Federal | Virginia | City Regulations | Alexandria | Private
These are few of the fascinating archaeological discoveries brought to light through federal, state, city and private preservation efforts in Alexandria, Virginia.
Federal Government Projects and Private Projects Required by Federal Government Regulations
Federal regulations require the preservation of significant archaeological resources under specific circumstances in which federal property, undertakings or permits are involved.
The 300 and 400 blocks of King Street:
In the wake of urban renewal demolitions, excavations by the Smithsonian Institution on the 300 and 400 blocks of King Street were the first archaeological activities (1965- 1973) in Old Town Alexandria. The ceramic assemblage recovered from these sites was heralded to be the largest collection of Staffordshire wares yet unearthed in the U.S.
The many ceramics found on the sites of old taverns were featured in an exhibit at Gadsby’s Tavern Museum in 1993. A well for the storage of natural ice was uncovered beside the foundation of Gadsby’s at this time, and it can be seen today in its preserved state.
The Alexandria Canal:
One of Alexandria’s most remarkable examples of in situ preservation involved the restoration of the tide lock of the Alexandria Canal in 1985. Excavated and reconstructed by industrial archaeologist Tom Hahn and Emory Kemp, the lock was featured in Savage/Fogarty Real Estate, Inc.’s design for their Trans-Potomac Canal Center development. Today, the original Tide Lock No. 4 is protected beneath an accurate reconstruction.
Jones Point Survey and Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Project:
A National Park Service management plan for the cultural resources at Jones Point called for archaeological testing of the site. Louis Berger & Associates, Inc. undertook the fieldwork in 1985, concentrating on areas to be affected by the development of a bike path. Testing revealed World War I-era ship ways as well as Native American stone tools and fire-cracked rocks from hearths.
A National Park Service management plan for the cultural resources at Jones Point called for archaeological testing of the site. Louis Berger & Associates, Inc. undertook the fieldwork in 1985, concentrating on areas to be affected by the development of a bike path. Testing revealed World War I-era ship ways as well as Native American stone tools and fire-cracked rocks from hearths.
An ongoing project to assess the effects of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvements on Jones Point, South Washington Street, and the interchanges continues. Contact Alexandria Archaeology at 703-838-4399 for current information.
The Old Ford Plant site redevelopment:
This eighteenth-century bateau, early barges and timber wharves were uncovered by Engineering-Science, Inc. archaeologists along the historic waterfront at the Ford's Landing site on South Union Street, a dig sponsored by Urbco and the Cook Inlet Region of Virginia.
The Alexandria Federal Courthouse site:
General Service Administration plans for a new federal courthouse necessitated Parsons Engineering-Science’s archaeological exploration of a large area near the early villages of Cameron and West End. In addition to nineteenth-century rural domestic sites, lithic evidence was discovered of Native American seasonal camps dating from 3000 B.C. to the contact period.
Commonwealth of Virginia Projects
Carlyle House:
In the 1970s state archaeologists conducted rescue excavations at the Carlyle House, a high-style Georgian mansion and one of the oldest structures in the city. The site was once the home of one of Alexandria’s founding families, and today it is a museum operated by the Northern Virginia Park Authority.
The Duke Street Widening Project:
A Virginia Department of Transportation road widening project prompted the 1988 study of nine blocks of the vanished ‘village of West End.’ Among the features discovered by the James Madison University crew were a nineteenth-century railroad roundhouse turntable, the remains of the Civil War-era U.S. Military Railroad Commissary headquarters, and evidence of the home of the Bontz family.
The excavation of an important stoneware pottery (1813-1877) was aided by the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission through the Virginia Research Center for Archaeology in 1977. Examination of waster piles has allowed us to define the attributes of Alexandria stoneware and to date extant examples.
Projects Completed under City Regulations
Alexandria’s zoning ordinance established a process to locate and preserve significant archaeological resources. Archaeological Resource Management Firms, comprised of professional archaeologists in the private sector, conducted this work.
Cameron Mills:
Louis Berger & Associates’ 1989 investigation of the site of the eighteenth-century Cameron Mill revealed a section of the original masonry wall incorporated into a twentieth-century Alexandria Water Company structure.
