Lee Site (18AN998)
The Lee Site (18AN998) is a late 18th-early 19th-century
dwelling (possible tenant house) near the Woodland Beach
community of eastern Anne Arundel County, Maryland. A
minor prehistoric component is also present. The site
is situated on an interior flat between Beards Creek
(to the west) and Warehouse Creek (to the east).
The major historic occupation at 18AN998 is likely
associated with members of the Stewart and Lee
families, who owned and occupied the area in the
18th and 19th centuries, or (more likely) their
tenants. George Puddington was the first landowner
in the area; in 1663 he was granted 700 acres
(including the site location) called “Puddington’s
Harbor”. The property passed to Edward Burgess in
1674 and 277 ½ acres if it came into the possession
of Charles Stewart by 1783. Stewart’s 1781 will
divided his property between his two sons and Charles
II was the recipient of Puddington’s Harbor. The
1790 Federal Census showed the plantation had four
white householders, one “other” free white person
and three slaves. The 1798 Federal Direct Tax listed
“one brick two storey dwelling house 36 by 28 feet,
negro quarter 24 by 16 feet, meat house 16 by 12
feet, and a milk house 12 by 6 feet all made of
wood” on a two acre parcel and valued at $550.00.
Charles Stewart II died ca. 1816 without a will. Most of
the property (including the site) was purchased by
Stephen Lee between 1817 and 1826. At Lee’s death ca.
1833, the estate inventory included sixteen slaves,
livestock such as horses, cattle, oxen, pigs, and sheep,
tobacco worth $900, corn worth $150, clover hay worth
$100, as well as small amounts of oats and rye. In 1833,
son Stephen Lewis Lee married Caroline Duncan. He may
have lived in the house described in the 1798 Federal
Direct Tax, or in a house elsewhere on the property. An
1847 map (including the area of the site) shows only
two houses in the area, only one of which is close to
the site. In 1850, Stephen L. Lee was a farmer with 20
slaves and he died in debt in 1870.
The site was first examined archaeologically in 1995 during
a Phase I survey and Phase II testing program by the Maryland
State Highway Administration the impending construction
of a truck turnaround and access road along Md Route 2.
Phase I work in the site vicinity entailed the survey of
two potential corridors for the proposed road. Most of the
area had 50% surface visibility and surface artifacts were
flagged and piece-plotted during a pedestrian survey. The
surface collection led directly to the discovery of 18AN998.
Thirty-six shovel test pits were excavated stratigraphically
and all cultural material was collected by layer. During
Phase II testing (1996), much of the field was systematically
examined by walking transects at 3 m intervals and flagging
approximately 1000 “hits”. No concentrated clustering was
obvious. Twenty 1 X 1 m test units were also excavated.
Historic artifacts encountered during the testing at 18AN998
include 1,210 architectural artifacts, 341 kitchen-related
artifacts, 24 tobacco pipe fragments, 1 gunflint, and
695 miscellaneous objects. Artifacts such as overglaze
Chinese porcelain, creamware, edged pearlwares, cabled,
and slip-banded pearlwares, early transfer-printed
whitewares, wrought and cut nails, and olive green bottle
glass fragments provide strong evidence for occupation
during the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries.
The mean ceramic date calculated for the Lee Site
assemblage is 1818.
Piece-plotting of artifacts revealed a concentration of
brick and window glass that appears to mark a former
structure location. Historic maps and atlases show no
evidence of former structures there, probably because
detailed maps for this part of Anne Arundel County only
became available in 1847. However, the 1798 Federal
Direct Tax listing for the Stewart parcel listed a
brick dwelling house, wooden slave quarter, meat house,
and milk house on a two acre parcel. The Lee site might
correspond with Charles Stewart’s residence, or one of
Stewart’s tenants. Similarly, after the sale of the
property to the Lees in 1817, the structure may have
been occupied by the Lees or one of their tenants.
Additionally, forty-four prehistoric lithic artifacts
scattered across the site were recovered. The low
artifact density and limited range of tool types
argue for repeated, very short-term, single activity
use of the site by small groups or individual Native
Americans over several thousand years (Late Archaic
through Middle Woodland). No habitation sites appear
to be present.
The Lee site was considered to be eligible for listing
in the National Register of Historic Places based on
its historic component. Through documentary evidence,
archaeological fieldwork, and comparisons with other
Anne Arundel County sites of similar and contrasting
functions and time periods, the Lee site can yield
important information relating to the main period of
rural agrarian intensification in Maryland (1650-1815),
and the agricultural-industrial transition (1815-1870).
The Lee site has a limited period of occupation, ranging
from about 1780 to before 1847. With the exception of
agricultural use, the site has undergone little
disturbance that affects the coherence of the artifact
assemblage, or which would distort information about
the site plan and use during its occupation. The site
has sub-plowzone integrity and surface collection
demonstrated that meaningful artifact patterning exists
on the site, with two temporally distinct trash disposal
patterns present. Based on these findings, the site
should be considered a significant archaeological
resource.
(Edited from
the Maryland
Historical Trust Synthesis Project)
References
-
Ebright, Carole A., and Jason D. Moser
-
1997.
Phase I Archeological Survey for Maryland Route 2 Improvements, and Phase II Testing of the Lee Site (18AN998), Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
SHA Archeological Report No. 135.