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News from Garfield Farm |
Registrations are now being taken for
individuals who wish to help with the historic archaeology excavation
beginning September 22 at Garfield Farm Museum. This newly established
5-year Archaeology Investigation at Garfield Farm Museum will allow
novices and the experienced to help excavate, screen, wash and
catalogue artifacts in the vicinity of the original 1836 Culverson
family log house, the first settling family of Garfield Farm.
To help accurately interpret,
restore and re-create the 1840s conditions of the Timothy and Harriet
Garfield’s farmstead and tavern, the archaeology program has been
expanded to investigate more area at this 1840s living history farm.
Over 670 hours of volunteer time excavating, screening and artifact
washing were logged. June’s excavation revealed an unknown line
of posts, a midden or deposit of trash and potential well feature.
Laboratory space for cleaning, inventorying and storing shards and
artifacts was also established at the farm. The program is in part
being funded by a $10,000 challenge grant by a museum donor.
The research will be headed by James R.
Yingst, Director and Chief Archaeologist of Heartland Archaeology
Research Program of Carlinville, Illinois and is coordinated by Helen
Bauer, an experienced amateur archaeologist and board member of
Garfield Farm Museum’s Campton Historic Agricultural Lands.
Yingst has experience in Illinois and Wisconsin 19th century sites and
ceramics of the period. Bauer has traveled and participated in
excavations in Asia, Europe, Central America as well as President James
Madison’s home, Montpelier, and Illinois’ Cahokia Mounds
and Kampsville sites.
Volunteers must commit to a set schedule
to participate. September’s two week session will begin
September 22 - 26 and 29 through October 4. The work will be featured
at Garfield Farm Museum’s Harvest Days October 1 for school
children and on October 3 for the general public. Volunteers will be
working alongside college and graduate school archaeology students.
Volunteers 14 - 17 years of age may participate with parent permission.
Younger students accompanied by a parent or guardian may also
participate.
Ultimately, a replica of the original log
house that the Garfield family enlarged and made into an inn or tavern,
will be built. The research will help in this effort and will provide
better clues as to how the Culverson and Garfield families lived.
A resistivity test is planned for the area where the brick kiln
or clamp is believed to have been. In 1845 Timothy Garfield fired or
“burnt” 80,000 bricks to build the 1846 brick home and
tavern that replaced the log tavern. The area for this investigation
was recently cleared of invasive brush by Eagle Scout candidate Dave
Bono of Bartlett, IL, to allow for establishing a grid system for the
survey.
The Culverson log house/Garfield log tavern
stood in the fork of the Chicago St.Charles Road that branched
northwest to Sycamore and southwest to Oregon, IL. Culverson originally
claimed 440 acres of land that he improved with the house, a dug well,
and had 30 acres in cultivation when he sold the claim to Timothy
Garfield in 1841 for $650. Farmers hauling wheat to Chicago’s
port caught the Garfield’s attention, and they expanded the log
house as an inn or tavern. The structure occupied a 20 by 50 foot area
with a cellar that was discovered in the 2006 archaeology
investigation. The house consisted of two sections and a kitchen to the
west. Three first floor rooms included the barroom and two chambers
were on the second floor. The log house had slab siding with a roof of
shakes bound down by poles according to the Timothy Garfield biography.
The historic integrity of the site and its documentation call for
a thorough archaeological study to confirm and add to understanding the
first settlement and development of farms in northern Illinois.
To register, see the dig, or to financially
contribute to the effort, contact the museum at 630 584-8485, e-mail
info@garfieldfarm.org or write to Box 403 LaFox, IL 60147.
Registrations are now being taken for
individuals who wish to help with the historic archaeology excavation
beginning September 22 at Garfield Farm Museum. This newly established
5-year Archaeology Investigation at Garfield Farm Museum will allow
novices and the experienced to help excavate, screen, wash and
catalogue artifacts in the vicinity of the original 1836 Culverson
family log house, the first settling family of Garfield Farm.
To help accurately interpret,
restore and re-create the 1840s conditions of the Timothy and Harriet
Garfield’s farmstead and tavern, the archaeology program has been
expanded to investigate more area at this 1840s living history farm.
Over 670 hours of volunteer time excavating, screening and artifact
washing were logged. June’s excavation revealed an unknown line
of posts, a midden or deposit of trash and potential well feature.
Laboratory space for cleaning, inventorying and storing shards and
artifacts was also established at the farm. The program is in part
being funded by a $10,000 challenge grant by a museum donor.
The research will be headed by James R.
Yingst, Director and Chief Archaeologist of Heartland Archaeology
Research Program of Carlinville, Illinois and is coordinated by Helen
Bauer, an experienced amateur archaeologist and board member of
Garfield Farm Museum’s Campton Historic Agricultural Lands.
Yingst has experience in Illinois and Wisconsin 19th century sites and
ceramics of the period. Bauer has traveled and participated in
excavations in Asia, Europe, Central America as well as President James
Madison’s home, Montpelier, and Illinois’ Cahokia Mounds
and Kampsville sites.
Volunteers must commit to a set schedule
to participate. September’s two week session will begin
September 22 - 26 and 29 through October 4. The work will be featured
at Garfield Farm Museum’s Harvest Days October 1 for school
children and on October 3 for the general public. Volunteers will be
working alongside college and graduate school archaeology students.
Volunteers 14 - 17 years of age may participate with parent permission.
Younger students accompanied by a parent or guardian may also
participate.
Ultimately, a replica of the original log
house that the Garfield family enlarged and made into an inn or tavern,
will be built. The research will help in this effort and will provide
better clues as to how the Culverson and Garfield families lived.
A resistivity test is planned for the area where the brick kiln
or clamp is believed to have been. In 1845 Timothy Garfield fired or
“burnt” 80,000 bricks to build the 1846 brick home and
tavern that replaced the log tavern. The area for this investigation
was recently cleared of invasive brush by Eagle Scout candidate Dave
Bono of Bartlett, IL, to allow for establishing a grid system for the
survey.
The Culverson log house/Garfield log tavern
stood in the fork of the Chicago St.Charles Road that branched
northwest to Sycamore and southwest to Oregon, IL. Culverson originally
claimed 440 acres of land that he improved with the house, a dug well,
and had 30 acres in cultivation when he sold the claim to Timothy
Garfield in 1841 for $650. Farmers hauling wheat to Chicago’s
port caught the Garfield’s attention, and they expanded the log
house as an inn or tavern. The structure occupied a 20 by 50 foot area
with a cellar that was discovered in the 2006 archaeology
investigation. The house consisted of two sections and a kitchen to the
west. Three first floor rooms included the barroom and two chambers
were on the second floor. The log house had slab siding with a roof of
shakes bound down by poles according to the Timothy Garfield biography.
The historic integrity of the site and its documentation call for
a thorough archaeological study to confirm and add to understanding the
first settlement and development of farms in northern Illinois.
To register, see the dig, or to financially
contribute to the effort, contact the museum at 630 584-8485, e-mail
info@garfieldfarm.org or write to Box 403 LaFox, IL 60147.