Excavations atTUTTER'S NECKin James City County, Virginia, 1960-1961

Contributions fromThe Museum of History and Technology:Paper 53Excavations at Tutter's Neckin James City County, Virginia, 1960-1961Ivor Noël Hume

LOCATION OF THE SITE32HISTORY OF THE SITE32THE EXCAVATION42THE RESIDENCE43THE KITCHEN45THE REFUSE PITS46ANIMAL REMAINS51THE ARTIFACTS52CONCLUSIONS55

Figure1.—Top:Hypothetical elevationsbased on foundations discovered on Tutter's Neck site.Bottom: Conjectural reconstruction based on elevations of the Tutter's Neck site, about 1740. Elevations by E. M. Frank, director of architecture, Colonial Williamsburg; conjectural drawings by R. Stinely.

Ivor Noël Hume

Land clearance for reforestation of property leased from Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., resulted in the exposure of numerous fragments of early 18th-century pottery and glass. Partial excavation of the site, known as Tutter's Neck, revealed foundations of a small colonial dwelling and outbuilding, both of which had ceased to exist by about 1750.This paper describes and analyzes the artifacts recovered from refuse pits on the site. These artifacts, which have been given to the Smithsonian Institution, are closely dated by context and are valuable in the general study of domestic life in early 18th-century Virginia.The Author:Ivor Noël Hume is director of the department of archeology at Colonial Williamsburg and an honorary research associate of the Smithsonian Institution.

This paper describes and analyzes the artifacts recovered from refuse pits on the site. These artifacts, which have been given to the Smithsonian Institution, are closely dated by context and are valuable in the general study of domestic life in early 18th-century Virginia.

The Author:Ivor Noël Hume is director of the department of archeology at Colonial Williamsburg and an honorary research associate of the Smithsonian Institution.

In the summer of 1959 the Chesapeake Corporation undertook land-clearance operations prior to reforestation on property leased from Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., lying to the east of College Creek, which runs into the James River below Jamestown Island (see fig. 2). In the course of this work the foundations of a small and hitherto unrecorded colonial residence were bulldozed and largely destroyed. In the spring of 1960, Mr. Alden Eaton, director of landscape construction and maintenance for Colonial Williamsburg, while walking over the razed area, picked up numerous fragments of early 18th-century pottery and glass which he later brought to the writer for identification. As the result of thisfind a survey of the site was undertaken, and two colonial foundations were located and partially excavated.[57]

The area available for study was limited by the need to cause as little disturbance as possible to the newly planted seedlings, by a shortage of time and labor, and by the remarkable speed with which the ground became overgrown with locust trees and infested by mayflies and mosquitoes. The location of the excavation area, nearly a mile from the nearest road, and off a track pitted with mud-filled depressions, made access impossible during most of the winter months; consequently, work was possible only in the spring and fall of 1960. By the summer of 1961 both the approach and the site itself had become completely overgrown.

Regardless of these limitations it was possible to obtain full details of the surviving remains of both the dwelling and its associated kitchen, as well as recovering a number of informative groups of domestic artifacts from trash pits under and around the latter structure. Fortunately, the presence of seal-adorned wine bottles in two pits provided data that led to the identification of one of the owners of the property, and thence to a reconstruction of the history of the site in general.

It should be noted that whereas the colonial artifacts that have been excavated from Marlborough and Rosewell provide a useful range of household items of the middle and third quarters of the 18th century, respectively, the Tutter's Neck material belongs only to the first 40 years of that century, with the emphasis largely upon the first decade. This last is a phase of Tidewater archeology about which little is known, falling as it does after the end of the Jamestown era and at the beginning of the Williamsburg period. Although, of course, Williamsburg was already being built at the turn of the century, so intensive was the occupation in the following 75 years that few archeological deposits of the city's early days have remained undisturbed. The fact that the Tutter's Neck site was abandoned before 1750, and never again occupied, consequently enhances its archeological importance.

The site lies on a steeply sloping promontory at the junction of Kingsmill and Tutter's Neck Creeks, which flow as Halfway Creek into College Creek approximately 1,050 yards to the west. The house stood on the crown of the slope facing west, some 260 yards from the junction of the creeks, and thus possessed a commanding position. Perhaps, at that time, there was a clear view of all vessels passing up College Creek—the main waterway to Williamsburg from the James River. As the crow flew, the house stood approximately three miles from Williamsburg, but by road the route was close to four miles to the eastern edge of the town.

While the largest ships generally unloaded their cargoes at landings on the James, the smaller vessels would often carry their cargoes up College Creek to College Landing, about a mile and a quarter from Williamsburg. It seems reasonable to suppose that Halfway Creek was also navigable for these vessels on the high tide. In view of the fact that the curve of the creek's main stream today touches the southern edge of Tutter's Neck, it is likely that a landing existed there in the 18th century. However, no traces of such a landing are now visible.

