Maryland Archeology Month

-April 2008-

Sponsored by:

Stories of Liberty
Archeology in Annapolis

Explore!

Archeology Gallery

Clay Stamp

Clay Stamp

A Connection between Sites in the Providence Settlement

Swan Cove, one of the colonial towns of Providence is located on Mill Creek. Emanuel Drue was a planter and one of the first tobacco-pipe makers in the New World. He created hundreds of unique pipes with different colored clays and two pipe mold forms. He occupied this site from the 1650s until his death in 1669.

Burle's Town Land, located just under a mile down stream from the Swan Cove site was occupied by Robert Burle from 1662 until 1676. Of the 15,138 tobacco-pipe fragments found at Burle's Town Land four fragments clearly represent a different type of tobacco-pipe; four terra-cotta fragments suggest another possible bowl form featuring a large heel with an unusual dot, circle, and diamond design. The exact clay stamp tool used in making this design was recovered from the Swan Cove site by the Lost Towns Project years after the discovery of the tobacco-pipes at Burle's Town Land. This find is very rare, even in England only one similar stamp has been found at over 140 kiln sites.

The relationship between artifacts found at these two site demonstrates local trade patterns in Providence. Examples of Drue's tobacco-pipes are found not only at Burle's Town Land but also at the nearby Homewood's Lot site, reinforcing the notion that neighbors interacted with and depended upon one another. At its height, Providence had nearly 40 households, of which the Lost Towns Project has discovered ten none of which are further then five miles apart. Most "neighborhoods" did not extend further than a person could walk in one day. The settlers of Providence socialized with each other and acted as a unit of collective social and political action. The community served as the loci for rituals, economic activities, social support networks, and legal activities. This relationship can also be seen in the court records left behind. The tobacco-pipes of Providence provide tangible material proof of these complex social interactions.

Lauren Franz and Jane Cox, The Lost Towns Project.