Bruce
Powell’s 1966 Excavation of the William Paca Garden
The first series of excavations conducted at the William Paca Garden was carried out during the period of August 15 through August 26, 1966. National Park Service archaeologist Bruce Powell conducted the project. While the William Paca Garden is entrusted to Historic Annapolis Foundation, the site is a part of the National Historic District of Annapolis and a registered National Historic Landmark. As such, the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior provided the direction of the excavation. Because of the limited amount of time available to Bruce Powell to complete his research, the decision was made to employ the use of mechanical digging equipment to excavate test trenches covering as much of the garden area as possible.
A grid system was laid out using King George Street as the north-south line. The datum for the grid was set at the northeast corner of the property. In total, five test trenches were laid out in the garden. All test trenches were laid out in reference to the established grid. The first trenches to be laid out were test trenches one and two. Both trenches were laid out along the west side of the garden property in order to test the depth of the foundations of Carvel Hall and to determine whether anything remained of the historic wall along the north property line.
Two additional trenches, test trenches three and four, were placed in a north-south orientation across a grass plot and into the Carvel Hall parking lot located in the eastern third of the garden area (Powell 1966). Finally, the fifth test trench was laid in an east-west orientation. Test trench five began along the east boundary of the property and extended one hundred thirty-two feet towards the William Paca House. According to Bruce Powell (1966), test trench five would have extended the full extent of the garden, but the trenching was cut short possibly due to project time restrictions.
Four structural features were identified during his excavation of the garden. Structures one and two were identified as remnants of the original garden wall. They were found in the southwestern portion of the garden along the west property line. The southwestern portion is documented in Frank B. Mayer’s 1884 sketch of the rear of the William Paca House. The section of the brick wall located in the southwestern side of the garden was found in test trenches one and two. In test trench 5, the foundation of another portion of the wall was located along the north property line, or King George Street side of the garden. Powell found a third structure located in test trench five. According to Powell, the feature (structure 2) was of unknown use, measuring 3 feet 9 inches long by 1 foot 10.5 inches wide. The final structure located by the Powell excavations was also found in test trench five. The structure was a line of unbonded brick, two rows wide and one course deep. It was found crossing test trench five in an east-west direction at a depth 7.5 feet below the surface. Because of the depth of the structure, Powell identified it as being associated with the historic Paca period of the garden.
Three of five trenches excavated by Powell provided evidence of the historic garden wall that bordered Paca’s garden. The discovery of the wall confirmed the extent of the dimensions along the north and eastern sides of the property. Additionally, analysis of the remains revealed the design and materials used in the construction of the original garden wall.
Aside from the discovery of the walls and garden grade, the excavations failed to produce a substantial amount of artifacts from the 18th century. In addition, the Powell excavations were not able to locate the historic stream, pond, or outbuildings of William Paca’s garden. Powell recommended that no further information could be gathered about the garden through archaeology. Historic Annapolis Inc. felt the excavations in fact demonstrated that additional archaeological testing would be an invaluable resource in gaining a greater understanding of the design of the William Paca Garden
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