The Carlyle Project:
Redevelopment of the area along their old railroad right-of-way prompted Norfolk Southern Properties to contract Engineering-Science Inc. to investigate the parcel near Duke Street and Holland Lane. In addition to documenting domestic and industrial contexts, the Hoof’s Run Bridge, a stone bridge from the Alexandria & Orange Railroad and the oldest bridge in Alexandria, was preserved. Also preserved, under Duke Street, is the beer cellar of the first lager brewery in Virginia (1858-1893).
Stonegate Parcel A:
Excavations prior to residential development of the large ‘Stonegate’ property on West Braddock Road brought to light evidence of Native American tool manufacturing dating from 900 B.C. to 200 A.D., and of the nineteenth-century Dove home. Financed by developers Eakin/Youngentob Associates, Inc., International Archaeological Consultants, Inc. also unearthed two projectile points dating to approximately 7500 years ago. A creek side plot containing additional prehistoric lithics has been dedicated as the first archaeological preserve in Alexandria.
Stonegate Parcel C:
As with the Stonegate Parcel A, this lot produced a great amount of evidence of tool making. International Archaeological Consultants, Inc. and Thunderbird Archaeological Associates, Inc., consultants to developer Pulte Homes, concluded that the plot contained the oldest and most extensive prehistoric tool working site yet discovered in Alexandria, dating back to c. 3000 B.C. Additionally, traces of a c. 1790-1830 log cabin and contemporaneous domestic artifacts were also found.
The Mark Center Project:
The Mark Winkler Corporation’s three-year investigation of the area around the Winkler Botanical Preserve produced features and artifacts from the first rural homestead (built c. 1800 and burned c. 1860-1870) excavated in Alexandria. The house may have been occupied by tenant farmers or slaves and was excavated by International Archaeological Consultants, Inc.
The Alfred Street Baptist Church:
The renovation of the Alfred Street Baptist Church prompted an archaeological investigation of the historic structure. This is Alexandria’s oldest African American congregation. Parsons Engineering-Science discovered artifacts from Alexandria’s first free black neighborhood, known as "the Bottoms."
The African American Heritage Park:
Near the Hooff’s Run creek, Alexandria Archaeology discovered evidence of a forgotten nineteenth-century African American cemetery. Together with land from Norfolk-Southern Properties, the area has been dedicated as an African American Heritage Park. City archaeologists and archaeologists employed by Norfolk-Southern located 26 burials in the cemetery, which were protected and made a focal point of the park. Interpretive sculpture by Jerome Meadows and a gazebo add to the park’s design.
City of Alexandria Archaeology Projects
Fort Ward Park is the site of one of the earthwork forts built for the defense of Washington during the Civil War. Archaeological research undertaken to aid the reconstruction of the fort in 1961 was the first archaeology ever performed in Alexandria. In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of this milestone, City archaeologists returned to dig the site once more in 1991. Discoveries included traces of the barracks, mess hall and trash dump, as well as the post-war African American settlement.
The Alexandria Courthouse site:
During urban renewal, the greater part of a block of historic structures at 500 King Street was razed to provide space for a new city courthouse. The old wells and privies on this block contained the largest assemblage of artifacts ever recovered from any site in Alexandria. This excavation was the first major project completed by the newly appointed City Archaeologist. It yielded a spectacular assemblage of ceramics, glass, food remains, toys, and even a musket.
The African American Neighborhood Project:
The first American city survey of black neighborhoods included the studying the origins and mapping these free places, which co-existed with slave dealers and slave holders. Excavation of several blocks at the south end of Old Town produced the first tangible picture of free African American life in Alexandria before the Civil War. City archaeologists recovered thousands of artifacts from an extensive assemblage of working class domestic refuse. The study of various other sites has documented the diet and life ways of independent black families.
The Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop:
Now a private museum on South Fairfax Street, the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop (1792-1933) was once the oldest operating pharmacy in the U.S. Investigation of wells and other structural features in the shop’s basement turned up medicine bottles, containers and implements, some dating to the time when the proprietors could claim George Washington as a customer.
