(Originally published in the Spring 2001 issue of American Archaeology)
Before the 1600s, American Indians probably thought that the region around Chesapeake Bay was the best place to live on Earth. The weather was moderate; resources such as beaver, fish, and game were plentiful; farming was productive; and transportation via the navigable waterways was easy. Maryland’s Eastern Shore had the added advantage of being relatively inaccessible to the myriad enemies and competitors across the bay. Natives living here had just enough contact with tribes to the west to establish a modest system of trade.
The arrival of the English explorer John Smith to the area in 1608 meant the end of the splendid isolation of the Nanticoke and other tribes on the Eastern Shore. Today American schoolchildren learn about the adventures of Smith and the first settlers at Jamestown. Less well known is the fact that Smith—along with other English explorers, traders, and soldiers—made early and extensive travels to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. On Smith’s famous “Map of Virginia,” he records his visits to eight large Indian towns, observing that they looked like “Countrey [sic] Villages in England.”
The Conservancy’s most recent preserve contains one village site that may have been occupied long before and during Smith’s travels to this region. The Maddox Island site is the Conservancy’s second preserve in Maryland and its first on the Eastern Shore. Located in Somerset County, about 100 miles southeast of Annapolis, the Maddox site may answer questions about the Late Woodland and early historic periods in the region.
Overlooking the placid Chesapeake Bay, Maddox Island may be one of the most scenic landscapes in North America. The 23-acre site represents roughly half of a historic homestead known since 1750 as the Maddox Island Farm. The centerpiece of the site is vast shell midden covering approximately half the property. During a 1996 survey for the Maryland Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, archaeologist Darrin Lowery recovered numerous pottery sherds, stone tools and points, and shells on the fertile fields at the mouth of the Manokin River. Maddox Island is among the most extensive and well-stratified sites along the 115-mile-long Eastern Shore.
In addition to the prehistoric midden and living area, cultural resources represented at the site include a brick limekiln ruin filled with burnt oyster shell. The kiln is likely related to a group of pilings along the shoreline, perhaps the remains of a maritime business venture that went bust in the 19th century.
In the Fall of 2000, in a meeting with landowner Richard Warbasse, the Conservancy’s Mark Michel and Rob Crisell discussed the idea of protecting the property as an archaeological preserve. Unfortunately, one could only guess at the condition of subsurface features, since no formal excavations had taken place. Warbasse generously agreed to allow the Conservancy two months to test the site.
Maryland State Archaeologist Richard Hughes recommended Towson University archaeologist Bob Wall for the dig. Wall had worked most recently on the Barton property in Cumberland, Maryland, assisting the Conservancy in its efforts to permanently preserve this important prehistoric site (see “Prehistory at Maryland’s Crossroads,” Fall 2000). In December, Wall and his team dug a series of test pits in the field, encountering prehistoric shell nearly everywhere they looked. One unit revealed intact shells at the bottom of the midden and very distinct features below that, including two trash pits with shells and animal bones. Wall notes that Lowery and others have identified artifacts that indicate very early occupation at the site, perhaps as long ago as 6000 B.C.
“I’ve run into enough of these sites to know that you usually don’t get very good preservation in them,” says Wall, who hopes to return to the property in the future.
He speculates that the site may have been a small village, similar to those that Smith mentioned in his travels.
“I think there is tremendous potential to find community patterns on the site,” Wall says. “From the condition of the pit features, there is a good possibility that you could find some structural evidence along with all the other kinds of evidence you might get, such as hearths and storage pits.”
Armed with the results of the brief excavation, the Conservancy and Warbasse agreed to proceed with the purchase. Warbasse and his partners also donated a conservation easement to the Conservancy, which protects the adjacent 25-acre field and more than 250 acres of surrounding wetlands.
The Conservancy’s 200th site promises to be not only one of the most interesting preserves, but also one of the most beautiful. From the earliest American Indian settlers to the English in the 1600s, people have been coming to Maddox Island for hundreds of years. With the permanent protection of the site, the Conservancy will make sure that the site remains intact and accessible to people for centuries to come.
