Project Goals

The overall objective of this year's work is to obtain sufficient information on Buxton's archaeological properties - specifically its earliest black heritage properties - to be offer a series of management recommendations to the Buxton Museum and Ontario's Ministry of Culture.

What exactly is the status of each of the mid-19th-century cabin sites? Of the 200 or so properties, how many of them are now farmland, how many have been completely destroyed, and how many are located on present-day residential lots? Are there artifacts associated? Is the stratigraphy intact? What sort of impact might agricultural tiling have made? Etc.

Hence, one of the main objectives of this field season is to relocate each of some 200 log cabin sites dating from 1850, and to examine each property briefly, if possible.

This may seem a daunting task for a small field crew to do in just 6 weeks. The truth of the matter is that it is relatively easy to locate each of the cabin sites. There is a map of the community that dates to the 1850s, which locates each of the cabins and the boundaries of each 50-acre plot. It is then a matter of simply re-surveying the entirety of the town - all 9,000 acres. Then standing in front of each of the 1850s structures, to collect a basic set of data. In the first 3 days, we located 40 of these cabin sites, some with modest surface collections of pottery.

Hence, I am hopeful that by the end of six weeks, we will have completed a reasonable survey, with an aim of being able to prioritize archaeological properties in the community. Of prime importance are those properties that have never been plowed, whose backyards and features have remained relatively intact.