Menokin Archaeology Diaries
April and May 2009
Read the excavation crew's diary from the spring 2009 session
The focus for the spring and fall 2009 architectural conservation season at the house will be the extraction and documentation of the hundreds of pieces of remaining fallen rubble and dressed stone that lie on the exterior of the house. The conservation team will also sift through the nine feet of rubble dust and mortar that fill the interior of the southeast area of the cellar. This work will take place over two sessions in the spring and fall of 2009. Once that excavation is complete, the entire cellar will be at the original grade. The Menokin extraction process is led by an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists with DATA Investigations in Gloucester, Virginia, and architects and conservators with the John Greenwalt Lee Company in Annapolis, Maryland.
Between 2005 and 2008, approximately 2,000 pieces of Menokin were extracted from the basement of the house. These pieces include dressed stone, large girders, posts, and joists down to pieces of lath and fragments of finished woodwork. All of the collapsed wooden elements from Menokin have been documented, mapped with a total station, tagged with a discrete identification number and fumigated, and are in storage in the Foundation’s conservation and storage facility. The northeast, northwest and southwest (vaulted wine cellar) areas of the cellar are completely excavated and are at original grade. The original basement door lintel and stone steps leading into the cellar were excavated in the 2008 field season.
A donation to the Menokin Foundation will help make the fall 2009 excavation session possible! Please click here to donate now.
A memory or mourning locket found in the southwest quadrant of Menokin during excavation in May 2009. The locket dates to c. 1780 and contains a lock of dark blonde hair. Research is currently underway to uncover more information about the piece.
The light blue indicates those areas of Menokin that are completely excavated. The dark pink shows areas that will be excavated in the spring and fall of 2009.