There was no known record of the existence of the houses when the Chesapeake Corporation stripped the site in 1959. The only colonial map of the area, the so-called Desandrouin map of 1781 (fig. 4), shows the neck covered by thick woodland, but indicates two or more buildings some distance to theeast. These sites also lay within the bulldozed area, but, paradoxically, no traces of these have been found. Comparison of the Desandrouin map with the aerial photograph (fig. 3) will show that a small, marsh-flanked stream flowed across the back of the Neck in the 18th century and emptied into Kingsmill Creek. This stream has since silted up and has cut a new channel that causes it to open into Tutter's Neck Creek to the north of the house site.

Figure 2.—The Tutter's Neck sitein relation to College Creek and the James River.

Figure 3.—Aerial photographof Tutter's Neck taken soon after bulldozing and before the Jones site (arrow) was found. Photo courtesy City of Williamsburg.

The Desandrouin map suggests that the buildings on Tutter's Neck had ceased to exist by 1781, and this conjecture is supported by the artifacts from the site, none of which date later than mid-century. Considerable difficulty in establishing the lifespan of the house and outbuilding has resulted in part from the fact that any evidence for a terminus ante quem had been stripped away by the bulldozing and in part from the absence of any maps that identify thispromontory as Tutter's Neck. Indeed the entire premise is built upon the discovery of wine-bottle seals in one refuse pit beneath the kitchen chimney and in another approximately 125 feet southeast of the house. These seals, bearing the initials "FI," were identified as having belonged to Frederick Jones, who later became Chief Justice of North Carolina. The identification was arrived at on the evidence of the will of David Bray, of James City County, that was contested in 1732. In the legal action, reference was made to "... one messuage,[58]plantation, piece or parcel of land," known as Tutties Neck, or "three hundred acres, more or less, lying and being in the parish of Bruton." This land was stated to have been purchased by Bray's mother, Judith Bray, from Frederick Jones; it then was obtained by John Randolph and passed by him in exchange to Thomas Bray.[59]

Figure 4.—Detail of Colonel Desandrouin's mapof 1781. Arrow indicates Jones site.

Thus we know that Frederick Jones had owned a 300-acre tract known as Tutties Neck. Consequently, the discovery of bottle seals bearing the initials "FI" in the vicinity of a "messuage" at the mouth of Tutter's Neck Creek was not without significance. Further corroboration was provided by a letter of 1721 from Frederick Jones to his brother Thomas, in Williamsburg, regarding the incorrect marking ofmerchandise on the former's account "marked by mistake FI."[60]It was common practice for plantation owners to use the same shipping marks that they used for their wine-bottle seals, and therefore it may be assumed that Jones also owned bottles bearing the initials "FI."

Having established with reasonable certainty that the site in question was the "Tutties Neck" that had been purchased by Judith Bray from Frederick Jones, the next step was to attempt to piece together the history of the site both before and after that transaction. Unfortunately, during the Civil War the James City County records were removed for safekeeping to Richmond where they were destroyed. This loss makes any research into the early documentary history of the county extremely difficult, and in many cases well nigh impossible. Source material must be drawn from family papers and from passing references in the records of other counties. Although the history of Tutter's Neck has many significant facts missing, it is surprising that the record is as full as it is.

The first reference occurs in 1632 (or 1642) when mention is made of "great neck at the barren neck, next adjoining to Tutties neck, a branch of Archers hope creek."[61]Similar references to "Tutteys" neck and "lutteyes" neck occurred in 1637[62]and in 1646.[63]Later, in 1679, a deed of sale from Edward Gray to William South of Gloucester County refers to a parcel of land at "Tuttis Neck."[64]The same spelling was used in 1682 in the will of Otho Thorpe, of the Parish of All Hallows at the Wall in London, who left to his cousin John Grice and Grice's two elder children his plantation in Virginia called "Tuttis Neck."[65]John Grice is recorded as having been a justice in James City County in 1685 and 1694.[66]

No further references to Tutter's Neck are to be found until 1711 when Frederick Jones obtained 100 acres commonly called "Lutties neck,"[67]escheated land,[68]from one Mathew Brown. It is at this point that we run into trouble, for the contents of the pits in which the Jones bottles were found included many items of the late 17th century and none dating later than the first decade of the 18th century. The pit beneath the kitchen chimney also contained a bottle bearing the seal of Richard Burbydge and dated 1701.[69]The inference, therefore, was that Frederick Jones was on the site during the first years of the 18th century. Jones came from England in 1702,[70]having inherited considerable estates from his father, Capt. Roger Jones. In 1704 he is shown in the Virginia Quit Rent Rolls as possessing 300 acres in James City County, 500 acres in New Kent County, and 2,850 acres in King WilliamCounty.[71]Were it not for the purchase of 1711, it would be reasonable to assume that the 300 acres in James City County were the same that Jones sold to Judith Bray at some unspecified date prior to 1722, the year of his death.

