Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Historical Overview

According to the research of historian Mary Stephenson in the 1950s, Lot 271 was first granted to Christopher Jackson by the Trustees of the relatively-new City of Williamsburg to John Redwood in 1713, along with Lots 267, 268, 172, 12, and 43 for the price of ¬4½ (York County Records [YCR], Deeds 3:30-31). But Jackson did not hold this lot for long; by October 1714 the Trustees conveyed the lot, for only 15 shillings, to wigmaker Jean Pasteur Figure 1. Location of the project area. 2 (YCR, Deeds & Bonds 3:58-59). The low price suggests that a house was not yet built on the property, and it is likely that it was Pasteur who built the first dwelling.

In 1735 Pasteur mortgaged the lot to merchant William Prentis for ¬93 (YCR, Deeds 4:407-409), but appears to have continued to live there. In 1741 Pasteur died, and his son John James Pasteur, also a wigmaker, appears to have inherited the property. Prentis sued the latter for his ¬93 in September 1743 (YCR, Wills & Inventories 19:223), and foreclosed when John James Pasteur was not able or willing to pay.

In December 1746 Prentis sold the property to tailor George Charlton for ¬130 (YCR, Deeds 5:205-206). Charlton continued to live on the property until his death in 1749, after which his widow Lydia Charlton lived there for several years. In her will in 1760 (recorded in March 1761), she bequeathed the property to her friend "Mrs Christian Burwells Brother John Blair Junior Esquire" (YCR, Wills & Inventories 21:22-23).

In December 1767 John Blair Jr. and his grandsons Lewis and John Burwell conveyed Lot 271 to Peachy Davenport, later wife of printer Alexander Purdie, for ¬130 (YCR, Deeds 7:352-353). Six years later, in 1773, Davenport and her husband Alexander Purdie (whom she married in 1772) conveyed the property to Nicholas Scovemont for ¬275 (YCR, Deeds 8:306-307), a much heftier price which suggests that improvements were made on the property during this period.

Scovement sold the property in 1788 to an Alexander Kevan, likely his son-in-law (YCR, Deeds 7:9), who contracted for repairs in 1788 with brickmason and builder Humphrey Harwood. Harwood supplied 2000 bricks, 56 bushels of lime, and 274 laths, and built an "Oven," lathed and plastered a "Shed," and repaired a well (Harwood Ledger B:125).

It appears that Scovemont retained legal title to the property even after selling it to his son-in-law, and his 1790 will left the property to his son Ferdinand. Scovemont's estate held the property until 1799, and sometime after that the land was apparently transferred, as in 1805 it shows up in the Peter De la Croix estate valued at $21.67 (Williamsburg Land Tax Records 1789). There is some evidence that De la Croix was renting from Scovemont as early as 1789, when Humphrey Harwood's account books show that he was paid for whitewashing and plastering several rooms and a passage in De la Croix's house "in Back Street," a familiar euphemism for Nicholson Street (Harwood Ledger B:107).

The 1782 Frenchman's map (Figure 2) shows two long rectangular structures fronting Nicholson Street on the south side of the block, the western one almost certainly the building owned by Scovemont.

In 1800 De la Croix was renting the property to a James Chaddick, although it was in fact still owned by Scovemont's estate until 1805. No further information about the lot is known until 1835, when Richard Booker had acquired it, along with Lots 269, 270, and 274 (Southall Papers, Legal Cases and Estates).

Figure 2. Frenchman's map showing two buildings on the north side of Nicholson Street.

By 1865 the lot had been acquired by John Morris, whose estate was then charged with "1 lot with buildings thereon assessed at $800" (Williamsburg Land Book). In 1869 the property was sold at auction to Pauline Hill for $210 (Williamsburg and James City County Deed Book 2:175), and she appears to have owned the property for many years. In November 1893 Hill's daughter Dixie and her husband Frank D. Banks sold the property to Lydia Jones, who conveyed it to William H. Hayes in 1924 (Williamsburg and James City County Deed Book 4:86; 10:290). Hayes sold the southern part of the property to William H. ("Willie") Baker in 1928 (Williamsburg and James City County Deed Book 12:369), and the northern part was conveyed by Hayes and then Baker to others.

