Forts, Poor Farms, and Logging Towns: The differences between 18th and 19th Century Material Culture

 

Hi everyone!

My name is Michelle and I am one of the field interns working on the site this year. I am a senior anthropology student at Grand Valley State University and have experienced two field schools through the anthropology department there, both of which being 19th century sites! The artifacts there are a bit different than the ones found at Fort St. Joseph, so let's go through the differences in material culture and my experiences at these other sites!

Material culture can vary depending on the time period you’re excavating. At Fort St. Joseph, you will find 18th century artifacts whether it be construction debris or items left behind by artisans and residents of the fort. Some of the material culture in this area and time period show the importance of trade and industry in the 1700’s. Seed beads, remnants of blacksmithing, and lead shot are some examples of artifacts recently uncovered on site. Material culture looked a lot different in the 1800’s due to industrialization creating a greater variety of items. In the 19th century many small towns began to pop up in the western Michigan region, especially along the Grand River which is where I am talking about today.

In 2021 we did a field school at Eastmanville Poor Farm, which is now a state park with walking trails and a historic barn. Poor farms were built to be a home for the poor and mentally ill before government assistance was available. Our goal was to locate the “Midway House'' which was one of the first structures built in the area to act as a resting place for travelers. Built in the 1860’s and torn down in the 1950’s, this building has seen a lot of history. We have records that this building was once used for patients and residents of the farm until a secondary building was constructed. We set up units on the foundation and perimeter of the house and we found a lot of construction debris such as red and yellow brick, window glass, and even a stove foot. An interesting thing to note is the vast variety of nails found in the wreckage. Since the building stood for almost 100 years, they used different nails over the years, from square handwrought to the smaller mass produced varieties. In addition to these constriction materials we found some trash of the time period. Back then their trash looked a lot different to what we would think of today. Broken watch gears, pots, and even some scraps of fabric may have been thrown out the back door or window of the house, and we may have found where they dumped ash buckets outside as well. Even trash in the archaeological record can be interesting!

        

        Here is an example of a stove foot; the
        stove sits on the metal plate to displace heat.

Broken pot found in my excavation unit.

White buttons like this are the most common in the collection.

In 2023 the field school was held in Blendon Landing. Blendon Landing is an old logging and shipbuilding town which was most populated in the mid 1860’s and was abandoned by 1912. Grand Valley has held many field schools there since 1969 due to its vicinity to campus and since the University owns the land. All that remains of the town is a forest and a scar cut into the ground which used to be a logging rail line. A lot of the material culture found were construction materials and housewares. Whiteware, bottle glass, and buttons can provide insight into the daily lives of the residents. We found a broken horseshoe which shows that they had livestock. This confirms our knowledge of the area being turned into farmland after the town was abandoned. Field schools over the years have yielded a lot of buttons from the site. Buttons of the time vary a lot depending on socioeconomic status and materials in the area. In the 18th century buttons were most commonly found on mens uniforms as a sign of status. (Copper uniform buttons have been found this year) In the 19th century the variety of buttons increased due to industrialization. Glass, shell, metal, and even rubber buttons become commonplace in all sorts of garments. Fancier buttons are signs of wealth so it is interesting to see how much we can learn about individuals from such small items.

The main thing I find so interesting about the differences in material culture at these sites is how much it can tell us about the people that used to live there. The level of consumerism is so different between these two centuries, you can imagine how different their lives must have been. The stories told from the mundane are some of the most interesting to me, there is so much to be told from broken pieces of pottery to the smallest seed bead. If anything, my time here has solidified my love for dirt, rusty nails, and seed beads no matter how numerous they are.

See you out there! 

-Michelle Oberlin