Figure 5.—Plan of excavated features.

We know that as early as 1703 Frederick Jones had interests in North Carolina, because it was in that year that one Jeremiah Goodridg brought suit against him and he was then described as "late of London."[72]In 1707 Jones received a grant of 4,565 acres in what are now Jones and Craven Counties in North Carolina.[73]At that time he was living in or near Williamsburg—presumably on his 300 acres in James City County; in 1705 he was a vestryman of the Parish of Bruton with its church in Williamsburg,[74]and in the same year both he and David Bray were listed as being among the directors for the building of Williamsburg.[75]It would seem that he was a man of consequence in the county at that time.

Among the papers of the Jones family are indentures dated 1708 transferring property in both King William and New Kent Counties from Frederick to his brother Thomas Jones,[76]and it may well be construed that this transfer occurred at the time that Frederick moved to North Carolina. In the same year his plantation in Chowan Precinct, NorthCarolina, described as "land whereon the church now stands" was chosen as the site for a glebe.[77]This is presumably the same Chowan County plantation on which Jones died in 1722.

Figure 6.—Frederick Jones' wine-bottle sealsshowing matrix variations: 1, initials from single matrix, with right side of "[*struck-through I*

" poorly formed (same die as fig. 7, left); 2, initials from separate matrices, with large serifs on "F" and small serifs on "I"; 3-5, initials from separate matrices, with small serifs on both letters; 6, 7, initials from separate matrices, with heavy serifs on both letters. Seal 5 came from Pit A; all others from Pit B. The use of single-letter matrices suggests a 17th-century date for the bottles' manufacture, while the presence of various die combinations makes it probable that the bottles were not all made at the same time. It is likely that the bottles were among Jones' possessions when he emigrated to Virginia in 1702.]

In 1711 Frederick Jones and others residing in North Carolina appealed to Governor Spotswood of Virginia for help against the Indians.[78]In the same year his name again occurs on an address to Spotswoodconcerning Colonel Cary's rebellion.[79]Almost a year to the day later, he is recorded as applying at a council meeting for the return of salt carried from his house ostensibly for "Supporting yeGarrisons."[80]In July 1712 Jones acquired an additional 490 acres in North Carolina.[81]All of this evidence points to his being well settled in his new home by 1712.

Figure 7.—Wine bottlesof Frederick Jones and Richard Burbydge, from Pit B. For scale see figure 19.

The colony of North Carolina developed more slowly than did Virginia. The first permanent English settlement in North Carolina was on the Chowan River in about 1653, with the population being drawn from Virginia. In 1663 the settled area north of Albemarle Sound became Albemarle County, when Charles II granted the territory to eight proprietors, in whose families it remained until an act of Parliament in 1729 established an agreement with seven of them (the eighth refused to sell) and thus turned the territory into a royal colony. Consequently, when Jones moved south, North Carolina was still in its infancy, a haven for piracy and beset by private feuds and troublesome Indians. In the years 1711-1712 occurred an Indian uprising of proportions comparable to those that had threatened the life of the Virginia Colony 90 years before.[82]It was this massacre of 1712 and its effect on the Jones family that occasioned the foregoing apparent digression into the early history of North Carolina.

The war with the Tuscarora Indians had begun in1711 at about the time that Jones and his neighbors had appealed to Virginia for aid, and it was not to end until 1713 when the greater part of the defeated tribe moved north to New York to become the sixth part of the Iroquois Confederation. In October 1712 Jones' plantation was attacked; but in a letter from the president of the council, Pollock, to the Governor of South Carolina, it was stated that the attackers were "... beat off, none killed of our people."[83]Although there was no loss of life, it would appear that the effect on Jones' plantation was considerable.

In the Journal of the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg it was recorded that on November 5, 1712, "Frederick Jones, who some years ago removed two slaves out of this colony into North Carolina, his plantation having been totally ruined by the hostilities there; asks permission to bring his said negroes back again without paying duty."[84]Although the petition was granted, there is no indication that Jones did, in fact, return. The important phrase in this notice of petition is the "who some years ago," for it seems probable that this refers to the time when Jones left James City County to settle in North Carolina. Working on the assumption that "some years ago" would be unlikely to refer to a period of time short of three or four years, it can be construed that the date of removal fell in 1708 or 1709 at the latest.

