been part of their everyday lives during that process was very moving. Many of the descendants that we worked with us expressed feeling closer to their ancestors than ever before; though not necessarily peaceful, it was very meaningful to them. Black spaces are being erased from the landscape at an alarming rate throughout the state and county. It is through ongoing partnership building with descendant communities and landowners that these spaces can be more fully identified and documented through the Maryland Inventory of Historic Places forms. African Americans’ crucial contributions to the economic and cultural development of Anne Arundel County should be acknowledged and celebrated through their representation in the official documentation of local and state histories.

*Volunteers, Supporters, and Descendants at Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters-April 2023*

References Cited:

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics). 1867, MSA C142, pg 87, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland.

Manumission Papers, database, Legacy of Slavery in Maryland (https://slavery2.msa.maryland.gov/pages/Search.aspx: April 11, 2024), Entry for Horatio Ridout.

McDaniel, George W. 1982 Hearth and Home: Preserving a People’s Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Virginia Slave Housing, Special Projects, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park (https://arch.umd.edu/research-creative-practice/special-projects/virginia-slave-housing: April 12, 2024)

US CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD), Slaves 1850. Maryland State Archives, MSA SM61-156, pg 369. Annapolis, Maryland.

US CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD), Slaves 1860,. Maryland State Archives, MSA SM61-226, pg 32. Annapolis, Maryland.

www.revsamuelgreensrfoundation.org/

www.annualfathersdayfoundation.com

www.africanamerican.maryland.gov/

www.st-margarets.org/truth-reconciliation-and-reparations-task-force.html

The Ogle Collection and the Maryland State Standards for Archaeological Collections

21November2023Lost Towns ProjectAnne Arundel County, interns, labwork, ogle collection

By Gabriella Gonzalez. Gabriella is a Senior at the University of Maryland, College Park Anthropology Department and a current fall intern with the Lost Towns Project and the Anne Arundel County Archaeology Lab.

In 2009, Anne Arundel County received a donation of 176 boxes of artifacts from Robert Ogle. In the collection the staff has found 154 different archaeological sites. This collection took 50 years to collect and the staff, volunteers, and interns have been working to process the 160,000 artifacts to state standards.

Shawn Sharpe intaking the Ogle Collection in 2009

Robert Ogle was a professional land surveyor and over the course of 50 years he collected artifacts in central and southern Maryland. Many sites he collected from were destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s so his collection of artifacts, maps, notebooks, and pictures are the last record of these sites. He stored these artifacts in coffee cans and cigar boxes. However, the team had to work to organize and remove them from the deteriorating containers and bring them up to state standards. This collection is important because even though 80 sites were known archaeological sites, 30 were unknown and unreported in central and southern Maryland.

To bring this collection to state standards the team had to start by giving the sites site numbers. For example, the site numbers for the Swann sites in Calvert County are 18CV4, 18CV40, 18CV41, 18CV42, 18CV43, and 18CV472. 18 stands for Maryland, because it was the 18th state alphabetically* CV stands for Calvert County. The numbers following CV are the different archaeological sites found on Swann Farm. To obtain site number the team had to contact the MAC lab. Once the artifacts were removed from the original containers they were organized by where they were found and what they were.

After obtaining the lot numbers the team had to work to properly clean and repackage the artifacts. According to state standards stable artifacts can be cleaned unless they have to be kept to perform residue analysis. Ceramics, glass, tobacco pipes, lithics, and bine may be wet-washed individually. Shell, brick, FCR, flag, and coal may be wet-washed in bulk. All metals, wood, leather, textiles, and fragile objects may be cleaned with a dry-brush. Stone-tools, ceramics, tobacco pipe stems, and tobacco pipe bowls may be left unwashed for specialized residue analysis. In some cases certain artifacts were washed with equal parts water and alcohol.

