Anne Yentsch’s 1982 Excavation of the William Paca Garden

In January 1982, preparations began for additional renovations of the springhouse’s interior. Russell Wright projected the renovations to include a complete restoration of the interior to its 18^th century appearance. The project included reopening the north drain at the east interior wall, repairs and renovations of the basin area, and repairs to the 18^th century floor (Yentsch 1982). Wright presumed that during Paca’s time a shallow box would have existed in the basin serving as a ledge for the storage of dairy vessels.

In order to determine if any materials from the 18^th century still remained, Yentsch proposed the excavation focus on the collecting basin area. From there she expected to cut through the surface layers to be sure no earlier strata remained beneath. Prior to the March 1982 excavation, the springhouse had flooded. Russell Wright and workmen from Brown Engineering attempted to resolve the water problem. By the time excavations began the interior of the springhouse consisted of a level of mud covering the 18^th century floor of the structure.

The 1982 excavation of the Springhouse interior began with the removal of a mud layer from the floor’s surface. Yentsch also removed several large fieldstones that were no longer in place from the interior. Soon after excavation began, Yentsch came to realize the process was ineffective. A constant stream of water continued to pour into the springhouse from the north wall. As Yentsch’s team attempted to remove mud from the basin area, the water quickly forced new deposits into the area making further excavation impossible. The mud contained a small number of 19^th century artifacts: a painted tin handle, a red transfer-print rim fragment, a piece of thick white English porcelain, and pieces of thick and thin glass (Yentsch 1982). Organic fragments were also present in the mud deposit: a bone, a piece of wood, as well as numerous oyster shells. While the basin dates to the 18^th century, the presence of 19^th century artifacts within the feature is not surprising (Yentsch 1982). Prior to the construction of the 19^th century collecting basin (discovered during the 1968 Little excavation), it would be typical for the owner to fill in the older basin. The artifacts discovered would have been included in the fill.

Using a metal rod, Yentsch continued to probe below the mud level to identify the full extent of the springhouse’s 18^th century floor. It quickly became apparent that the basin area’s brick floor was more extensive than Little’s map suggested (Yentsch 1982). Yentsch’s team discovered the solid brick floor was also located in the northwest corner of the springhouse near the west drain. This discovery is interesting due to the fact that Little’s excavation of the structure in 1968 found that the floor in that area was not made of brick.

Following Yentsch’s probing of the northwest corner, she turned back to her examination of the basin area. Probing of the basin provided additional information not shown in the Glenn Little drawings of the ’68 springhouse excavation. First, Little found that the 18^th century collecting basin extended away from the north interior wall southward. In addition Little identified the basin as remaining closer to the center of the springhouse with the basin’s west side located away from the west interior wall of the springhouse. Yentsch found that Little’s dimensions for the collecting basin were inaccurate. She discovered that the west side of the basin extended all the way to the west interior wall. Also the floor of the collecting basin was not flat, as previously suspected. It was found that the basin’s floor sloped upward toward the north drain located in the east side of the basin. Further probing also revealed that the basin floor closest to the springhouse’s north interior wall was much deeper that the rest of the basin floor, allowing water to rapidly drain into the basin from the natural spring (Yentsch 1982). As a result of these discoveries, Yentsch concluded that while the Little drawings are helpful, for the most part they are incomplete and inaccurate.

The goal of the excavation conducted by Yentsch in 1982 was to determine whether any additional features existed within the springhouse collecting basin excavated by Little (1967-68) and the Orr’s (1975). Because of to rising water levels and high mud content within the springhouse, Yentsch was unable to conduct a thorough excavation. Although Yentsch was unable to locate any new features; probing the basin area revealed some information regarding the dimensions of the structure.

Following the conclusion of her excavation, Yentsch made several recommendations to Historic Annapolis suggesting detailed profiles of the springhouse be created prior to any restoration efforts. Once 18^th the century surface was thoroughly explored and detailed profiles of the area created, Yentsch believed an accurate restoration of the springhouse interior could be accomplished.

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