In March of 2023, excavations began on a new capital project aimed at recovering and analyzing archaeological materials located at the Leonard Calvert House Site in preparation for the reconstruction of the large structure in the heart of Historic St. Mary’s City’s Town Center. This project, which will be the capstone of a decades-long archaeological research program, is focused on better understanding not only the colonial aspects of the site, but the thousands of years of indigenous occupation prior and the hundreds of years of people living and laboring on the site after. This paper will provide an update to the ongoing excavation and show how work thus far is expanding upon over 40 years of prior research and is providing new and exciting discoveries which are transforming our understanding of the site. This includes a fundamental reinterpretation of the architectural evolution of the Calvert/Country’s House.

More than twenty seasons of excavations at the Leonard Calvert House site have yielded artifacts spanning vast periods of time both before and after the gubernatorial occupation that lends the site its name. The land of Historic St. Mary’s City was long occupied by the indigenous groups of Maryland before European settlement, and the Calvert House site is no exception. This paper will focus on a preliminary artifact analysis of projectile points, stone tools, and Native-made ceramics that were found in previous and recent excavations. Our objective is to expand our understanding of Native life at the site prior to English colonization, and in doing so, tell a fuller history of early Maryland.

The Leonard Calvert House (ca.1630s/1640s - ca.1710) served originally as the home of Maryland’s first governor and was later converted into the colony’s first statehouse and public ordinary. The varying functions and occupants of this structure are reflected in its complex yardscape. Here, seven fence lines oriented off its northeast corner were analyzed with specific attention paid to their artifact composition and stratigraphic relationship. This information was used to infer the date of construction and method of manufacture of each. From there, they were compared to a model of changing fence lines proposed in 1986 by Henry Miller. In it, Miller divided the landscape into five phases, spanning the 75-year occupation and coinciding with changes to the house and surrounding structures. By incorporating new fence line evidence, this reanalysis will enhance our understanding of how the landscape of the Leonard Calvert House site continually changed throughout the 17th century.

“We have seated ourselves, within one half mile of the river, within a pallizado of one hundred and twentie yarde square, with four flankes,..'' These were the words written by Governor Leonard Calvert to friend and financier Sir Richard Lechford in May of 1634. With the discovery of the St. Mary’s Fort via geophysical survey in 2018, Calvert’s description appeared less than truthful, revealing a palisaded structure measuring approximately 104 x 59 yards with a single bastion, or flanker, at its west corner. Archaeologists at Historic St. Mary’s City have since confirmed the existence of the west corner bastion along with a smaller, rectangular bastion at the fort's north corner. These two bastions are distinctly different in size, shape, and construction. This paper aims to analyze these opposing characteristics, comparing both bastions’ emplacement, architectural construction, and functional elements to understand how these factors informed their roles of defense.

Archaeological findings at the 1634 St. Mary’s Fort provide evidence for one of the earliest colonial burials in Maryland. Discovered during testing in 1992, this burial remained unexcavated until 2023 when it was investigated in collaboration with Smithsonian forensic scientists. Consultation was carried out with a potential descendant community group. Located just outside the palisade, excavation revealed a young male in an unexpected body position and grave orientation with no associated material culture. Through a comparative study of this grave and other 17th-century burials excavated at St. Mary’s City, we aim to place this interment into a broader context. Likely an indentured servant who died in an accident, this burial allows for better conceptualization of the realities faced by early immigrants and the role of religion in mortuary practices. Other graves are nearby and their potential investigation would significantly expand our knowledge of people during the earliest phase of settlement.

Multiple fragments of tangled metallic threads and a complete woven button were found during the 2023 excavation season in a St. Mary’s Fort cellar feature at Historic St. Mary’s City. These discarded threads once adorned garments that communicated the social and economic status of the wearer, attesting to wealth, position, or both. In order to create these glittering decorative trimmings, precious metals such as silver and gold were drawn, hammered, or curled and combined with organic fibers or more common metals such as copper. Among their many uses, metallic threads were used as fringe, decorative buttonholes, fanciful embroidery, and buttons. This paper will discuss the types and manufacturing methods of St. Mary’s Fort thread fragments, exploring the potential uses of these once shiny adornments.

Two burials of individuals of African descent (ca. 1680-1730s) were recently excavated at Chancellor’s Point in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. These two individuals were interred on an earlier domestic site dating to 1639 – ca. 1680. Archaeological work from previous decades suggests that blacksmithing occurred on the site in the 1650s that utilized bog iron (or limonite) that was eroding out of a nearby fossil bed for smelting in a bloomery forge. After the abandonment of the domestic site, an undetermined number of individuals of African descent were buried there. At least one grave has been previously destroyed by shore erosion and the two newly excavated ones were threatened by environmental factors. A community group was formed to guide the project, which has in turn strengthened ties between HSMC and its stakeholders. This presentation reviews the community-driven archaeological work conducted to date and discusses where the project will be heading.

Early Maryland’s first brick building was a Catholic chapel constructed in the 1660s, closed due to religious bigotry in 1704, and demolished a decade later. Archaeologists relocated the site in 1983 and major investigations extended from 1988 to 1996. Following analysis and extensive architectural research, the structure was rebuilt on its original foundation between 2002 and 2009 as a project of experimental archaeology. However, the interior elements required further research. This paper summarizes that evidence and presents the elements of the sanctuary that were the central focus of the original space. It also tells how the problem of exhibiting major archaeological finds such as three rare lead coffins and some of the massive 1660s foundation within an authentically recreated historic space is solved. After 36 years, this long reconstruction and archaeological exhibition effort will be completed in 2025 and the details are presented here.