Palace Lands Quarter
Found during
an initial survey in 1996, the Palace Lands Quarter is located near Colonial
Williamsburg’s Visitor Center just north of the Historic Area. The site
was located on the basis of a a light scatter of eighteenth-century domestic
and architectural artifacts.
Full excavation of the site in 1998 focused on exposing features, including a large root cellar, which was fully excavated, a brick hearth, and a long ditch. Further work in the summer of 1999 identified two more ditches as well as several postholes. The artifacts found in sealed contexts are of the types common between 1740 and the mid-1770s. Many of these artifacts were common household items, along with some basic farming implements.
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| Supervising archaeologist Maria Franklin interprets the Palace Lands Quarter site during excavation. |
The site appears to be the remains of a mid-eighteenth century slave quarter associated with the “Palace Lands,” based in part on its close resemblance with materials uncovered at the Rich Neck slave quarter in 1994 and 1995. Historical research indicated that the house was located on a 35-acre tract owned by Matthew Moody and sold in 1760 to Governor Francis Fauquier. The most likely occupants were slaves that worked lands assigned to the Governor.
The site has great potential to inform researchers about the lives of individuals and households of low socio-economic status. The entire assemblage from the cellar and ditches has been identified, and the analysis of these materials continues in conjunction with other studies of the site.
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