All artifacts have to be cataloged with site number, lot number, artifact number, provenience information, artifact count, and artifact description. These must then be used in the labeling process. If the object is too small it does not have to be labeled. Ferrous metals, mortar/daub/plaster, wood, leather, textiles, fragile bone/shell, fragile non-ferrous metals are not to be labeled. Diagnostic ceramics/glass, lithic tools/cores, tobacco pipes, stable non-ferrous metals, and small finds may be labeled individually. Plain ceramic body sherds, plain glass body sherds, window glass, brick, lithic debitage (flake, shatter, etc.), FCR, and stable bone/shell are to be labeled, but only 10% of the lot. Labels must not cover any important markings or wrap around the artifact, or be placed on broken edges. Acid-free tags with the site, lot, and artifact number may be tied to beads, buttons or pierced coins.

When bagging the artifacts they must be bagged in perforated polyethylene ziplock bags with acid-free tags. The bags must be labeled with site number, lot number, and the full provenience information. Once artifacts have been bagged they must go into boxes in numerical order. These boxes must then be labeled with a temporary label which includes the box number, the types of artifacts, lot numbers, and site numbers.

After these processes have been completed the artifacts from the Ogle collection may be sent to the MAC lab for curation. The team at the Lost Towns Project and the Anne Arundel County Archaeology Lab have been working intensely to make the collection meet state standards. The Ogle collection is very important to shed light on the archaeological sites that have never been reported and because many of the sites have been lost.

Gabriella labeling buttons from the Swann sites

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*before the addition of Alaska and Hawaii. More information.

African American History Resources

2September2022Lost Towns ProjectAfrican American history, Anne Arundel County, civil rights, slavery

The Lost Towns Project, in collaboration with Anne Arundel County’s Office of Planning and Zoning, has recently completed two online resources on African American history in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Check them out by clicking on the pictures below.

African American Voices, Memories and Places: A Four Rivers Heritage Trail

This virtual trail and its companion guide highlight publicly accessible historic sites that provide a tangible place to visit, explore, and contemplate important African American individuals, families, people, historic places, events, struggles, and accomplishments. It also included many privately-owned sites, and in far too many cases, sites physically lost to time. This interactive tour acknowledges and celebrates contributions by African-Americans over the County’s 370-year history; those who tilled the soil on farms that made Anne Arundel County prosper prior to Emancipation, those who harvested, processed and shipped the Bay’s seafood to feed an expanding Country, and those who physically built the grand colonial houses for wealthy landowners, many of whom were enslaved. We honor those families and individuals that came together in good times and bad, to start a church and a congregation, to found a school, to build a community, and to create a legacy.

Please note that many of the tour stops are privately owned and not accessible for visitation.
Thank you for respecting the privacy of these properties.
Sites open to the public are clearly marked.

Explore the Civil Rights Era in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Relying upon more than 50 oral histories, this virtual tour is a rare opportunity to hear about local history through the eyes, voices, and memories of those who experienced it first-hand. Highlighting local places, residents, and their stories, the project offers accounts of everyday activities during a time of segregation. It documents spaces of leisure and recreation, where people of color could gather and enjoy solidarity and empowerment; places like stores, ballfields, beaches, juke joints, movie theaters, beauty salons, and barber shops. A team of historians, led by Lyndra Marshall (née Pratt) and Dr. John Kille worked with citizens who generously shared their memories of what life was like during segregation, and uncovered compelling stories of injustice, resistance, and sacrifice, as well as perseverance and triumph. The full interviews and transcriptions are accessible by request from the Maryland State Archives.

Rising Sun Inn Recognized for Excellence in Historic Preservation

31May2022Lost Towns ProjectAnne Arundel County, Crownsville, Historic Preservation, Preservation Month, Rising Sun Inn

In honor of Preservation Month, Anne Arundel County’s Cultural Resources Section just installed another new historic wayside sign at the Rising Sun Inn, an 18th-century tavern standing on Generals Highway! During the installation, the Friends of the Rising Sun Inn received the County’s 2022 Preservation Stewardship Award in recognition of this organization’s tremendous efforts in restoring and maintaining this important historic structure.

Anastasia Poulos, Cultural Resources Section, presents the ***2022 Preservation Stewardship Award*** to Kris Jenkins and Mary Fisher, officers of the Board of Directors of the **Friends of the Rising Sun Inn**.

