PSU and SCRAP at Webster Farm

The 2007 SCRAP field school in conjunction with Plymouth State University took place from June 26 though August 3 at the historic Webster Farm in Franklin, NH. The field school focused on the agricultural properties of the farm and in particular on determining the location of the Salisbury Fort (also known as the Stevenstown Fort).
Survey occupied the initial two week session beginning with a comprehensive gridding of the site based upon a
master grid developed by Mark Greenly. The open nature of the farmland and sheer size of the fields allowed us to
establish a grid aligned with the UTM master grid. With this established we embarked upon a sampling of various subareas in the vicinity of the Webster Family Cemetery. The first consisted of a wooded area that had seen limited agricultural activity in the 20th century. Shovel test pits recovered a variety of recent and 19th century artifacts as well as a few ceramics potentially as early as the late 18th century. From there we extended excavations to an adjacent open area, close to the historic mid-18th century road and recovered additional recent historic artifacts and a variety of domestic and personal adornment artifacts that may have been associated with an early pioneer household.

The second two week session saw us expand out into the pasture where we excavated more shovel test pits in a tightly spaced grid. A series of charcoal rich features were identified along with a scatter of domestic debris close to
the edge of an early Holocene river terrace.

Systematic survey along this terrace edge identify a sequence of large
boulders. Mapping of these revealed a nearly continuous line that eventually measured exactly 125 feet long. This
dimension had previously been reported as a length of a similar fort in the Merrimack Valley.

Also during this session we were fortunate enough to have the donated services of Geophysical Survey Systems Inc (GSSI) of Salem, NH. This company manufactures remote sensing equipment and they loaned us the services of their staff archaeologist, Dan Welch and their ground penetrating radar gear. In a single (looong) day he mapped an area 150 meters long by 50 meters wide on a one meter grid. This provided us with several areas of anomalies to pursue.

The final session saw us establish a series of one meter test pits, small excavation blocks and two test trenches. The test pits focused principally on the open area adjacent to the small patch of woods. Here we recovered more artifacts of a domestic nature, mostly redware ceramics, and evidence for a ditch feature that may have assisted in draining runoff from a residential structure. In the pasture we sampled the areas of anomalies identified by the GPR, finding several charcoal rich features and a thin scatter of quartz chipping debris from a prehistoric Native American component.

Also recovered was a single small prehistoric Doug Dickinson, Meghan Ladolcetta, Rebecca Courser and Al Robertson, profiling an excavation block at the Webster Farm. Dan Welch, archaeologist with Geophysical Survey Systems Inc., Salem NH with the Ground Penetrating Radar equipment potsherd. Interestingly, this sherd was recovered along with fragments of an historic white clay smoking pipe. These were found in one of two trenches excavated to test the hypothesis that the alignment of boulders was in fact the foundation to the Salisbury Fort mentioned in historic records. These trenches were placed at either end of the line of boulders defined earlier in the field school. These boulders were carefully positioned in the edge of the terrace and at one end a clearly defined builders trench was identified. Additionally, a large ditchlike anomaly perpendicular to one end of the line of boulders was documented by the GPR and coincided with an exceptionally deep dark soil horizon.

We have concluded that this very likely the location of the Salisbury Fort and that the line of boulders constitutes the remains of the fort foundation. We will catalog the artifacts in the coming months and develop a clearer picture of the early historic occupation at this important early historic settlement.

Any summary of the Webster Farm Field School would be incomplete without thanks to several people who made our research possible. We particularly want to thank Alex Ray, owner of the Common Man restaurants as well as the historic buildings associated with the Webster Mansion. He provided at a nominal cost the (21 bedroom) Bartlett Cottage which served as our field headquarters and housing for the crew. Jeff Conkey, construction manager for the ongoing renovations to the buildings, performed miracles of repair and found all manner of appliances to outfit the Cottage. Dan Kilrain, the facilities caretaker and master gardener, kept us supplied with a seemingly infinite supply of herbs and vegetables from the organic garden adjacent to the Cottage. We also want to extend deep appreciation to Dan Fife and his family for allowing us access to the excavation areas in his fields.

Richard Boisvert & Edna Feighner, Department of Historical Resources