Digging into Old Fields in South Berwick

HEAR YE! HEAR YE!

So far they have found artifacts dating to 1660s and the dig will continue in 2012. Archaeological excavations led by Dr. Neill De Paoli have provided the first concrete evidence of a late 17^th century and early 18^th century presence on the Goodwin homestead in South Berwick.  De Paoli, joined in 2011 by two Old Berwick Historical Society members, Steve Woodman and Phil Kendrick, has uncovered artifacts dating from c. 1650 to c. 1730, including fragments of German and English stoneware jugs, tankards, and glass wine bottles, English clay smoking pipes, English delftware and Portuguese or Spanish majolica plates and bowls, and turned lead and glass quarrels to casement windows. (Continued below)

The Old Fields research project is focused on the South Berwick, Maine, property of Harvey and Paula Bennett, the 18th century homestead of local luminaries Captain Ichabod Goodwin (1700-1778) and his son, General Ichabod Goodwin (1743-1829).  Launched on the eve of the tricentennial of the founding of the old town of Berwick in 1713 (the area now encompassing today’s Berwick, South Berwick and North Berwick), the Old Fields archaeology dig and related research aim to determine whether this property was also the site of a “garrison” sheltering citizens during this era of warfare.

Before being owned by the Goodwins, the property is reputed to have been occupied by William Spencer (c.1631 - 1696) and his nephew, Humphrey Spencer, from c. 1690 to c. 1712.  The Spencer garrison and nearby fields were targets of Wabanaki war parties during King William’s War (1689–97). In 1689, Indian forces attacked the garrison but were repulsed. Two years later, a second Wabanaki war party ambushed two men haying the fields, killing one and scalping the other. The Spencer garrison is known to have sheltered as many as 100 residents and soldiers in 1711.

 

Why was Old Fields important to the settlement?

The first evidence of English occupation of the Captain Ichabod Goodwin property appears to be the 1660s and 1670s. Nearby water falls had been harnessed for sawmills, including one that became known as Great Works, since 1634.  Along the Salmon Falls River, Berwick residents had come to rely on the nearby “pipestaff point,” or Pipestave Landing, as the settlement’s first primary docking facility. In the late 18th century this harbor became the site of mansion of prominent merchant Jonathan Hamilton, which stands today.

The Old Fields site is thus in the midst of important landings, mills, and early road junctions. It is surrounded by early landmarks, including what were once Wabanaki Indian corn fields (“Old Fields”); Cow Cove, reputed site of the 1634 landing of the English ship “Pied Cow”; the archaeological site of the Humphrey Chadbourne homestead (1654-1690); the 17th century Old Fields cemetery; and the settlement’s first meetinghouse (c.1660/1668).

Archaeology in 2010 and 2011

The archaeologists in 2011 uncovered the first archaeological evidence of an early historic structure. Three courses of well laid and “dressed” (shaped) stones appear to be either part of a foundation or steps to a 17th or 18th century structure.

In addition to the earliest artifacts, the archaeologists also discovered many dating to the period from 1740 to 1829.  A large assemblage of artifacts and slag indicate blacksmithing. Items that would have graced the Goodwin kitchen, parlor, and bedrooms, barn and dairy include fragments of plates, bowls, jugs, pots, mugs, tankards, cups and a spoon; a “smoker’s companion” used to light pipes; a bone hairbrush and comb; decorated shoe buckles; common pins and a pair of small scissors.

DePaoli is processing artifacts in the Counting House this winter, and hopes to return to Old Fields in the summer of 2012 to continue his search for more evidence of the early Spencer homesteads and the garrisons that existed on the property.