When finished, it will be the best dwelling house in the state, except that of Monticello; perhaps preferable to that, as more proportioned to the faculties of a private citizen. – Thomas Jefferson, 1812.

Jefferson was speaking of his home near Lynchburg, Poplar Forest. Overwhelmed by visitors at Monticello, Jefferson escaped several times per year to find what he called the “solitude of a hermit” in this home that he designed. While he served as president in 1806, Jefferson directed the masons in laying the foundation for this dwelling that today is considered one of the most creative and original architectural designs.

This octagonal home is located in Bedford County, and it demonstrates Jefferson’s mature skills in architecture and landscape design. The public was first treated to this home in 1986, and awrd-winning restoration continues on the home’s interior. Archaeologists explore the grounds for clues about Jefferson’s ornamental landscape and plantation community.

Poplar Forest remained a private property until 1984. When it became endangered, a nonprofit group formed to rescue the home for educational and cultural benefit for the public. Now, Poplar Forest is a National Historic Landmark and a Virginia Historic Landmark. A great time to visit is on the anniversary of Jefferson’s death, or the 4th of July. On that day you can enjoy local crafts, a tour of the home and museum, and local re-enactments of various portions of early nineteenth-century Virginia traditions.

DIRECTIONS: Take U.S. 221 or U.S. 460 (avoid business routes) to Route 811. Turn onto Route 661 (Bateman Bridge Rd.). Entrance is one mile on right. Buses enter via Foxhall Dr. To leave, use rear drive and turn right onto Foxhall Dr. Follow signs to 221 and 460. Poplar Forest is open daily 10-4 from April through November, including all holidays except Thanksgiving. The last tour begins at 4pm. Group tours year-round by appointment. Admission is reasonable for adults, seniors, youths, and under 6.

Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest
P.O. Box 419
Forest, VA 24551-0419
434-525-1806
www.poplarforest.org

During a six-week field study in summer 1999, Dr. Christopher Fennell’s University of Virginia anthropology student team excavated 20,000 artifacts including parts of a 19th-century percussion rifle, bottle glass, tools, toys, potential gaming pieces, sewing implements, clothing remains and iron wares.

Perhaps the most striking artifact found buried under the cabin’s floorboards is a clay skull inscribed with a cross-line motif and four initials. It’s said to show the influence of German-American and African-American religious and cosmological belief systems.

“My best interpretation is that it was created by a German-American,” Fennell said. “But, like the Holy Cross, it can mean different things to different people.”

Many of the artifacts are on long-term loan to the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship in Neersville.

The Demory cabin is located on private property and is not open to the public.

Source: Loudon Times Mirror

Fort Story archaeologists and Virginia officials are building an early colonial town site believed to be Henrytowne, which was founded in 1609 about five miles west of Fort Story in Virginia Beach. This is the first 17th-century English settlement discovered that is contemporaneous with Jamestown, within the Virginia Company period. Long known as the Lake Joyce site or the Chesopean site, Henrytowne now raises questions about whether this was the site that John Smith referred to when he stated that he went “back to Cape Henry in 1608.”

On the other hand, Archaeologist Nick Luccketti, who is head of the Williamsburg-based James River Institute for Archaeology and part of the team that discovered Jamestown, conducted a limited excavation at the Lynnhaven site in 2005; and, while he and his colleagues uncovered the remains of a remarkably intact series of structures as well as a host of artifacts, nothing dated earlier than the second quarter of the 17th century. Whatever the settlement’s actual date, its close connection to Colonial Virginia’s earliest period has provided the spark for a recreated English town site and Indian village as well as a historical drama scheduled to debut at nearby Cape Henry in April. Read more about this site at the Daily Press.

Kelso said plants, wild and domestic seeds, pollen, parasites, insects, and food remains survive in wells below the water-table because of the oxygen-deprived atmosphere. “There is no other source for this kind of environmental data in such a preserved state, so precisely documented in time. It has the potential to tell us much about the environment in Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay region when Smith and other Englishmen established Jamestown in 1607,” Kelso said.

He noted that the watery environment also can preserve paper, leather, pewter, wood, fabric and other materials that decay more quickly in dry environments. “These objects are rarely found on sites this old, and the sheer volume of material that we will recover is going to be enormous. This well is more than four times the size of other wells that we’ve excavated from this time period. It’s about 6 ft. square and probably about 20 ft. deep,” he said.

Archaeologists recently unearthed a child’s leather shoe, surgical tools, nuts, seeds -– including a tobacco seed, buttons, and untarnished copper. In the shaft above the water table, they found a 1604 German Bartmann jug, weapons, ceramics, beads, and a great quantity of butchered animal bones and other food remains. They’ve also found oyster shells and other marine life including clam, mussel and scallop shells, fish bones, dorsal plates from huge Atlantic sturgeon, crab claws and barnacles.

Discovered this fall inside a corner of the fort site, the well was hidden beneath the brick ruins of a fireplace in a 1617 addition to the first Virginia governor’s house originally built in 1611. “After they abandoned the well, the colonists filled it with trash and then built over it, sealing everything inside it. But we know it is much earlier than 1617, and it may be the well built in 1608 or 1609 that Smith describes in his journal,” he said.

Currently, archaeologists are excavating just below the water table inside the well about 12 feet beneath the 17th-century ground level. The well has an intact wooden box that lines the shaft below the water level. The box is aligned with the fort wall and other fort structures. Kelso said a number of men with mining experience were in Jamestown at the time the well was built, which may explain the box-like construction technique. He thinks the well may extend as much as ten feet more into the water table. It is also as far away from the river as possible and still be inside the fort walls.

Kelso said they plan to excavate the well about one day a week to allow time for the staff to process the artifacts. The public is encouraged to watch as objects are unearthed, and nearby video monitors will enable them to see down into the well. They can also observe as dirt is screened for artifacts.

Because of the delicate nature of the objects submerged beneath the water table, a team of specialist consultants including zoo-archaeologists (animal bones), micro-botanical specialists (seeds and pollen), and entomologists (insects) will assist the staff in the recovery and analysis. Excavation will be completed in 2006, but the analysis will continue into at least 2007.

In anticipation of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the APVA Preservation Virginia launched the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project in 1994 to identify and interpret the remains of the 1607 James Fort and town site. When archaeologists announced that they had discovered the fort site in 1996, they dispelled the long-held belief that the fort was lost to the James River. Since then, archaeologists have found the outline of the fort including the remains of palisades, bulwarks, buildings, pits and wells. In addition, they’ve uncovered and analyzed the remains of the last Jamestown statehouse. Over one million objects reflective of life at James Fort have been unearthed so far, as well as the burials of over 70 colonists including the remains of a high-ranking colonist, possibly Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, the principal organizer and administrator of the early Jamestown effort.

Open daily, to the public, Historic Jamestowne in Jamestown, Virginia, is interpreted by Colonial National Historical Park and the APVA Preservation Virginia. Visitors in this historic region of the state can share the moment of discovery with archaeologists, see artifacts in the Archaearium exhibition facility (opening May 13, 2006), tour the original 17th-century church tower and reconstructed 17th-century Jamestown Memorial Church, take a walking tour with a park ranger through the original settlement along the scenic James River, and watch costumed glassblowers at the Glasshouse. Driving tours explore the lush natural setting where visitors regularly see bald eagles, heron, osprey, deer and other wildlife. Located at the western end of the Colonial Parkway near Williamsburg, admission is $8; youth 16 and under are admitted free. Call (757) 229-1733.

For more information visit www.historicjamestowne.org and www.jamestown1607.org