The Dalton House:
The ice well of the John Dalton House (c. 1750) on North Fairfax Street produced a great deal of domestic trash relating to a much more recent period. Deposited around 1890-1910, this generally middle class assemblage has provided information on a period which has, thus far, received little attention from archaeologists in this region.
The Tildon Easton Pottery site:
Of the half-dozen pottery sites excavated in Alexandria, Tildon Easton’s was the first to offer the opportunity to study and record a kiln. A short-lived enterprise (1841-1843), Easton’s business was unknown prior to the archaeological exploration of the site. Today, the kiln remains are preserved under a parking lot on the 1400 block of King Street.
The Carlyle-Dalton Wharf:
When many of the original Torpedo Factory structures were razed in 1982, Alexandria Archaeology was given the chance to excavate the 100 block of Cameron Street exposing the timber cribbing of one of Alexandria’s oldest wharves (c. 1760). This, the first eighteenth-century wharf recorded in Old Town, gives us an exact position of the shoreline in the mid to late 1700s.
Christ Church cemetery:
A proposed addition to the parish house of Christ Church in 1988 endangered possible eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century graves. Alexandria Archaeology discovered scores of burials, recorded their locations from soil stains, and recovered the remains for reburial. The project documented how much change can take place in a cemetery: most of the extant gravestones had been moved, and none marked any of the actual burials found.
The Moore-McLean Sugar House:
Over several years, City archaeologists excavated a nineteenth-century sugar house at North Alfred and Cameron Streets. Valuable information on Alexandria’s earliest sugar refinery was excavated before the site was redeveloped. Through study they pieced together the details of the refining process and the significant role Alexandria played in U.S. sugar processing and trade.
The Kate Waller Barrett Library site:
Because it was known to stand on the site of a Quaker cemetery at 717 Queen Street, addition to the main branch of Alexandria’s public library required protection, and if necessary, scientific excavation of the graves. With the cooperation of the Society of Friends’ Alexandria Meeting, Alexandria Archaeology recorded and removed numerous burials for reinterment. The new addition was designed to minimize disturbance, and many graves are protected on the site.
Wales Tavern:
Prior to the construction of a new commercial building on the 100 block of South Union Street in 1987, Alexandria Archaeology dug the site of Andrew Wales’s tavern, one of the many such social establishments present in Alexandria after the Revolution. Discoveries included foundations, wood steps, glassware, a large barrel, and this fire bucket, probably discarded in a major 1786 fire.
The Ingle Brothers’ Cabinet Shop:
Urban renewal and subsequent renovations to an historic structure twice brought City archaeologists to explore the rear yard of what was once the Ingle Brothers’ cabinet shop on the 100 block of South Royal Street. In addition to furniture, the Ingles crafted the burial caskets for George and Martha Washington. Excavations have produced domestic items and worked furniture parts and hardware.
Private Projects Conducted Voluntarily
Prior to the Archaeological Protection Procedure, developers worked voluntarily to preserve Alexandria sites.
This Civil War-period photo depicts the extant Price-Birch (formerly Franklin-Armfield) slave pen at 1315 Duke Street, the northern headquarters and holding pen for one of the largest firms selling ‘surplus’ slaves from the Upper South to the Mississippi valley. The owners of the properties, J. Peter Dunston, Betty Dunston and Carey Mueshaw, supported the excavation by Engineering-Science of the structure’s basement and side yards in 1987.
Cloud’s Mill Race:
Historic maps indicated and visual survey confirmed the location of an early nineteenth-century mill race along Holmes Run. When a townhouse subdivision was proposed on Paxton Street, developer Costain Washington, Inc. agreed to protect and plaque the site of the mill race. The developer decided to name the new street and the entire project for Cloud’s grist mill. Today one may visit the site and see the location marked, not only with a plaque, but also a reproduction millstone.
Harborside:
This 1989 project, at the intersection of South Union and Wolfe Streets, was sponsored by 400 South Union Street Joint Venture. Unearthed were traces of a nineteenth-century foundry, an early wharf, and of what was once the largest brewery in the South. Visit an historic plaque on the waterfront park, now on the site.