Baker's mother Eliza remembered in 1933 that "a Mr. Whiting lived right back of the Raleigh Tavern in the house where my Willie stays now... I lived right back of the Tavern on Nicholson Street... After Mr. Vest bought his horses, he bought the lot where my house was built for a pasture" (Recollections of Williamsburg, Eliza Baker).

The northern part of the property, upon which the project area sits, is less clear. An oral history recalls that "directly behind Lane's store, which stood on the site of the restored Raleigh Tavern, was a small frame cottage, occupied by negroes, which had dormer windows on the second floor. This house was occupied in recent years by an old colored woman named Patsy Custis. She was known to everyone as Aunt Patsy Custis, and the house, now moved to Francis Street, is called the Patsy Custis House" (Recollections of Williamsburg, Victoria Lee). A map of the Historic Area, dated 1944, shows five buildings (numbered 22, 42, 43, 44, and 45) in the area (Figure 3).

Previous Archaeology

There are no records that the property was cross-trenched, as were most properties in the Historic Area, and no signs of archaeological cross-trenching was found in any of the test units. It is likely that, if buildings were standing in the area in the 1930s or 1940s, no archaeological testing was performed. The homogeneous grey "plowzone" layer described later suggests some cultivation of the area in the nineteenth or twentieth century, and again it appears that this layer was not disturbed by the cross-trenching.

Figure 3. 1944 map showing several buildings in the project area.

In November 1977 an archaeological excavation was performed on the "Willie Baker" house on Lot 271, a modern structure with possible eighteenth-century footings fronting on Nicholson Street. This was apparently the building with two wings shown on the 1782 Frenchman's Map. It was built, it is believed, by wigmaker John Pasteur, who acquired Lot 271 in 1714 and held it until his death in 1741. Excavations were concentrated along the north and west walls, and the 16 x 28 foot cellar was only partially excavated, along with several areas where architectural details were in question. Archaeologist Eric Klingelhofer states that the site is "one of the most important" in Williamsburg with "a fine cellar and hopefully undisturbed stratigraphy surrounding the colonial outbuildings" (Klingelhofer and Clarke 1979).

Klingelhofer's evidence suggests that the building was probably built between 1767 and 1773, when the value of the property went from ¬130 to ¬275. It was probably rebuilt in the 1840s after a fire on the adjoining property, and it was this building that was standing until 1977. Of interest to this excavation, Klingelhofer found a "gray sandy loam" outside the north wall of the cellar (E.R.2159M), about one foot in thickness, and very reminiscent of the grey-brown "plowzone" layer found in the current excavation and described later.

The other building shown on the Frenchman's Map, near the corner of Nicholson Street and Raleigh Lane, was not excavated.

Methods

Archaeologists from Colonial Williamsburg's Department of Archaeological Research (D.A.R.) excavated seventeen 75 x 75 cm test units at roughly 10-meter intervals throughout the project area (Figure 4). When possible, units were excavated at even 10-meter increments from the project's datum point, arbitrarily assigned the coordinates 100N/100E; in a few cases, where the even increment would have placed the unit in an area of heavy scrub filled with tree disturbance, the unit was moved slightly to the east or west.

Excavations were carried out using shovels and hand trowels. Archaeologists followed the natural stratigraphy, recognizing layer changes by changes in soil color and texture. All soil was sifted through ¼-inch steel mesh screen and all artifacts recovered were bagged and saved. All features were recorded on detailed plan maps. Each layer and feature was assigned its own context number. A context record was filled out for each context, and all relevant information regarding artifacts, soil layers, and cultural remains was included in each record. These records were later entered into the collections management database Re:Discovery.

All artifacts recovered were sent to the Archaeology Lab for processing, identification, and analysis. Artifacts were washed, identified, inventoried, and labeled by context. Each context was assigned a terminus post quem (TPQ) date when possible. The TPQ date establishes the earliest date at which Figure 4. Location of excavations. 6 a layer or feature could have been deposited, based on the artifact with the most recent date of manufacture. Artifacts were inventoried by ware type, with all important functional and morphological characteristics noted. All documentation and artifacts from the excavation are stored at the D.A.R. Lab.

Results