This non-profit group of volunteers embodies Preservation Month’s theme of “People Saving Places.” The Friends of the Rising Sun Inn is an organization that has a long track record and has demonstrated for decades that they are capable and conscientious stewards of this historic building. Recently, they restored the Inn’s second floor space to allow increased access to the public through expanded tours and unique events that highlight local history. Their committed volunteers have helped the organization successfully maneuver the myriad challenges of the pandemic by adapting programming to include structured tickets and virtual events. They have proven to have great initiative over the years, always maintaining the highest standards in their treatment of the historic property, and continue to actively pursue innovative ways to interpret the property for the public.

Preservation Stewardship Award for the Friends of the Rising Sun Inn

Anne Arundel County thanks all the members of the Friends of the Rising Sun Inn for their passion and commitment to this important historic landmark in Maryland. Learn more at https://www.risingsuninn.org/

Contributed by Stacy Poulos, Archaeological Sites Planner, Anne Arundel County Cultural Resources Section

Benefits of Historic Preservation and Tax Credits

17May2022Lost Towns Project19th century, Anne Arundel County, Davidsonville, Friendship, Historic District, Historic Preservation, Jessup, National Register of Historic Places, Preservation Month, tax credits

The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines “Historic Preservation” as identifying, protecting, and enhancing buildings, places, and objects of historic and cultural significance. As one of the oldest counties in Maryland and the nation, Anne Arundel County has a rich history that is locally and nationally important. Preserving relics of the diverse archaeological and architectural past reinforces the County’s identity and benefits its communities and residents. Preservation deepens the understanding of physical, cultural, and ecological heritage, drawing people to explore and learn about the past. Rehabilitation of historic structures fosters economic development by creating jobs for local labor and by enhancing the tax base with improved properties. Investing in historic neighborhoods and managing the kind of development that occurs within them reinforces the authentic places that locals and visitors seek, leveraging “sense of place” as an economic asset to promote a high quality of life. Preserving and repurposing old buildings is environmentally sensitive because it reduces demolition waste sent to landfills, maximizes the use of existing infrastructure serving established neighborhoods, and thus conserves undeveloped land. Rehabilitated properties improve property values in the surrounding area and spur other private sector investments. Moreover, historic buildings and objects are tangible resources of our collective heritage that connect us to a specific place in time, persons, or events that can teach us about our history and culture and that as present society we should strive to preserve for future generations.

In order to foster responsible stewardship of historic buildings in Anne Arundel County, the first ever Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program was codified in 2016. Historic preservation tax credits are a proven and effective incentive across the state and the nation in promoting the stewardship and preservation of significant historic resources. Tax credits are an effective tool to encourage private owners to sensitively restore and rehabilitate historically significant buildings. These credits stimulate sustainability and adaptive reuse of existing building stock and can help offset expenses related to rehabilitation on historic landmarks in the county. Through this program, a 25% property tax credit is eligible for both eligible residential and commercial historic properties and 5% for compatible new infill construction within historic districts. Expenditures for certain interior or exterior preservation, restoration and rehabilitation work on landmark properties may qualify for the tax credit, as long as the work meets preservation standards that ensure the historic nature of the property is not compromised.

Talbot’s Lot II: Davidsonville Historic District

Since 2016, the County has awarded credits for both small- and large-scale projects to commercial rehabilitation projects and residential historic property owners. Some past projects include the re-siding of a historic parsonage building built in 1806, now an antiques store in Friendship; the roof replacement of a late 19^th -century contributing historic building within the Davidsonville Historic District (listed in the National Register); and the full rehabilitation of a large Italianate style-farmhouse built c. 1860 in Jessup. The house was rehabilitated into use as a community clubhouse and rental office for the Elms at Shannon’s Glen apartment complex. Rehabilitation work that qualified for the tax credit included foundation repairs, the restoration of original windows, doors, and flooring; in-kind roof replacement, and electrical and plumbing updates to meet current building codes.

For more details on the Historic Preservation Tax Credit, including application forms, qualifying properties, and qualifying types of work, please visit the Office of Planning & Zoning’s, Cultural Resources Section’s website at https://www.aacounty.org/historic-tax-credit.

Contributed by Darian Beverungen, Historic Sites Planner, Anne Arundel County Cultural Resources Section.