Digging Gloucester Courthouse at the Daffodil Festival

Springtime in Gloucester means daffodils! Though they have taken a little longer to appear this year than normal, those bright yellow harbingers of sunnier days are beginning to perk up all over the county, letting us know that spring is on its merry way. And that means the Daffodil Festival will soon be here. An annual Gloucester tradition, the Daffodil Festival is a celebration of spring and the first big public event of the year on Gloucester’s Main Street. We encourage everybody to come on out and enjoy the festivities April 5th and 6th.

In what we also hope is becoming another great tradition, we will lead a public archaeology dig during the festival. This excavation will occur within the historic courthouse circle, exploring this rich ground for more traces of Gloucester’s past. The excavation during last year’s festival was a resounding success, with thousands of visitors wandering past, stopping to ask questions, and viewing some of the objects that we uncovered. It was also popular with the kids, a number of whom came over and helped screen for artifacts.

It is one thing to see an archaeological dig on television or read about one in a textbook, but here you can actually talk with us, ask questions, and see the history that is coming out of the ground.

The excavations that we have done so far have helped uncover numerous unidentified buildings from the 18th century, some pre-dating the standing 1766 courthouse. The goal of this work, which has been supported by both the state of Virginia (through the Department of Historic Resources) and Gloucester County (through the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department), is to learn more about the complex evolution of the courthouse village through time, which unfortunately is not very well documented in the surviving documents. What we reveal will help interpret the story of Gloucester County to the public, and can also help planners and public works officials sensitively plan for utility upgrades, buildings repairs, and other projects within the historic courthouse green that minimize disturbances to intact archaeological resources.

The public dig last year focused on uncovering more details about two 18th-century structures that were both likely removed in the 1760s to make way for the new courthouse.  The artifacts recovered, such as an abundance of wine bottles, fragments of delicate drinking glasses, and colorful punchbowls made of imported delftware and Chinese porcelain, suggest that one of these buildings, or perhaps another one close by, was a tavern.  Taverns were common fixtures in courthouse communities as places for social gatherings, business meetings, taking meals, and recreation.  They can also leave obvious signatures for archaeologists to find, in the form of plentiful consumer goods that were used and discarded.  Other buildings are less obvious- such as prisons, offices, and outbuildings.  In addition to looking at the two buildings already known, we uncovered a tiny fragment of another structure- all that is left preserved after early 20th-century road grading and other disturbances.  What is the function of this building?  As we uncover these footprints in the ground, we can begin to answer those questions.

The Daffodil Festival is always a fantastic celebration of local history, traditions, and art, so come on out and enjoy.  We encourage you to stop by the public excavations- see what we’re finding, ask us some questions, and share your thoughts about the history of the courthouse village.  Let’s explore our history together and help make archaeology a recurring part of Gloucester’s trademark festival!