One of the best parts of our work is the idea that you can discover something new and exciting every day. Most of you see this excitement from our archaeological excavations, and if you visit our facebook page you can see how frequent these discoveries occur. But there are other discoveries to be had, ranging from fascinating oral […]
Extraction and Excavation: Archaeology of a Collapsed House Ruin
The house is magnificent. It is everything that you would want in an 18th-century Virginia manor- symmetry, mass, rhythm- and it sits boldly on an elevated landscape surrounded by extensive cropland rimmed with forest and descending towards complex terraced gardens and a wide creek in the distance. It also stands out in the Flemish-bond land of Tidewater, with its rough, […]
Fairfield, Abingdon, and Carter’s Grove, 1924
One of the most interesting emails we’ve received in the Fairfield Foundation’s sixteen year existence arrived on March 9th at 11:09 pm. The subject line was simple: Old Pictures. It started our minds racing, especially after more than 15 years of researching the history of Fairfield plantation, and the Burwell, Thruston, and other families that lived […]
Archaeology in Search of Thomas Carter
When you mention the Carters of Lancaster County, or Virginia in general, the typical Virginia history buff thinks of the remarkably wealthy and powerful Robert “King” Carter, wealthiest man in Virginia at the beginning of the 18th century. Unbeknownst to most, though, is an unrelated but important family of Carters who also settled in Lancaster, not […]
Tales from the ground at Rosewell
Over the past year and a half we have been doing limited archaeological testing around the Rosewell ruin in preparation for the installation of new interpretive signs as well as for tree plantings. We do this work because the Rosewell site is under a protective historic easement held by the Department of Historic Resources, and […]
Expanding the Boundaries of Preservation at Walter Reed Birthplace
One of the most satisfying moments for any preservationist is knowing, beyond a doubt, that they have preserved a part of the past for the benefit of future generations. At the Fairfield Foundation, we look at preservation in the broadest sense possible – whether saving a building, preserving an old document, or recording stories through […]
Fairfield Foundation: 15 Years and Going Strong
In 2015, the Fairfield Foundation celebrated its 15th anniversary as a non-profit dedicated to archaeological research and education at Fairfield Plantation in Gloucester County and at historic sites across the Middle Peninsula and beyond. In January and July of 2015, we shared in the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal a selection of our favorite artifact finds and a sample […]
Beneath the overgrowth: Rediscovering forgotten history at East End Cemetery
We had a profound experience when we volunteered at the East End Cemetery in Richmond last weekend. This historically black, privately-owned cemetery was established in 1897 but largely abandoned by the late 1970s. Currently the subject of a community-led preservation effort, it is a place of awe and mystery. Thousands of the city’s residents are […]
Toddsbury: Rediscovering a Lost Plantation Landscape
Five buildings in one day. Not even a full day – maybe half a day. In the span of about four hours our entire perspective of Toddsbury, one of Gloucester County’s best known and most beloved historic properties, changed completely. Alongside residents Mollie, Mary and Carter (grand-daughter, mother and grand-mother), whose personal history at this […]
Finding a 17th-century farmstead in Mathews County
The 17th century was a dynamic time in Virginia history. The arrival of English settlers at Jamestown in 1607 initiated a massive transformation of the landscape, both natural and cultural. The constant influx of European immigrants from the 1620s onwards resulted in large amounts of land opened for settlement. As the colonists pushed the local Virginia Indian tribes out […]
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