The 1998 Overview and Assessment of Booker T. Washington National Monument examined the historic core of the site containing the birthplace cabin, the Burrough's "Big House," and the detached kitchen that had been archeologically identified by John Griffin in the 1950's. The project combined traditional excavation techniques with geophysical prospecting augmented by the results of the concurrent ethnographic survey. Conducted through a cooperative agreement with Sweet Briar College directed by Dr. Amber Moncure with field direction by Cindy Trussel, archeologically examined historic roadways, activity areas, and potential slave cabins throughout the site. The project succeeded in uncovering the birthplace cabin near its traditional location, identified by a pattern of flooring stains cut into the sloping ground surface and containing diagnostic, mid-nineteenth century artifacts.

The combination of the ethnographic and archeological surveys provided new insight into the organization of the farm. The small structure immediately adjacent to the cabin sites had always been identified as the Burroughs' "Big House." Analysis by Dr. William Baber of the University of North Carolina Greensboro, identified both the size, layout, and location of the house at odds with typical patterns of middle-class slave owners in the region.

Rather, it may have served as the residence of a slave especially talented in tobacco cultivation and a source of most of the farm's income. Sweet Briar College will archeologically examine the structure in the summer of 1999 for additional evidence on its occupants.

Magnetometry and soil resistivity surveys of the core area, conducted by Steve DeVore of the Denver Support Office, identified multiple anomalies that correlated with excavated resources. Additional excavations will examine more of the survey area in 1999 with support of the park, Sweet Briar College, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.