Oyster River Environs Archaeology Project (OREAP)
The Field-Bickford Site in Durham, NH
June 18 - July 13 2007

From June 18 through July 13 the Oyster River Environs Archaeology Project (OREAP) conducted a field school in cooperation with SCRAP on Little Bay in Durham, NH. The objective was to confirm the location of an early pioneer habitation that was part of the Oyster River Plantation. The project was jointly supervised by Craig Brown, Pamela Crane and Peter Morrison. In addition, Dr.Peter Sablock, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College, led a parallel project using electromagnetic (EM) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) remote sensing equipment, with the assistance of geology students from Salem State College, Massachusetts.

The Field-Bickford property has a historically documented date range of about 1640 to about 1816. The land was in the possession of Darby Field sometime before 1638, and he is believed to have begun improvements, including construction of a dwelling house and ordinary, at about that time. In 1645, the property was acquired by John Bickford and remained in the hands of his descendants into the nineteenth century. The Bickfords continued operation of the ordinary and began ferry service to what is now Newington subsequent to 1645. This ferry became the main route for travel to and from Strawberry Banke/Portsmouth and continued in operation into the 1800s.

During King Williams War (1688-1699), the Oyster River Plantation was garrisoned by a militia. In lieu of a central barracks or fortification, soldiers were distributed around town in groups of twos, threes, and fours, to be housed in private dwellings. At the time of the attack in 1694, there are said to have been twelve garrison houses, of which five are thought to have been destroyed. Three of those five were in the immediate vicinity of the Bickford Garrison, which was successfully defended by Thomas Bickford. In January 1695, six months after the major attack, the Bickford residence was recorded as having four soldiers assigned to it. The approximate location of the site has long been part of local lore, but the location has never been definitively established.

Goals for the 2007 season were to confirm the presence of a historical archaeological site, to identify the date range of the site, and thereby, to test the supposition that this was the location of the Field-Bickford Garrison. Secondary goals were to identify the boundaries of the site as well as to identify any other sites, including Native American sites that might be nearby.

During preliminary site inspections, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artifacts were found adjacent to the site and a shallow depression, suggestive of a filled cellar, was noted on the property. Together, these provided a likely spot to begin testing.

Feature 10, a small pit

Preliminary surveying was accomplished in the spring, and field school excavations began on June 18th. Beginning that day, a total of seven one-by-one meter test units were opened. Four of these were placed in a line north-south across the shallow depression, two east-northeast of the depression, and one west of the depression. The excavations yielded a catalog of over 1,200 artifacts and an inventory of 23 features. Seven shovel tests were placed to the east and south of the depression.

Artifacts included two Native American objects (one piece of pottery and one quartz flake) and hundreds of Colonial and Early Federal Period objects. These included tobacco pipe fragments, ceramics, and glass datable to the middle 50 years of the seventeenth century, ceramics and building material datable to the early 1800s, and a full range of material Feature 10, a small pit spanning the intervening years. Features included a small hole, possibly a small posthole with post mold (Features 2 and 10 see attached photo) whose artifacts indicate it was dug and filled prior to c. 1680 and a cellar (feature 16 see attached photo). Artifacts from the cellar included some exciting finds, including a thimble, the bowl of a lateen spoon, and a wealth of food remains, but more importantly the date of the artifacts range from as early as the 1640s (pipe fragments, manganesemottled and Metropolitan slipwares) to the early 1800s (cut nails, creamware, and a very small quantity of pearlware).

Foundation stones in cellar hole.

By any measure, this season was a success. We have only just begun to explore the cellar, but enough has been seen to suggest that the structure it represents was oriented northwestsoutheast. Furthermore, the date range indicated by the artifacts conforms very well to the documented date range of circa1640 to c. 1816. This is strong support for the identification of the site as that of Field and Bickford garrison and homestead. The secondary goals were only partially fulfilled, but the potential remains that they can be answered through further field work. Testing revealed that components of the site extend eastward from the cellar hole, and, likely, to the south. The extent of the site to the west of the cellar was not tested.

Discovery of a single piece of pre-Contact Native American pottery and a flake are suggestive of one or more Native American site’s nearby, though the small number of pieces indicates we did not locate the core of such a site. There is also some indication, unconfirmed, that bricks may have been manufactured in the field to the south of the dwelling.

The number and range of features, including the cellar hole itself and a post hole and mold, and the artifacts, including a wide range of ceramics, glass, metals, architectural material, and faunal material (fish, bird, and mammal bone), demonstrates that the site offers much in the way of research potential. Importantly, the landowners, have proven interested in our work, inviting friends and neighbors to watch our work. They have voiced strong support to the idea that the project continue on their property and confirmed support for the expansion of our survey work to the north and west. Abutting landowners also visited the site and likewise expressed their interest in the expansion of our work to their property to the northwest.

The season’s work proves the Field-Bickford Garrison site offers a great opportunity to study a wide range of questions concerning Colonial life in coastal New Hampshire and on the Piscataqua estuary. To date, only a small fraction of that potential has been realized. Additional field work, including a field school, is planned for 2008. Craig Brown, Pamela Crane and Peter Morrison