From the Harford County Public Library:
Jarrettsville Library will host Dr. Julie M. Schablitsky, Chief Archaeologist at the Cultural Resources Section of the Maryland State Highway Administration on Thursday, November 12th who will discuss the find of a slave quarter in Anne Arundel County.
In 2014, Maryland archaeologists discovered the buried remains of a large, stone and brick slave quarter on the site of an 18th-century plantation in Crownsville. Built by Francis Scott Key’s great uncle, Dr. Upton Scott, this building housed at least one dozen enclaved African Americans between the 1780s and 1864. Thousands of artifacts collected from around and within the building revealed what they ate, how they dressed, and who they served. The intact foundation, hearths, and brick flooring demonstrated a unique construction style not commonly found in Chesapeake slave quarters. Schablitsky will provide a history of the site, an overview on the current archaeological dig and some artifacts that were unearthed.
The program begins at 6:30pm. For more information, please contact the Jarrettsville Library at 410 692 7887.
Wow…all the way back to 1800 and then they’ve done a complete archeological dig…in the meantime our house on the Winters Run Golf Course built in the late 1600’s…zilch and the barns been torn down already…all that black slate roofing that you can’t even get anymore tossed to the ground and broken, beams and structural members crushed like matchsticks. Guess much better to replace it with a brand spanking new version that looks just like the interchangeable others…Ryand, Ryland, etal – it’s all the same. I sure hope they include that faux stone or brick insert on either side of the front door like they always do, I mean it adds that dash of authenticity. Oldest home in the county most certainly but who cares…make way for faux stone!
Money Tree, if this house of which you write was built in the 1600’s and one if the first in the county, is it on the National Register of Historic Places? Is it part of a historic district or been subject to a cultural resource survey? If it is undocumented and on private property the land owners can do what ever they want and tear it down.
I was an archaeologist on the first part of this dig and there is a lot more to this site than just the slave dwelling. It’s the Belvoir Plantation in Anne Arundel County and on the National Register. It’s a site with a lot of history including a Native American component and it was documented that Rochambeau used the property during the Revolutionary War.
You can always attend the talk on Thursday and speak to Julie, she may suggest some avenues for you to pursue regarding your above issues. She is quite approachable and very knowledgeable about Maryland archaeology and architectural history.
Spare me the lectures on local history – you clearly know nothing about this issue. It is most likely the oldest still standing structure in the county and it is indeed on private property. That means the person that owns the golf course has decided he wants cash…that local history doesn’t matter. He’s unwilling to budge and it’s too late. My comment is not designed to address anything to do with the slave quarters or it’s proper place in history or anybody’s interest in it although I would say it’s a shame this house had nothing to do with slaves or black history because if it involved black history that thing would be set aside if it meant involving federal dollars and busing out protestors.
Money Tree,
You are correct I don’t know the house in which you refer. I was trying to offer suggestions and be sympathetic to your cause. My apologies, you are clearly much better off on your own with this issue.
Did not mean to be snarky…this has been an ongoing issue and that house has been at risk for some time. The problem with getting property declared a historic landmark is that it takes cooperation from the home or landowner and so most often that means it will never happen. What leaves is the saving of wealthy landowners properties which is where your dig is not so coincidentally occurring. The heritage and history of everyday people is long gone and forgotten – we had this house…it was a lucky little house because it ended up next to what was then the county dump so there was no rush to develop the property. That left a pretty big tract of land that ultimately because a golf course…the man that sold the property for the golf course expressed fear over what might be the fate of the little house and rightfully so I guess. Damned shame…shame. They tore the barn down…beautiful thing, left pieces in rubble. House is still there but it’s got the assigned lot number for whomever wants to burn the place down to be replaced by drivel. I drive in Pennsylvania and it sure seems to me more effort is made to preserve history – Harford County makes nearly zero effort and our historic society can’t be described as exactly activists for preservation.
I understand your frustration. If you ever get to the Maryland Historic Trust you will see that there is a big gap in documented sites in Harford County. It’s a shame, so much history and a lot of it is getting destroyed before it can be documented. The surrounding counties have made it a priority but Harford County has not. The Archaeological Society of Maryland is doing their best to change that though and have done a number of digs along Deer Creek to record sites.
As for the Belvoir Plantation site, it was once owned by wealthy people, but is no longer. The property belongs to a small Christian school who wanted to put in ball fields for the students. The school was aware of the history of the property and wanted to do the right thing. The excavation was conducted to help determine if anything historic was going to be destroyed in the process of installing the ball field. The excavation was conducted by a few professional archaeologists and a number of volunteers from various groups including the Anne Arundel Lost Towns project and even students from the school came out to help for a few days. The owner of the golf course could have easily taken this route, but probably chose not too for some reason.
I do apologize for the snark…and it is my frustration showing. I can not imagine defiling our history by razing that beautiful house. Surely of all the development that takes place around here there’s room for one small house that was built back when that was a hand built homestead…part of a wilderness that predates the freakin’ foundation of our country. Built in 1683 by some estimates although the historic society thinks it’s more like the early 1700’s. I have money – I’ll help move the thing if necessary…this has to matter to someone. Who are we if it doesn’t? I’ve contacted our county council, the country executive and of course nobody ever even gets back. I feel like preserving some history serves us all – makes us a better people; gives us a sense of continuum, of long ago ancestors who worked much harder than we’ll ever know to forge a life out of dirt. And we’re going to replace that with a 3200 sq. foot rubber stamped piece of drivel. Trust me we have plenty of them already and not enough 300+ year old houses.
This is the house you are speaking of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5WhtWvKxXU
Also might suggest the management for the club remove the bucolic photo of the barn with the golf course behind it that’s on the home page of the website. It’s disingenuous to celebrate something you just had torn up.
Isn’t Jesse Bane a member at this Golf Club?
What’s the big deal here? Harford County was full of slaves until 1864.
It still is full of slaves. If you listen to a public school teacher talk about their job, you couldn’t tell the difference!
“Built by Francis Scott Key’s great uncle, Dr. Upton Scott”
I suppose that the Francis Scott Key Bridge will be renamed the Louis Farrakhan memorial Bridge as
Francis Scott Key will be deemed “a racist” and the name must be changed for “so-called” social justice and the elimination of “white privilege”
Welcome to Omerika 2015.
You all whine worse than my grandkids. Obummer, wahh wahh!
go back to California you hippie