Early Sketch of the Courthouse
It’s summer time! Grab a bottle of water, you sunscreen, shorts, a t-shirt, and of course your trusty trowel, shovel, and screen. Wait a minute, that can’t be right!
For students working with SMCM professor Julia King, the summer is spent in Charles County’s Zekiah Swamp in search of Governor Charles Calvert’s summer house from the late 17th century. Last summer King and her students found the site of a 1674 courthouse in the same area. The dig is a cooperative project of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, College of Southern Maryland, and the Smallwood Foundation.
The site was discovered by digging hundreds of two foot shovel tests and examining the dirt contained in these tests holes by sifting it through a fine screen in order to identify remnants of the past.
To read more about this archaeology project check out this Baltimore Sun article written by Frank Roylance.