However the evidence is interpreted, it still remains curious that Jones should have purchased the 100 acres of "Lutties Neck" in 1711 and that he should sell a 300-acre tract known as "Tutties Neck" to Judith Bray, when in fact he appears to have possessed a total of 400 acres in James City County, only one of which is known to bear a name resembling Tutter's or Tutties' Neck. The only reasonable construction must be that Mathew Brown's escheated acres adjoined 300 acres that already constituted Tutter's Neck. But even then there remains the problem of why only "by estimation, three hundred acres, more or less"[85]were sold to Mrs. Bray. No evidence has been found to show what became of the remaining 100 acres, and the only Virginia property mentioned in Frederick Jones' will of April 9, 1722, was described as "lying in King William County in Virginia, commonly called Horns Quarter."[86]

It is unfortunate that the direst gap in the documentary evidence spans much the same period as does the archeological data. However, the genealogy of the Bray family is of some assistance, providing clues even if it cannot offer direct answers. When Thomas Bray died on August 2, 1751, he was described as "Col. Thomas Bray, of 'Little Town,' next to 'Kingsmill,' on James River."[87]That property, lying to the east of the Kingsmill tract, can be traced back as far as 1636, and it is known to have been owned by the Pettus family in the latter part of the 17th century.[88]In about 1697 James Bray, son of James Bray, Sr., of Middle Plantation (later Williamsburg) married Mourning, widow of Thomas Pettus, Jr., and so acquired the "Little Town," or "Littletown," tract.[89]This James Bray had three children, of whom Thomas was the eldest and thus became heir to his father's estate.

James Bray, Jr., had two brothers (as well as a sister). The eldest son, Thomas, died intestate. David, the youngest of the three, married Judith (b. 1679, d. Oct. 26, 1720), by whom he had one son, David, Jr.,[90]who married Elizabeth Page (b. 1702, d. 1734) and had no heir. The previously discussed transaction of 1732 following the death of David Bray, Jr., whereby Thomas Bray obtained the "Tuttie's Neck" acres that had been purchased at an unspecified date by Judith Bray,[91]would suggest that Frederick Jones retained the title until 1717. This may be deduced on the grounds that Mrs. Bray would have been unlikely to have purchased land while her husband, David Bray, Sr., was still alive. Thus Jones would seem to have sold Tutter's Neck between 1717 and 1720 when Judith Bray died.

Thomas Bray, as stated above, lived at Littletown, and there is no likelihood that he ever resided atTutter's Neck. He married Elizabeth Meriwether and by her had one child, a daughter named Elizabeth who married Col. Philip Johnson.[92]The daughter died in 1765, and when her husband followed her in 1769 "six hundred acres, with the appurtenances, called and known by the name of Tutty's neck" were offered at auction.[93]It was presumably at this time that the Tutter's Neck land was added to the neighboring Kingsmill plantation of Lewis Burwell. William Allen, of Surry County, purchased Littletown in 1796, and in 1801 he added Kingsmill to his holdings along, one supposes, with Tutter's Neck; for in the inventory made at Allen's death in 1832 the latter property was listed as comprising 923 acres and valued at $2,330.00.[94]

As the archeological site under consideration was not occupied beyond the colonial period, there is no need to pursue its history through the 19th century. It is enough to note that Tutter's Neck is included in parcel no. 4 of the Kingsmill Tract now owned by Williamsburg Restoration, Inc. Part of this parcel is leased to the Chesapeake Corporation through whose courtesy excavation was made possible.

Captain Roger Jones andFrederick Jones

The discovery of the Tutter's Neck site and its artifacts associated with Frederick Jones arouses interest in the man himself and his place in colonial America. While those facets of his career directly relating to Tutter's Neck have been outlined above, a few additional facts may serve to round out our picture of the man.

In 1680 Capt. Roger Jones of London came to Virginia with Lord Culpeper and was given the task of suppressing piracy in Chesapeake Bay. His efforts in this direction resulted in considerable personal gain and he was able to amass extensive Virginia property. Eventually Roger Jones' activities caused so many complaints that he relinquished his office and returned to London. In 1692 a letter of petition from the Council of Virginia to the Earl of Nottingham, King William's principal Secretary of State, complained bitterly about the ravages by pirates to ships carrying supplies to the colony and in particular about the conduct of Roger Jones. This petition, signed by Francis Nicholson and others of the Council, contained the following enlightening passage:

".... Capt Roger Jones, some time an Inhabitant of this Country, but at present residing in London. A man that, from noething, pretends in a few years to have gained a great Estate, & since he has declared his disaffection to yrMaty before his leaveing this Country, by refuseing to serve in any office, or take the usuall Oaths wee pray yorLordshps leave to give you his true caracter. He came into this Country a souldier under the L Culpeper; was by his Ldsp made Captaine of a small sloope whwas to have been furnished with twelve men, & was ordered to cruise in our great Bay, to look out for & seize all unlawfull Tradrs, &c. But yeCaptaine having learnt to cheate yeKing very early, never had above 8 men, altho he constantly received pay for 12 men, for whyeLord Culpeper endeavoured to call him to Acct., as well as for his adviseing, trading with & sheltering severall Pyrates & unlawfull Traders, instead of doeing his duty in seizing them. By which means ye sd. Jones laid ye foundation of his p'sent great Estate, as he gives out he is master of."[95]

