Guest blog written by Colleen Betti, current doctoral candidate at UNC-Chapel Hill and long-time Fairfield Foundation friend. In 1912, Gloucester County’s surveyor and superintendent of public schools, R.A. Folkes, illustrated a map showing all of the public schools in the county. At the time, he identified 20 black schools and 20 white schools. This nearly […]
Conservation Update: Fairfield Cast Iron Stove Under the X-ray!
Thanks to Kate Ridgway at the Department of Historic Resources, we have an update on the conservation of our cast iron stove excavated at Fairfield! For background information on this project, you can read our previous blog post “What’s Under the Rust? Preserving and Conserving Fairfield’s Cast Iron Stove”. As our previous post described, the […]
What’s Under the Rust? Preserving and Conserving Fairfield’s Cast Iron Stove
We love doing archaeology at a variety of sites across the Middle Peninsula, but Fairfield Plantation will always be our home. There are thousands of fascinating artifacts that have been recovered from the manor house and surrounding property, and we don’t always have the time or resources to give them the attention and care they […]
Join us for Adventures in August!
Where else can you work with historic ruins, 3-D models, artifacts, and drones? For the seventh year in a row, Fairfield Foundation is teaming up with Adventures in Preservation to host enthusiastic and curious preservationists who want to learn how to excavate, document, and preserve our past. The week-long experience (August 12 to 18, 2018) […]
The Hall Site: A “Hallmark” of Mathews County
Guest Blog author Katie Brauckmann has worked with the Fairfield Foundation/DATA Investigations for three years, first as a volunteer and intern, and now as a part-time employee. Katie is a sophomore anthropology major at James Madison University. The Hall Site (44MT0173) is a predominately 18th-century site located in Mathews County, Virginia. Conrad Hall, former President […]
Cemetery Preservation in Mathews
The Fairfield Foundation is coordinating a Cemetery Preservation Day in Mathews County. Read on to learn how you can be a part of this exciting project! The Brooks cemetery is overgrown with trees and brush. The New Point Comfort Natural Area Preserve in Mathews County is beautiful for many reasons. The boardwalk provides fantastic views […]
Discovering history at Mathews Market Days
The Fairfield Foundation hosted a very successful public outreach excavation during Mathews County’s annual Market Days festival in September. More than 40 eager kids and adults helped us excavate four 5′ square units in two days. These units helped investigate the site of a former hotel located along Main Street, providing more clues about how this area was […]
Decoding the Midden: Revealing the Secrets of the Most Complicated Context at Fairfield Plantation
This research stems from collaboration between The Fairfield Foundation, UNC Chapel Hill graduate student Colleen Betti, and the DAACS Research Consortium based at Monticello. Our DAACS (Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery) colleagues are currently in Seattle for the Society for Historical Archaeology‘s Annual Conference, hosting a session of papers to provide updates on the research projects […]
My First Field Week Experience with Fairfield: Evelyn Ayala
The following is a guest blog written by Fairfield Foundation volunteer and Adventures in Preservation workshop participant Evelyn Ayala, detailing her adventures during her first week of archaeological excavation and preservation work. With the help of Adventures in Preservation, I spent a five-day week excavating and learning with the Fairfield Foundation. I’ll admit I was […]
