The North Carolina Department of Transportation Presents
|
|
What Did Their Houses Look Like?
Archaeological evidence showed that Structure 2 had been built of wood. Instead of sitting on a brick or stone foundation, though, this house was built around wooden posts that had been buried partially upright in the ground. Archaeologists and people called architectural historians who study old buildings call such structures "earthfast", meaning they are fastened into the ground. Archaeologically, earthfast buildings leave discolorations in the soil where holes were dug to bury the ends of the wooden posts. By examining the patterns of these soil discolorations, archaeologists can determine building size, the number of rooms, chimney locations, and other structural details.
|
| Such earthfast, or post-in-ground, structures were very common in the Virginia and Maryland Chesapeake in the seventeenth century, and they continued to be built into the eighteenth century. Even wealthy families lived in these types of houses until they could afford to build a larger or more permanent house. While the structures standing on the site would have seemed small and crude to us, they were fairly standard for the North American colonies in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In fact, studies of colonial Virginia buildings suggest that Structure 1, with its plastered walls, slate roof, brick chimney, and glass windows would have been nicer than most houses of the time. |