The Jane Dickson and Charles Dickson Sites

The Jane Dickson and Charles Dickson sites sit next to each other in an open, grassy clearing not far from the Sarah Whitby site. Charles Dickson and Jane Dickson migrated to the city of Washington, DC and its fringes in response to the American Civil War.

Two Brothers Living Next Door to Each Other

Charles Dickson is first recorded in the Broad Branch area in the 1870 Census. He, his wife Lizzie, and their three children were among the 25 Black households in the area that year. None of the families reported any real estate or personal property. All the heads of household and their wives identified as illiterate. Unlike the African American men living nearby who were generally noted as “farmhands,” Charles Dickson was listed as a “farmer” and may have worked for himself.

Jane and Aaron Dickson appear in the 1880 Census with their 13-year-old son, Daniel. Their relation to the Dicksons next door is unclear. However, Aaron Dickson and Charles Dickson were likely brothers. Aaron, described as a blacksmith, also worked in a specialized trade.

The two families’ quarter-acre lots were nearly identical. They were both “house and garden” leases. These structures were usually on a land owner’s larger farm property. They involved the tenant paying a low rent in exchange for a labor agreement. Some enslavers made these provisions for formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. But the name Dickson is never included among those enslaved by the land owning Peirce/Shoemaker families.

An 1855 photograph of Peirce’s Mill, sometimes referred to as Pierce’s Mill. NPS.

Becoming Landowners

The chain of title for these properties is obscure. Records suggest both families purchased their respective lots in 1883 from Arianna J. Lyles. By the early 1890s, Aaron Dickson disappears from park records. His wife Jane presumably became the owner of the family’s framed four-room structure. An 1895 park record deemed the property in “fair” condition. That same record identified Charles Dickson’s one-room framed house and a stable as being in poorer condition.Charles Dickson and Jane Dickson were the only two African American property owners to sell their land to Rock Creek Park. Their families likely left around 1900 when the Park Commission began building new roads. Those roads prioritized recreational access to scenery.

Jane Dickson Site

Archeologists used metal detecting, shovel test pits, and surface inspection at the Jane Dickson site. Initial shovel tests yielded almost nothing. This is likely because the area was graded with heavy machinery when the park was built. However, archeologists noticed a small depression at the edge of the grassy lawn. Archeologists dug a test pit in the center of that depression that produced brick fragments, cut nails, and window glass from the lost dwelling. The depression, like that at the Sarah Whitby site, turned out to be the surface sign of an old cellar hole. Further excavation revealed artifacts used daily by the family. Bottle glass, a sherd of a whiteware plate, a glass bead, and a railroad spike all date to the late 1800s. The absence of other features is consistent with similar small, rural farmstead sites that lacked a cellar or stone foundations.

Charles Dickson Site and a Children’s Toy

The Charles Dickson site is more modest, but it shows up in greater detail in the archeological record. Subsurface shovel test pits, test units, and surface inspection located an old cellar hole. The hole was visible on the surface as a roughly 10-by-10-foot depression. Rocks in the cellar hole may be material from the building’s demolished stone foundation or chimney.

Left: Cart driver figurine after conservation. Right: Cart driver figurine before conservation. NPS photos.

Archeologists recovered 195 artifacts from the cellar hole all dating to the occupation of the house in the late 1800s. Shovel tests produced 31 of these artifacts. Items were mostly construction materials and consumer products that are common at dwelling sites from the second half of the 1800s. A plain small china button, white clay tobacco pipe fragment, and two jewelry beads are a few examples of the family’s purchases. Fragments of refined ceramics, a glass tumbler, and a ribbed glass bowl show the Dicksons’ interest in hosting company.

Notable is an about 3.5-inch-tall iron figurine of a Black cart driver. The figurine is part of a cast iron horse-drawn farm wagon playset manufactured around 1900. The figure wears a hat and holds his hands in front of him. Carting was one of the most common professions for African American men in Washington at that time. So, such a figure was typical in old metal toys. Children in the Dicksons' home may have let the cart drive their imagination.

An antique cart and driver toy. NPS.

Everyday Life in the Reconstruction Era

Research at the Whitby and two Dickson sites shows parts of Black lives that were previously hidden. It shows the everyday items of African Americans in the Reconstruction Era and differences between Black and non-Black families in the same rural region. The remains at these sites bring focus to interrelated African American enclaves. Most of these communities are poorly represented in the archeological record. But this work shows a vibrant community building new lives in an unfamiliar place.

References

“Bold, Rocky, and Picturesque”: Archeological Identification and Evaluation Study of Rock Creek Park, vol. 1. The Louis Berger Group, Inc., Washington, D.C. Prepared for the National Park Service, 2008.

Charles Dickson Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, 2022.

Jane Dickson Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, 2022.

Sarah Whitby Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National Park Service, 2022.