Another Black Settlement Unearthed…...The Hill likely the oldest settlement of Free Africans Click to Watch Video: According the Baltimore Sun: “Not only is The Hill likely the oldest settlement of free African Americans, but it also could be the largest community of free blacks in the Chesapeake region. During the first census in 1790, some 410 free African Americans were recorded living on The Hill – more than Baltimore’s 250 free African Americans and even more than the 346 slaves who lived at nearby Wye House Plantation, where abolitionist Frederick Douglass was enslaved as a child. Scholars and students from the University of Maryland and Morgan State have embarked on an archaeological dig that may help to rewrite American history. Until now an area known as Treme in New Orleans was thought to be the oldest free African American community. However the Hill, located in Maryland, may have existed before Treme. The more they dig, the more they uncover important parts of history. Free African Americans in Easton lived alongside white families, said Dale Green, a Morgan State University professor of architecture and historic preservation who is working with the University of Maryland‘s Mark Leone on The Hill project. “It’s not just a black story. It’s an American story,” Green said. Researchers and students are in the midst of a three-week dig at a property on The Hill, owned by the Talbot County Women’s Club, where free African Americans were recorded as residents. The census lacked details about the African Americans, but does note the property owner was James Price, a white man who was the register of wills at the time. Researchers and students are working in five-by-five-foot squares. The deeper they dig, the farther back in history they go. The first few inches reveal 20th century artifacts – toys, marbles, pipe stems. But a little further, the team unearthed evidence of 19th century life, said Stefan Woehlke, a University of Maryland graduate student who is the site’s director. Reaching into a meticulously labeled brown paper bag, he pulled out part of an olive green glass bottle with a decorative cluster of grapes on one side. It was likely used to hold wine, Woehlke said, and the technique used to make it – hand blown using a mold – dates it to the late 18th or the early 19th century.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 11:22:25 +0000
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