Feature 9: Worker's Quarters

"Worker's quarters are not mentioned in historical documents but were discovered during archaeological explorations. Intact foundation stones indicate a double pen frame structure, possibly a dogtrot, with a fireplace at each end. Artifacts suggest that a family lived here between 1870-1900, possibly that of Aaron Anderson Van Winkle ("Old Rock"), brought as a child slave from Alabama, who continued to work at the mill after emancipation. "

In 1999, excavations revealed a rough-hewn limestone foundation and chimney box possibly belonging to a frame structure. Excavations in March of 2001 expanded these excavations following the south wall of the foundation towards a second suspected chimney fall.

1999 excavations at Feature 9 revealing the east chimney box and walls.

2000 excavations at Feature 9 following the the south wall of the structure.

Finally, in 2001, full excavation of the footprint of Feature 9 (a total of 36 one-meter-by-two-meter units and six one-meter-by-one-meter units) revealed the foundation of a double-pen frame structure, perhaps a dogtrot, with two end chimneys.

Artifacts tentatively indicated a construction date of ca. 1870 with the possibility of more ephemeral antebellum occupation. Furthermore, both artifacts and archival data supported an abandonment date sometime shortly after the turn of the twentieth century.

While some of the recovered artifacts have manufacturing ranges that continue into the early twentieth century (e.g., aqua bottle glass, plain white ware ceramics, etc), it would seem clear from an examination of the complete artifact assemblage that the residence was not extensively occupied into the twentieth century. Chiefly, the assemblage is virtually lacking in common twentieth-century temporal markers (e.g., mason style glass canning jars, tin cans, etc.). The archival record also documents only sporadic and ultimately brief occupations of Van Hollow after 1900.

Final excavation map of Feature 9 drawn during the 2001 U of A field school.

The range of artifact types recovered strongly suggested that the former structure was a residence and not a barn or other type outbuilding. Further, the residence did not seem to have been a segregated barracks or bunk house where single workmen were housed en mass, but rather the artifacts confirm the presence of children and suggest that a family once resided at the structure.

The data currently assembled suggest that it is probable that the structure was inhabited by the family of one of the laborers in the mill-perhaps by one of the Van Winkle freedmen (such as Aaron or Perry Van Winkle). Save for the Eagle cap pistol (introduced circa 1895), the dating of all of the toys recovered in testing is consistent with the occupations of these families. The data "imply that the structure was inhabited by the family of one of the laborers in the mill" perhaps the family of Aaron Van Winkle, the freedman who continued to work at the mill until at least the 1880s.