Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1492
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library
Williamsburg, Virginia
1990
This area was investigated during the summer of 1938 and resulted in finding one colonial building foundation and the remains of an early brick drain.
The Frenchman's Map of 1782-86 shows only one building in this area, which scales 35' x 15'. It sets back a distance of approximately 30 feet from Duke of Gloucester Street and 140 feet east of the Blair House. The foundation which was uncovered in this area was of a 32' - 3" x 20' - 6" structure, 7 feet from the Duke of Gloucester Street line and 157 feet east of the Blair House. It is possible that this foundation represents the buildings shown on the Frenchman's Map, although it is not exactly in the same location.
This foundation differed from any of the others excavated in Williamsburg. It consisted of brick piers whose footing extended to a depth of approximately 4' - 9" below the existing grade. It is evident that these piers were originally built with the intention of putting a basement under the building at a later date, as the ends of each pier had been racked or toothed so that after the earth was removed from under the building the piers could be tied together in order to form a continuous basement wall bonded into the toothing.
No evidence of a chimney foundation was located and only a few fragments of modern china and small scraps of rusty iron were found in this immediate vicinity. Several years prior to the archaeological investigation of this lot, a modern structure was razed on this site after which the area was graded and backfilled, which tended to remove or destroy most of the early archaeological evidence near the surface.
| Brick size - | 8 ½" x 4" x 2 ½" |
| Color - | Buff and Reddish Buff |
| Bond - | English |
| Mortar - | Shell |
| Condition - | Good |
See photographs N5698 and N5700.
Just east of the Blair House kitchen area were found the remains of an early brick drain which ran towards the northeast. This was a small box drain with a 4 ¼" x 6 ¼" opening and dirt flow line. (See section A-A on archaeological drawing). Because of the small size of this drain, its probable purpose was to carry rain water from the immediate vicinity of the Blair House to a ravine just to the northeast.
The westerly end of the drain was not excavated on account of the herb garden in front of the Blair Kitchen, while at the northeast end was found what appeared to be the fragmentary remains of a small bulkhead. This was probably the end of the drain where it emptied into the head of the ravine.
Several pieces of broken ale bottles, and fragments of eighteenth-century china were found around the end of the drain. Also found were a few broken churchwarden's pipes.
| Brick size - | 8-¾" x 4 ½" x 2-¾" |
| Color - | Light Red |
| Mortar - | Shell |
| Condition - | Good |
See photograph N5699.
Colonial Williamsburg,
Architectural Department