In 1701 Roger Jones died in Stepney, London, and was buried at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, the home of his wife Dorothy (née Walker) by whom he had two sons. The elder son, Frederick, inherited the larger share of the estate,[96]and both he and his brother Thomas arrived in Virginia in 1702. Thomas remained in the colony throughout his life, but, as already shown, Frederick decided that North Carolina was more to his liking. In about 1708 Frederick disposed of most of his Virginia holdings and moved south, taking with him at least two Negro slaves and his wife Jane, whom he had married while in Williamsburg.[97]

There is no doubt that Frederick Jones prospered in North Carolina, and in 1717 he was appointed Chief Justice for the colony,[98]replacing the previous Secretary and Chief Justice, Tobias Knight, who had resigned in disgrace. The latter had made the mistake of being too open an accomplice of Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, the pirate. There is reason tosuppose that even if Governor Eden did not personally profit from Teach's activities, he was fully aware that the pirate made his winter quarters in a North Carolina inlet. Teach was not finally cornered until November 22, 1718, in the famous exploit of Lieutenant Maynard off Ocracoke Inlet.[99]Jones had by then been in office for at least a year and he was doubtless aware of the Governor's sympathies. Indeed, with his own father's example to guide him, Jones was clearly an excellent choice for Chief Justice if leniency towards piracy was a prerequisite for the job. Although there is no evidence that Jones profited from Blackbeard's operations, the records show that he was quite prepared to turn the trust of his office to his own advantage. In the end it was a comparatively small manipulation that proved his undoing.

In 1721 one Daniel Mack Daniel murdered, by drowning, a certain Ebanezar Taylor and carried off his goods and money to a total of £290.0.0d. When Mack Daniel was apprehended the money was passed for safekeeping to Frederick Jones, who apparently pocketed it. On April 4, 1722, the following entry appeared in theColonial Records of North Carolina:[100]

It's the Opinion of this Board that the money lodged in the said ColloffredkJones hands late Cheif Justice for the appearance of Robert Atkins and Daniel Mackdaniel at the GenlCourt ought to have been deliverdto the present Cheif Justice with the GenlCourt Papers & Records.Orderdthat the said Colloffredrick Jones late Cheif Justice doe immediately pay to Christopher Gale Cheif Justice or his Order whatever moneys he has in his hands lodged as aforesaid ... in case of failure hereof the Attorney Genlis hereby Orderdto take proper measures for the recovery thereof.

Orderdthat the said Colloffredrick Jones late Cheif Justice doe immediately pay to Christopher Gale Cheif Justice or his Order whatever moneys he has in his hands lodged as aforesaid ... in case of failure hereof the Attorney Genlis hereby Orderdto take proper measures for the recovery thereof.

At the session of July 31 to August 4, 1722, Jones was due to appear to answer the charge that he had failed to relinquish the money. But when the session opened, it was reported that Colonel Jones was dead.[101]He had made his will only five days after the initial order of April 4 had been issued.[102]

Frederick Jones was in many respects a worthy and upright member of the North Carolina Council, or so one would gather from the opinion of Hugh Jones (no relation), who wrote: "Col. Frederick Jones, one of the Council, and in a good post, and of a good estate in North Carolina, before his death applied to me, desiring me to communicate the deplorable state of their Church to the late Bishop of London."[103]Frederick Jones presumably thought no better of the state of education in the colony, for we know that in the period 1719-1721 two of his sons were at school in Williamsburg.[104]

As stated in the introduction, the area and intensity of the excavations were limited by time and prevailing local conditions. Being aware of these restrictions from the outset, no attempt was made to undertake the total clearance of either the residence or kitchen. Instead, carefully restricted cuttings were made across the foundations to obtain the maximum information with the minimum effort, at the same time retaining sufficiently large undisturbed areas to merit total clearance of the site at some future date. As the area is now covered by fast-growing trees it is unlikely that such an operation would be feasible within the next 15 or 20 years. In the meantime, however, Colonial Williamsburg has erected concrete markers (see fig. 5) to record the positions of both buildings.[105]No excavation of any sort would have been undertaken at this time had not the foundations been so extensively and irreparably mutilated by the 1959 bulldozing. The loss of all the topsoil and the scooping of the upper courses of the foundations into banks to serve as windbreaks had done such damage that it was essential that something be done before the new growth took hold.[106]The operation shouldbe correctly described, therefore, as a rescue project rather than an archeological excavation in the classic manner.

