St. Leonard, MD – On Friday, April 1, a special presentation on archaeological investigations at the Federal Reserve Site will be held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond at 502 South Sharp St, Baltimore, MD 21201. Students from the Archaeology Club at Huntingtown High School, working with archaeologists and educators from Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM), the State Museum of Archaeology, will share results from the project they have been working on this year.
During the construction of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1980, earthmoving equipment uncovered a number of building foundations, wells and privies associated with the 18th and 19th century homes and businesses of the Otterbein neighborhood. Archaeologists were allowed to investigate these remains and collect artifacts associated with the residents and businesses there. Funding and time did not allow for a full processing of the artifacts and preparation of a final report. Those artifacts eventually ended up at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab at JPPM, where they are being cared for and curated. Because a report had never been prepared on this interesting excavation, staff
at JPPM has been working with students at HHS for
the last four years to begin to identify the artifacts and prepare a report.
With this unique program, the students are given hands-on experience with real objects from the past and they spend the year mending broken pottery and glass, researching their findings and the people who lived on the property, as well as preparing an exhibit that will be shown in the local library and their school. This year the students are researching collections from a privy that was filled between 1850 and 1870, with garbage from two locations: a middle class family and a Civil War era neighborhood clinic-the Southern Dispensary.
A continental breakfast will be offered at 9:30, followed by the formal presentation at 10 a.m. The presentation is expected to last about one hour.
The Richmond Fed serves the Fifth Federal Reserve District, which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and most of West Virginia. As part of the nation’s central bank, we’re one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that work together with the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors to strengthen the economy and our communities. We manage the nation’s money supply to keep inflation low and help the economy grow. We also supervise and regulate financial institutions to help safeguard our nation’s financial system and protect the integrity and efficiency of our payments system. For more information contact Bob Spieldenner, Communications Manager at (804) 697-2759.
Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum, a state museum of archaeology and home to the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, is a program of the Maryland Historical Trust, a division of the Maryland Department of Planning. It is located on 560 scenic acres along the Patuxent River and St. Leonard Creek in St. Leonard, Calvert County, Maryland.