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Rich Neck Plantation
Rich Neck Plantation: Excavation of a Major Seventeenth-Century Plantation
by David F. Muraca
Introduction to the Site
In summer 2000, for the seventh year, Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists
examined a fascinating seventeenth-century plantation complex about a
mile west of the Historic Area. Rich Neck Plantation, home of
Philip and Thomas Ludwell in the 1660s and 1670s, was among the
great plantations that have become a hallmark of early Tidewater
Virginia and Maryland. One of the founding plantations of the
area known as Middle Plantation (the community that preceded Williamsburg),
Rich Neck’s architectural sophistication and elaborate layout
set it apart from nearly all of its colonial neighbors.
Research Goals
Rich Neck is an extremely important early chapter in the history of Williamsburg. Started
in 1636 by Richard Kemp, the Secretary of the Colony, the plantation had grown in size
to over 4,000 acres by the middle of the seventeenth century. Richard Kemp and his
wife Elizabeth built a 35 x 20 foot dwelling and a separate 19 x 24 foot
kitchen/quarter sometime around 1640. The dwelling was a lobby entrance hall and parlor
house. A central fireplace divided the two downstairs rooms. Made
entirely of brick, this house would have certainly stood out in
1640s Virginia. The kitchen/quarter, also made entirely of brick,
contained a large hearth, a bake oven, and a large root cellar
located in front of the hearth. This building appears to have
had an earthen floor. Located between the house and kitchen was
a formal space.
Richard Kemp died in 1650. His will ordered Elizabeth to sell the plantation
and return to England. She did neither, instead marrying Sir Thomas Lundsford, an
infamous refugee from the English Civil War. Their impact on Rich Neck
was minimal, mainly because they seem to have spent most of their
time in old Rappahanock County.
After Thomas Lundsford’s death, Elizabeth remarried. Around 1665, the property
passed to Thomas Ludwell, the new Secretary of the Colony, who completely renovated
the existing brick buildings and added three new buildings. Ludwell
ripped out the central chimney, replacing it with matching end
chimneys. He replaced the earthen floor with a wooden one, and
added two rooms to the north side of the structure. The dwelling
now measured 35 by 30 feet. Ludwell replaced the roof with one
made of earthenware pan tiles.
At the same time he nearly tripled the kitchen/quarter in size, to
46 by 24 feet, adding matching wings to the east and west sides.
These 14 x 24 foot wings each contained full cellars that employed
a combination of bricks, glazed tiles, and clay in the fabrication
of their floors. Each cellar was subdivided into three rooms—a
large room used for storage, a smaller dairy, and a landing for
stairs connected to the first floor. The cellars employed their
own waterproofing/drainage system, with the eastern cellar containing
two small brick-lined, tile-floored coolers.
In addition to the two brick structures, archaeologists have identified
four additional post-in-the-ground structures. Located southeast of the
kitchen/quarter, these post structures measured 16 x 16 feet, 16 x 20 feet, 16 x 16 feet,
and 20 x 48 feet. All of these post structure appear to have housed
slaves.
The area between the kitchen/quarter and the dwelling was the precursor of
a formal garden. Using fencelines to demarcate its boundaries, this area was
characterized by a lack of both artifacts and features. The area did contain several
bush holes, irregularly shaped planting holes, and furrows.
Non-architectural finds include the trash deposit for both the house and
kitchen, a large number of fencelines, an underground brick kiln, borrow
pits (used to extract clay for brick making), and a boundary ditch.
The end of the seventeenth century witnessed the abandonment of this
complex due to several factors. Thomas Ludwell and his brother Philip were
the staunchest supporters of Governor Berkeley when Bacon’s rebellion broke out in
1676. During the course of the rebellion, the estates of both
Thomas and Philip were plundered. However, archaeological and
documentary evidence suggests that Rich Neck was not severely
damaged. Two years later Thomas died, leaving the plantation to
Philip. Governor Berkeley also died that year, and Philip quickly
married Berkeley’s widow, acquiring Greensprings Plantation
in the process. With Thomas dead and Philip living elsewhere,
the fancy brick structures that made up Rich Neck were of little
use. The dwelling and other buildings probably stood as ruins
before they were torn down so that their building materials could
be used elsewhere.
1998 Results
The 1997 field season was spent finishing the excavation of two brick
cellars associated with a large brick kitchen/quarter and a series of root cellars
located in front of the hearth, along with gathering environmental
evidence. The 1998 dig explored how space was organized around
the six structures identified to date, concentrating on uncovering
fence lines and other landscape features. Archaeologists concluded
most of the work in the area behind the site’s large brick kitchen
building.The partial opening of this area revealed a work area,
a servant burial, and two utilitarian post-buildings. The 1998
dig continued the 1997 successes and uncovered the seven post
holes of a shed structure that appears to date to the 1640s—the
site’s earliest phase of habitation. The low artifact count around
this building, and the odd number of uneven-depth posts, combined
to identify this structure as an uninhabited storage building.
This shed was no longer standing by the 1660s when seventeenth-century
residents placed a slot fence line through the area the shed once
covered.
Excavators removed almost all of this fence’s narrow trench-like remains. The
trench’s artifact assemblage and its placement in relation to Rich Neck’s brick
foundations confirm its circa 1660s date. Excavators also found
a large boundary ditch marking the westernmost edge of the site’s
central complex. This ditch was about 4 to 5 feet deep in its
day and would have extended around the entire habitation.
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