Initial work on the site was confined to a survey of the area and the recovery of artifacts such as ceramics, glass, and brickbats scattered on the top of the disturbed clay. The principal concentration of artifacts was encountered in the brick-strewn vicinity of the residence and kitchen, though neither feature was immediately discernible. This scatter was flanked on the west by a windbreak of humus, clay, and fallen trees, and had run out before reaching a parallel windbreak to the east. Finds extending in the direction of the latter break included English white salt-glazed sherds as well as bottle fragments of the second quarter of the 18th century. A similar scatter of later artifacts was found extending down the southern slope of the neck at that extremity of the two breaks. In no instance were any fragments of white salt glaze found in stratified deposits, and it must be assumed that they emanated from the disturbed topsoil.

To the southeast of the eastern windbreak on ground sloping towards the secondary stream was found a scatter of brick dust extending over an area approximately 12 ft. by 14 ft., in the center of which was a concentration of large over-burnt brick fragments with reddened clay beneath. No evidence of any laid bricks was encountered, and it is possible that this was the site of brickmaking rather than of a structure. The only datable artifact found in the vicinity was the base of a wine bottle of the first quarter of the 18th century that was lying in the silted bottom of a nearby rain-washed gully running towards the stream.

Close to the southern extremity of the east windbreak was found a refuse pit (Pit A) containing a quantity of late 17th-century or early 18th-century wine-bottle fragments, among them one with the seal "FI." Some 70 feet northwest of this pit was located an area of laid brickbats that measured 4 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in.; around the edges of this area were found a few fragments of early 18th-century wine bottles and one bottle base of the mid-century. This last was the latest fragment found on the site. No explanation for the presence of the brickbats was forthcoming, and no further brick deposits were encountered in the vicinity.

Beyond the west windbreak and in line with the residence were found numerous glass and pottery fragments of the first and second quarters of the 18th century, none of them in situ. It was presumed that they stemmed from the vicinity of the residence and were spread about by the bulldozing before the windbreaks were pushed up. Over and above the artifacts and features listed above, no other evidence of colonial occupation was discovered except in the immediate vicinity of the two buildings.

The location of the structures was at once apparent on the evidence of large quantities of disturbed bricks and mortar scooped into east-west furrows by the bulldozers. Careful probing in the two largest concentrations of brickbats soon located sections of the foundations of both buildings. It was then a simple matter to trace out the plans of each building before any digging was undertaken. This done, test cuttings were made at the corners and across the chimney foundations. Subsequently, additional cuttings were made within each building to determine whether or not either possessed a cellar. In the course of this work on the smaller of the two structures, numerous refuse pits were located that helped to provide a terminus post quem for its construction. Each of these pits was treated as an individual feature and will be discussed in detail in its proper place.

The house, as previously stated, was built on a north-south axis with its west face looking toward College Creek. It looked eastward along the track that led to the road linking Williamsburg with Burwell's Ferry (Kingsmill) on the James River. The residence possessed exterior measurements of 42 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 1 in. with a chimney foundation at the south measuring 9 ft. 9 in. by 5 ft. and another, at the north, measuring 9 ft. 11 in. by 4 ft. 11 in. These chimneys had sides of varying thicknesses: 1 ft. 7 in., 1 ft. 9 in., 1 ft. 6 in., 1 ft. 11 in., 2 ft., and 1 ft. 6 in. The east and north foundations of the house itself were a brick and a half (1 ft. 1 in.) in thickness, but the south wall was only one brick thick (9 in.), although the two foundations were bonded into one another at the southeast corner. An even more curious situation was provided by the west wall which extended south from the northwest corner at a thickness of 1 ft. 1 in. and for a distance of 24 ft. 3 in., whereupon it stopped. At this point the three surviving courses were stepped back, indicating that although there was no flush end, the bond had not been intended to continue. At a point 9 in. farthersouth, one brick and two bats were found continuing on the same line. No further trace of a west wall was found until a point was reached 8 ft. from the southwest corner. Here, stepping down as did the northern section, the foundation continued to the corner, rising to a height of four courses, but only one brick in thickness.[107]Neither the break in the west foundation nor the curious variation in the thickness of the foundations has been explained.

It was suspected that the building might have possessed a porch chamber extending to the west, but no westerly projecting foundations abutted against the stepped ends of the west wall. The presence of the west windbreak made any further excavation in that direction impossible, and it could be argued that a porch chamber might not have had foundations as deep as those of the house proper. If this were so, then it is conceivable that they were dismantled along with the rest of the building in the mid-18th century and that any remaining traces have been destroyed by the bulldozing.

A single fragment of a polychrome Bristol delftware charger, with nails and window-glass fragments, was found in the builder's trench at the southern extremity of the northern section of the west foundation (deposit T.N. 27).[108]The sherd is attributed to the period about 1680-1700, and it is the only clue as to the construction date of the residence. In loose fill inside the foundation in the same general area as the above find were located part of a lead-glass tumbler and the front of an iron padlock. The tumbler fragment could not date before the first quarter of the 18th century, and might be later.

