Alexandria, Virginia (Digging for the Past)

48 Pages·2006·1.03 MB·English

by  Pamela J. Cressey

Alexandria,
Virginia

BRIAN FAGAN
General Editor
Alexandria,
Virginia
Pamela J. Cressey and
Margaret J. Anderson
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cressey Pamela J.
Alexandria, Virginia : digging for the past / Pamela Cressey and Margaret J. Anderson,
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-517334-5
ISBN-10: 0-19-517334-1
I.Alexandria (Va.)—Antiquities—Juvenile literature. 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—
Virginia—Alexandria—Juvenile literature. 3. Archaeology—Virginia—Alexandria—
Juvenile literature. 4. Urban archaeology—Virginia—Alexandria—Juvenile literature.
S.Alexandria (Va.)—History—Juvenile literature. 6. Virginia—Antiquities—Juvenile
literature. I. Anderson, Margaret Jean, 1931. II. Title.
F234.A3C74 2005
975.5'296—dc22
2005021708
Half title page: Excavating
in front of the George 987654321
Printed in Hong Kong on acid-free paper
Washington Masonic
National Memorial, in Old Picture Credits: Alexandria Archaeological Museum: Cover, 1,2,3,4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43; Alexandria
Town Alexandria. Library, Special Collections: 19, 20; Margaret Anderson: 41 (top); Pamela Cressey: 41
Title page: A child's mug (bottom); Courtesy of the Fort Ward Museum, City of Alexandria, Va.: 10, 11; Library of
Congress, Prints and Photographs: 26, 40; Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special
decorated with sayings by Collection: 25, 35; The Mariners' Museum, Newport News.VA: 8; Mount Vernon Ladies'
Benjamin Franklin. Association: 26; NARA, 11 l-B-5283: 9
Contents
Where and When 6
CHAPTER 1
Alexandria Finds Its Past 8
CHAPTER 2
Solving Riddles 18
CHAPTER 3
Finding the Forgotten People 25
CHAPTER 4
Building Partnerships
33
Interview with Pamela Cressey .41
Glossary 43
Alexandria, Virginia, and Related Sites 44
Further Reading 46
Index 47
Where and When
Ancient and Early American History
9500 BCE
Ancient peoples in the Alexandria area survive
by hunting animals and foraging for food
1607
1619
First permanent English settlement is
First recorded arrival of African slaves
established at Jamestown, Virginia
in Virginia
1749
Town of Alexandria is founded
1801
Alexandria becomes part of the newly
organized District of Columbia
1813
Free blacks start living in the Hayti
1861 neighborhood of Alexandria
Civil War begins; Union forces
occupy Alexandria
Archaeological History
1961 Edward Larrabee excavates northwest bastion of
Fort Ward
1965 Malcolm Watkins of the Smithsonian Institution
begins project to rescue artifacts from King Street
taverns, retail shops, and homes
1973 Richard Muzzrole completes nine years of work
saving artifacts on King Street
1975 -4 Alexandria Archaeological Commission, the first
archaeological advisory board to a city council in
America, is established
1977 City Archaeologist Pamela Cressey begins work on
the King Street Courthouse block
1982 Excavation of Alexandria Canal lift lock
1989 City Council approves Alexandria Archaeological
Protection Code, which establishes guidelines for
real estate developers
1993 Excavation of Quaker burying ground begins
1995 Excavation of Shuter's Hill plantation begins
2002 Alexandria Heritage Trail opens
1
Alexandria
Finds Its Past
A
In just over 25 years after lexandria, Virginia, is a city with strong ties to its past. It
the town was founded, lies a few miles south of Washington, B.C., on the west bank
Alexandria became a busy
of the Potomac River. Its beginnings date back to 1 749,
port city. During the Civil
War, the port provided when merchants and landowners founded a town on land that
Union soldiers with needed was a small part of the Alexander family plantations. The streets
war supplies.
were laid out in a uniform grid. Mansions, town houses, churches,
businesses, and warehouses sprang up. Sailing ships from as far
away as the West Indies and Europe unloaded their cargoes on the
wharves and then filled up with products from the area—tobacco,
grain, bread, whiskey, iron, and animal skins. Alexandria soon
became a thriving port city.
9 /alexandria finds its past.
In 1843, the construction of the Alexandria Canal, followed
by the building of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in 1851,
connected the city to wider markets and spurred more growth. By
1860, the population stood at 12,652. About one quarter of the
residents were black, and half of these were slaves. A year later, with
the outbreak of the Civil War, federal troops occupied Alexandria
because Virginia had voted to secede from the Union. They
remained there throughout the four-year war between the North
The Alexandria lift lock
and the South. Many people loyal to the South moved away when system raised boats 38
feet to connect them from
the Union soldiers moved in.
the Alexandria Canal to
Sixty-eight forts were built around Washington to defend the
the Potomac River. Archaeo-
Union capital from attack by the Confederate army. One of them logical excavations discov-
was Fort Ward in Alexandria. The first version of the fort was put ered the stone walls,
wooden floors, and gates;
up hurriedly—an earthen barrier, built on top of a gentle hill.
a park now surrounds the
The enlarged fort, built in 1864, was a more impressive example reconstructed lock
of military engineering. It
measured 818 yards around
and had 3 6 gun positions. A
powerful cannon, called a
Parrott gun, mounted on the
southwest bastion, could shoot
a 100-pound projectile a dis-
tance of five miles.
Work continued on the
fort until the end of the Civil
War in July 1865. In Decem-
ber of that same year, it was
dismantled and the timbers
were sold at public auction.