Features 4, 14, 15: The Main House

"Peter Van Winkle's first house, built in the 1850s, was destroyed during the Civil War. Van Winkle finished a second house by 1870, which his family (including John B. Steele) occupied until 1883. J.A.C. Blackburn lived here from 1883-1890. Occupancy from 1890-1940 is uncertain; the Vernon West family lived here from 1940-1960. The deteriorated structure was razed in 1969."

During the initial phase of the Van Winkle project field work concentrated on mapping the cultural features in the hollow and assessing how intact the archaeological deposits were in the main house area.

The large, raised, formal victorian-style garden across from the home (Feature 1) was the place we started. We placed the center point for our excavation grid (N100/W100) and began our careful clearing and mapping.

At the site of the Van Winkle home we mapped all of the above-ground remnants of foundations and chimneys. A series of test excavation units and backhoe trenches were placed at the former location of the 1870s home (shown to the right). Excavations revealed extensive disturbance associated with the razing of the second Van Winkle home (built circa 1870, demolished in 1969).

This was disappointing as it meant that future excavations in the main house area would probably not yield intact archaeological deposits. However, these excavations also uncovered a thin artifact-bearing stratum of dark brown silt loam (Feature 24) some 70 cm below the surface. Artifacts recovered from this buried "midden" included burned aqua glass, cut nails and other indicators of a nineteenth-century domestic deposits.

Profile from backhoe trench in main house area showing
the buried midden deposit (Ao) thought to be a remnant
of the antebellum house.

The discovery of Feature 24 underneath debris clearly associated with the occupancy of the second home is significant in that this may be associated with the 1850s-1870s occupation of the site." In other words, the first Van Winkle home, occupied from the 1850s and burned during the Civil War, may have been "capped" by sterile fill prior to the construction of the second Van Winkle home (1870-1969). The discovery of the remains of the first house buried so far below sterile deposits was quite a surprise. Geomorphologic evidence indicated that these sterile strata are not the result of natural depositional episodes.

Historic photographs of the Van Winkle home

Photos of archaeological investigations in the main house area.

Drawings and maps of the Main House excavations.