Two test cuttings were made inside the building in the hope of locating a cellar, but none was found. However, a neck of a wine bottle dating no earlier than about 1740 was discovered amid the debris of the house (T.N. 28). It should be noted that this debris showed no indication of burning.

It was apparent that the house had been of frame construction resting on brick foundations laid in English bond. It was a little over twice as long as it was broad, and appeared even longer when seen with its massive exterior chimneys at either end. Such a house would probably have been a story and a half in height, having an A roof with dormers probably facing both east and west.[109]Fragments of small panes and lead window cames found in the excavations suggest that the windows were leaded and therefore of casement type. On the first floor there probably were two rooms, a hall and chamber—perhaps divided by a central passage with exterior doors at either end. Prior to the building of the separate kitchen, the hall may have been used for cooking. Above, there were probably two rooms approached by a staircase leading from the passage. This reconstruction assumes, of course, that no porch chamber existed on the west side.

Since no evidence of a dirt or brick floor was encountered, it is assumed that the floors were of wood. Beyond establishing, from foundation widths, that the building was of frame construction, it must be noted that no archeological evidence of the above-grade appearance of the building was forthcoming. Mr. E. M. Frank, director of architecture for Colonial Williamsburg, whose conjectural elevation provides the frontispiece to this paper, points out that the roof may have been made from lapping oak strips some four feet in length, as were found at the Brush-Everard House in Williamsburg. He further suggests that the weatherboards could also have taken the form of similar split-oak strips, precedent for which survives in the west wall of the John Blair House, also in Williamsburg.

A house of the above proportions and character was a little better than many a yeoman's home in England, although it owed its origins to those same homes. It was larger than the smaller houses of Jamestown, but only just as large as the smaller houses of Williamsburg, whose sizes were regulated by an Act of Assembly in 1705. The Tutter's Neck residence differed from most of the Williamsburg houses in that it had no cellar. While it was a perfectly adequate house for a Williamsburg citizen of average means and status, one might be tempted to assume that it would not long have sufficed as the home of Col. FrederickJones who, in North Carolina, aspired to 6 children and 42 slaves.[110]

On the other hand, it may be noted that the Carters of "Corotoman" on the Rappahannock, one of the wealthiest families in Virginia at the beginning of the 18th century, had lived in a rather similar house prior to the building of an imposing and larger brick mansion. The latter burned in 1729, whereupon Robert "King" Carter moved back into the old 17th-century house. Carter's inventory made at the time of his death in 1732, and now in the possession of the Virginia Historical Society, identifies the rooms in the "Old House" as comprising a dining room, chamber over the dining room, lower chamber, chamber over the lower chamber, and a porch chamber. This last strongly suggests that the "Old House" was of 17th-century date. As other buildings named in the inventory are noted as being of brick (probably advance buildings for the burnt mansion), it may be assumed that the "Old House" was of frame construction and so might well have been of the same class as the Tutter's Neck residence. A further similarity is to be found in the fact that the Carter inventory lists no cellars beneath the "Old House."

Like the residence, this subsidiary building was not without its unusual features, the most obvious being the position of the massive chimney standing against the main east-west axis of the building instead of at one of the ends, the normal position. Thus, instead of being supported by the A of the roof, the chimney was freestanding above the first floor with the pitch of the roof running away from it.

The building possessed external measurements of 25 ft. 4½ in. by 16 ft. 7½ in.; the foundations, laid in English bond, were one brick (9 in.) thick. The chimney abutted against the north wall, measured 10 ft. by 5½ ft.; its sides were 11 ft., 1 ft. 9 in., and 11 in. thick.[111]Such a building would have stood to a height of a story and a half with one room on the first floor and a rude attic above, probably approached from a ladder.

Cuttings across the foundations showed that the bricks were unevenly laid. At one point in the south wall the bricks jogged out to a distance of two inches, as though the foundation had been laid from both ends and failed to meet correctly in the middle. There was no possibility that this unevenness could have been caused by settling or root action after building, for the builder's trench was filled with clearly defined burnt clay that also followed the jog.

The same red clay was packed in the builder's trench all around the kitchen building. It was also used to span soft depressions resulting from refuse pits dug and filled with trash before the building was erected. For some unexplained reason the kitchen was constructed over an area that previously had been set aside for the burying of domestic refuse. The largest and earliest of the five pits excavated was situated partially beneath the massive kitchen chimney, whose foundation, not surprisingly, had settled into the pit. Another rectangular pit in the middle of the building was not only topped with a pad of red clay but was partially covered by a cap or pier of laid brickbats that perhaps served as a support for floor joists.

