Westport in Brief!
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
Quick Article Index . . .
Dirt detectives look for
historical clues at Westport Town Farm.
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Dirt detectives look for historical clues at Westport Town
Farm. EverythingWestport.com Sunday,
April 15, 2012 Check out this brief YouTube clip about the dig! Click here to view
the hi-resolution photo album - 18 photos. Need Adobe Flash to view album? Click here!
The dig, led by Dr. David B. Landon,
Associate Director at Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at UMass
Boston, found little of historical interest of the kind that these dirt detectives
dream about in the dusty recesses of their minds. Inset: Joshua and Samantha,
both graduate students at UMass Boston studying Historical Archeology are up
to their elbows in a test pit. Up to 25 test pits will be excavated in preparation
for Saturday's archaeology dig day at the Town Farm. But a buried, monolithic stone
walkway to the main building's front door, and an unexpected quantity of
beads and buttons had the earth antiquarians scratching their collective head. "The preservation work at the
Town Farm involved some excavation around the foundation, so our major goal was
to make certain that there were no important buried archaeological deposits
that would have been disturbed by the work," Landon said. "We also want to install an underground
cistern to collect rain water from the roof of the Town Farm building," South
Coast Farm Manager Steve Connors said. The Massachusetts Historical Commission
requires these surveys to determine if anything of historical importance may
be disturbed during the renovation, excavation or new construction on
historically significant ground. A recent archaeological survey was conducted
last month at the Handy House. "As
part of our rehabilitation and restoration of the historic house at the town farm,
we hope that this excavation will provide significant and interesting
artifacts and information about the long, rich history of the Town Farm,"
Connors said. Learn more about
the Westport Poor Farm' history.
Archaeologists
from UMass Boston’s Fiske Center were working on-site and were available to
provide guidance to volunteers interested in helping out with the dig,
sifting excavated soil and exploring found artifacts. "Every time we dig around
historic houses we always find artifacts relating to the past use of the
house and the ways people shaped the landscape. We expect this to be similar,
with materials related to past house construction and remodeling, and the
daily activities of life on the Poor Farm. We could also find past
“utilities” such as a cistern for storing water or a privy (outhouse),"
Landon said. Unfortunately, nor cistern or old
privy site was found. The new outhouse was cleaned out some time ago. With an electronic ground survey,
they did locate the remnants of and old chicken wire foundation of crushed stone,
probably a small animal enclosure. "We had hoped to find a midden (old dump for domestic
waste usually consisting of animal bone, shells, sherds,
and other artifacts associated with past human occupation)" Samantha, a
UMass Boston graduate student studying historical archaeology, said. No midden has been found as yet,
but the test pits (up to 25) did yield many bone (mostly pig), brick, shell
and glass fragments. A pile of old and rusted nails accumulated rapidly. One of the more unusual discoveries was
the number of buttons and beads found in the sifted material. Originally a town poor farm, the occupants
probably wore a lot of used and worn hand-me-downs, and we all know how
buttons love to pop off at the most inopportune times. One visitor suggested a lot of clothing
could have been burned to prevent the spread of infectious diseases so common
with the poor, the sick and the destitute. Many of the indigent occupants lived
out their lives at the Town Poor Farm. Read the news story about the Town (Poor) Farm Grand Opening. - Story by the Dartmouth
Chronicle View photo album of the Town (Poor) Farm Grand Opening. - Photo Album by Everything Westport™ Get a
trail and walking map of the Westport Town
(Poor) Farm. - Map supplied
by the Westport Land Trust Information about the
Westport Town (Poor) Farm - by The
Trustees of Reservations Read 1956
Standard Times article about the closing of the Town Poor Farm (infirmary).
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