Archaeologist Ryan Kennedy gathers a crowd as he shows the visitors what he found.

Archaeologist Jeremy Floyd cleaning test unit 609, facing west.

To summarize, during the winter of 2005, we dug two five-by-thirty-foot trenches in the western and south central areas of the Upper Garden to explore the nature of the soils. Most generally, we wanted to determine if there were old soils and features in the garden that could tells us something about how it was laid out in George Washington’s time. As we begin to process the artifacts and interpret the excavation data, the premature answer to this question is yes! There are 18th-century soils and features in the Upper Garden that have survived centuries of tilling, planting, modernizing, and reconstructing.

The trench dug in the south central section of the Upper Garden, facing east towards the river. The Spinning House is in the background.

We found our best evidence for historic soils and features in the south central area of the garden (test units 609, 610, and 611). As Jen explained in her dig diary, we explored three paths that run through the five-by-thirty-foot trench. All three of the paths had stratigraphy similar to the southern path Jen described with many thin layers of path. We have yet to determine if this profile represents an old path where generations of layers built up over time, or a newer path that is more widely traveled and therefore repaired and re-graveled more often. However, the middle and eastern-most paths had a red, pebbly layer similar to the northern path Jen discussed. Could this layer, found in three different paths, be related to the same path construction event? With additional excavations elsewhere in the garden, we hope to be able to explore this layer and determine its age.

The wall trench (center) and post hole (second hole from the bottom of the picture on the right) features after excavation.

We found a couple other fun hints of what the garden holds for future archaeologists in the south central area. One of these features was a rubble-filled trench representing the destruction of the original (c. 1763) rectangular garden wall (see the Morley Williams image for the pre-1775 garden form). The act of destroying the wall cut through layers of soil, meaning that there is archaeological evidence dating before 1775 in the garden. Also intruding these layers is another interesting feature that we interpret to be an approximately five-foot wide filled in ditch. This ditch would have been outside, or east, of the original garden wall. It is unclear of the purpose of this ditch, whether it represented a boundary marker or a drain of some type. Based on evidence encountered when excavating the Vineyard Enclosure, it is possible that it is part of a fencing system where a ditch was placed outside the fence or possibly the brick wall. Both the ditch and the wall trench underlie, or are older than, the red, pebbly path layer, which suggests that that path layer may date to the ca. 1775 garden layout. However, this relationship needs to be tested elsewhere in the garden to prove the hypothesis.

The final interesting feature found in the south central trench was a posthole and a mold, located east of the ditch and wall trench. The posthole is fairly small, and given its location in the garden, suggests it may be related to an earlier generation fence that once ran through the picturesque blooms and blossoms.

While we did not find a lot of artifacts during the excavation, fragments of flowerpots were one of the more common finds.  During the summer of 2005 James Goodwin, analyzed the flowerpots and discovered some interesting chronological indicators based on their decorations.  His report on the Flowerpots is available online.

In June 2006 archaeologists returned to the Upper Garden for an additional four months of excavation.  Based upon the results of the 2005 excavation, we are now assessing the eastern end of the central pathways to see if our hypothesis about which path is older are confirmed.  We are also opening a long series of units across a number of paths and beds, including the main boxwood alle and path that runs from the bowling green to the greenhouse.  These boxwoods and path are thought to be in their 18th-century location.  Check out the Upper Garden Dig Diaries to keep track of the excavation -- 2006 will be an exciting time in the garden!

The Upper Garden in full bloom, June 2005.