THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996 TAG: 9605280091
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: YORKTOWN LENGTH: 67 lines
Historians hope excavation along the York River waterfront will give them more details about what life was like in Yorktown during the early 18th century.
A team from Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary will begin the archaeological survey this week near the Archer Cottage, where a tavern stood during Yorktown's heyday.
Historical accounts suggest the team will find evidence of a bustling, hard-drinking lifestyle along the waterfront.
``The real story of Yorktown is down there,'' said James Haskett, historian for the National Park Service office in Yorktown. ``Revealing this waterfront will be the most exciting part of this place save for the siege itself.''
That siege, of course, was the entrapment of British forces under Gen. Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Cornwallis' surrender in October 1781 to the Continental Army, headed by Gen. George Washington, signaled victory in the struggle for independence from England.
Archaeologists studied the area near the cottage in the 1970s. They discovered foundations of extensive warehouses and evidence of commerce. The excavation work this summer is likely to provide more details about life during Yorktown's peak in the first half of the 18th century.
``I'm sure, if it's like the rest of Yorktown, we'll find lots of bottles, and lots of fragments of tobacco pipes,'' Haskett said.
Wine and beer bottle fragments would affirm Yorktown as a typical, rowdy seaport, as described by an English visitor in 1736. According to Edward M. Riley, author of ``The History of the Founding and Development of Yorktown, Va.,'' the visitor wrote:
``The taverns are many here, and much frequented, and an unbounded Licentiousness seems to taint the Morals of the young Gentlemen of this place.''
One of the taverns was in the Archer Cottage at the waterfront, at the foot of the heavily traveled Great Valley Road. Sailors and settlers passed by as they headed up the commercial thoroughfare, which met Main Street at the stately brick home of Thomas Nelson, a local merchant who later became one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
A structure at the site of the cottage can be seen on a 1781 French map showing places to house soldiers, and it originally was owned by the Archer family, Haskett said. After passing through at least one other owner, the National Park Service bought it after World War II, Haskett said.
The Archer family was active in the opposition to English rule and financed the outfitting of a ship for the revolutionary forces, Haskett said.
The structure was burned in the fire of 1814, but another building was built on the stone foundations. That building was renovated in the 1950s and stands today.
Aside from limited work related to the renovation of the house in the 1950s, the land around the cottage never has been sifted for glimpses of history it might provide. The work is expected to turn into a project that will take several years, as archaeologists move from one site to another from the Archer Cottage northwestward through underbrush to Read Street. History graduate student Robert Galgano will supervise the work.
``We hope this is a long association'' with the National Park Service, which owns the cottage and the lots around it, Edwards said.
Work crews of about eight students and three teaching assistants will dig half-meter squares about 15 feet apart throughout the lots. Further excavation then will concentrate on any old foundations or other features that may be uncovered.
Artifacts will initially be displayed in the Archer Cottage, which is being used as an office for the newly formed Yorktown Foundation. The foundation is helping finance the archaeological work. by CNB