Recently in 1750s Category

Tray of items found at one level in one hole of dig

Many thousands of artifacts were found during the recent archaeological dig at the Schultz House, items such as pieces of pottery and dishes, bottle glass and window glass, animal bones, coal, bricks, mortar, plaster and nails--lots and lots of nails. Even a few Native American items were found. I didn't get to participate in the dig, but I was privileged to be one of the volunteers that spent nearly two weeks cleaning and marking the artifacts. Archaeologist Steve Warfel will spend the winter cataloging the artifacts and present a report to Historic York, Inc., the owner of the house, in the spring. The items will be placed with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, also the custodian of the items found in the 1979 limited dig that identified part of the prisoner of war camp.

The four+ acres on which the Schultz House sits was part of the whole tract of 280 acres owned by David Brubaker during the Revolutionary War. Camp Security was located on about 40 acres of the same tract.

It was somewhat disappointing not to find any military-related artifacts, as Camp Security was just across the field. Maybe we shouldn't be too surprised though. The Shultz House is said to have been a tavern during the Revolutionary period. Even if it was frequented by the guards, they may not have left much behind in the immediate vicinity of the house. The prisoners themselves would have been expected to stay close by the camp. The ones confined in the stockade, which still has not been located, wouldn't have had a choice. The others, those with more freedom, still needed permission to move about.

Still, the importance of the dig was twofold. First, the Schultz House is at least 245 years old. As a historic house, it is significant enough to warrant exploration. Secondly, there was no way to know if any military artifacts were there without doing a dig. To me, that underscores the importance of further exploration of other parts of the original 280 acres. My hope is that owners of the two large remaining tracts, known as the Wiest farm and the Rowe farm, someday give permission for further archaeological exploration.

Click the links below for more on Camp Security's history.

Documenting Camp Security.

Another clue to Camp Security.

Camp Security prisoner numbers hard to pin down.

See below for more photos.

York Furnace Bridge piers, probably in the 1890s.

Residents of "the lower end" of York and Lancaster counties thought they could beat winter weather in the 1850s by building a bridge across the Susquehanna River at York Furnace.

The Lancaster Examiner of November 20, 1855 celebrated the opening of the bridge. The paper said that the York County people of Fawn, Lower Chanceford, and Peach Bottom would no longer be cut off from commerce in the winter, when the Susquehanna and Tidewater canal was closed and roads were bad to York. Now they could easily get to Lancaster to do their buying and selling.

The York Furnace bridge was to be an integral part of a state road system stretching across four counties from Gettysburg to Chester County.

That very weather they were trying to bypass was the final nemisis of the bridge. The wooden bridge across a narrow part of the Susquehanna was no match for first, wind, and then ice, that came roaring down the river.

See my recent York Sunday News column below for the story of the ill-fated bridge at York Furnace.

This photo may show the ice that carried away the remaining bridge piers in the early 1900s. The red circle marks men standing on the ice, giving you an idea of the size of the ice blocks.

Lewis Miller drawing of York's square in 1799.

I recently posted a Lewis Miller illustration of "wicked boys" taking a wagon apart and reconstructing it on the roof of the market house in 1804. I was asked where that market was.

Click here to read that post.

It was in Center Square, right smack in the middle of downtown York. You can see the location in the Lewis Miller drawing illustrating that area in 1799.

See below for a brief history of markets in the center of York, drawn from Prowell's History of York County and Lewis Miller's Chronicles of York.