The presence of the pits sealed beneath the kitchen provided two pieces of information: that the site had been occupied for some time before its construction, and that it was not built before about 1730 or 1740—this on the evidence of a wine bottle found at the bottom of Pit D. If this was the first separate kitchen building erected on the site, it must be assumed that the cooking was originally carried on in one of the first-floor rooms of the residence. However, the fact that the archeological excavations were so limited makes any conjecture of that kind of dubious value.

The unusual construction of the kitchen and its situation in the trash area at a skew with the residence might prompt the conclusion that it was built without much consideration for the beauty of the whole. It is probable that the kitchen was erected after the house had ceased to be the residence of the owner or a tenant of the Tutter's Neck acres, and that the dwelling was then a slave quarter. Such a conclusion is supported by the presence in Pits D-F, of numerous fragments of Colono-Indian pottery, a ware produced by Tidewater Indians in pseudo-European forms and probably intended for the use of the slave population. The construction date of the kitchen in the decade 1731-1740 would place it in the ownership of Col. Thomas Bray, who resided at Littletown (see p.40). Thus the Tutter's Neck residence is at best unlikelyto have been any more than the quarters of an overseer, or, at worst, communal housing for slaves working in that area.

Such a conclusion would help to explain the fact that the majority of artifacts found in the site's later deposits were of dates much earlier than their contexts would suggest. Many items of pottery and cutlery were of late 17th-century date, though found in refuse pits of about 1730-1740. This would not be so surprising were it not for the fact that few, if any, such items have been found in excavations at Williamsburg, a town that was firmly established throughout the period covered by the Tutter's Neck occupancy as determined by the excavations. But if the kitchen site was used as a slave quarter, it would be logical to expect that such things as pottery and cutlery would have been old before being relegated to that location. A graphic example is provided by the latten spoon from Pit D that dates from the period about 1660-1690 (fig. 15, no. 13) and which had seen such service that it had been worn down to half its bowl size before being discarded.

A total of six refuse pits were excavated, five of them entirely or partially sealed beneath the foundations of the kitchen. All five consequently predated that structure, though Pit B (see fig. 5) was probably 20 years earlier than the others. Pits C-F, on the other hand, were probably all dug within a short time of each other. They were approximately the same size and depth and were situated within a few inches of one another, although none overlapped its neighbor. It may be deduced, therefore, that the pits were dug in such close succession that the outlines of the preceding pits were still visible to the digger. It is possible that they may have been privy pits. Concrete evidence indicating the close relationships between these pits was provided by fragments of the same Colono-Indian bowl found in both Pit D and Pit E.

PIT A

This deposit (T.N. 31) was located farthest from the buildings, being situated, as previously noted, about 125 feet southeast of the residence on the south slope of the neck. As elsewhere on the site, the topsoil over the pit had been removed, leaving only the lower portions of the dirty yellow clay deposit intact. This pit measured 8 ft. by 5 ft. and extended to a depth of only 1 ft. 2 in. into the surrounding natural yellow clay. A tree stump obscured a small part of this oval pit, but it is believed that its presence prevented few, if any, artifacts from avoiding recovery. The finds comprised two or three sherds of coarse pottery of no identifiable form, part of the base of an English delftware mug ornamented with sponged manganese, one clay pipe of about 1700, and fragments of at least 18 wine bottles of the period about 1690-1710. One of these fragments bore an "FI" seal from the same matrix as another found in Pit B.

The location of Pit A so far from the house and in a totally different area from the only other pit of the same date (Pit B) suggests that there was little consistency in the deposition of trash in the early years of the century. It is possible that the pits were created when tree stumps were removed and were filled with trash no matter where they happened to be. The fact that modern tree roots invariably sought the richer soil of the pits' contents makes it quite probable that there are numerous other pits on the site that are still hidden beneath standing trees or cut stumps.

Dating: There is little doubt that Pit A was filled during the first decade of the 18th century.

PIT B

This pit (T.N. 30) was approximately circular, with a diameter of 9 ft. 4 in. and a maximum depth of 2 ft. 8 in. It was covered by part of the kitchen's north wall and by the whole of the east side of the kitchen chimney. It was apparent that the builders knew that the pit was there, for a considerable number of brickbats were laid under the foundation of the chimney's northeast corner in an entirely abortive attempt to prevent it from settling. It is probable that the pit was initially a stump hole, there being a large quantity of dirty, greenish-gray clay at the bottom from which no artifacts were recovered (see fig. 8.) It is probable that this clay was redeposited when the stump and attached roots were dug out. Subsequently, the remaining concavity served as a rubbish pit into which more than 120 broken wine bottles were thrown. All these bottles belonged to the same period (1690-1710) as those in Pit A, and among them were five seals marked "FI" and one seal bearing the legend "Richard Burbydge 1701."[112]

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