Not All Archeology is Found in the Ground

October is Archeology month and Adams National Historical Park is here to celebrate it. The Park Service has a diversity of objects and sites within its jurisdiction and Archeology is part of most museum collections in the Park Service. Archeology comes from a variety of sources and represents a diversity of cultures and stories. For example, there is fascinating underwater archaeology found all through the NPS as well as materials from the driest places. Shipwrecks, remnants of villages, evidence of life during war and peace are all archeology.

In Quincy, MA, at the birthplace homes of John and John Quincy Adams, archeology was found in the buildings during an extensive restoration when the homes were donated to the Park Service in 1979. The buildings were occupied from 1663 to about 1886. From 1895-97 they were restored and opened to the public as museums by the Quincy Historical Society and the Daughters of the Revolution. The City returned them to the Adams family and the family presented them to the National Park Service in 1979.

The Park Service conducted an archeological survey on the property as well as the restoration of the buildings. The survey revealed information about the early life of the houses. Nails, window glass, ceramics, and refuse piles provided evidence for the timeline of occupancy and changes over time. The restoration of the buildings was like peeling an onion- removing layers that had been added over the years- to find the core of what they may have looked like in the 18th Century. What evidence or original material was left? What needed to be replaced or exposed? These are the questions that were answered by the NPS Historic Preservation crew that brought the buildings back to look like the time of Deacon Adams occupancy and John Adams ownership. Fireplaces were uncovered, floorboards flipped over, and beams exposed. During this work, many discoveries were made, but the most interesting was the evidence of a shoemaker and his work found in the walls behind a fireplace.

“Shoemaking was the one activity that left its mark at the Birthplaces. It was a time-honored site activity, begun by Deacon John Adams in the 18th century. During NPS restoration of the John Adams Birthplace, a large collection of footwear was found concealed within the walls. This collection seems to relate to the shoemaking shop established in the house by the Curtis brothers in 1820. Additional fragments of footwear in the archeological collection may reflect the bootmakers' activity at the John Quincy Adams Birthplace, ca. 1850.” Archeological Collections Management at Adams National Historic,1991.

These artifacts reveal the bones of the home, the layers of history that happened here, and a glimpse into the lives and objects of the people that lived here.