Tag Archives: south grove

Native American Layers, Recording and Filling In – 1994, The Final Year

By Esther White / Director of Historic Preservation & Research After the excitement and discoveries in the midden during 1993, the 1994 field season was somewhat anticlimactic.  During 1993, we excavated fairly intensively from June until early November, removing the … Continue reading

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Not ANOTHER Utility Line?! The 1991 Excavation

Esther White / Director of Archaeology After opening square 328 at the end of the 1990 excavation season and spending the winter cataloguing and analyzing the artifacts, we were more than ready to return to the south grove in June … Continue reading

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What’s in a Name? Defining George Washington’s Rubbish

Luke J. Pecoraro, Assistant Archaeologist In almost every blog post we use the word “midden” to describe the archaeological deposit in the South Grove.  But why call it a midden? Why not the South Grove Trash Dump, or Washington’s Landfill? … Continue reading

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1990 – The Excavation Begins (or the year of the Holly Hole)

Esther White / Director of Archaeology There’s a simple principle that guides a lot of archaeological research – archaeologists routinely find trash near where it was generated.  So in 1990, Mount Vernon’s archaeologists were scheduled to begin a multi-year excavation … Continue reading

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Planting a Tree

Luke J. Pecoraro /Assistant Archaeologist The warm weather we’ve had this spring means more fieldwork around the estate. This past week, we worked with the horticulture department to replace a 122-year old magnolia tree on the North Lane near the … Continue reading

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Without Any Order or Regularity

By Esther White / Director of Archaeology I was talking to a group of teachers last week and got the normal response about Washington’s midden being so close to his Mansion.  “Did they cover the trash in some way?” “No.”  … Continue reading

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Drawing the Past

Julia Kennedy / Art History / BA / James Madison University Combining my love of art, history, and trying new things, Mount Vernon’s internship had me flexing my artistic muscles just days after my graduation. At James Madison University, I … Continue reading

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