Virginia Heritage: Colchester

Digging is one of my favorite Saturday pastimes.  After spending a long week in the stuffy, air-conditioned office, it's wonderful to spend a day in the fresh air.  However hot, it's a pleasant way to decompress and (quite literally) get my hands dirty.

While in past years I've spent many Saturdays volunteering with Alexandria Archaeology at the Shuter's Hill site by Old Town Alexandria's Masonic monument, this February I started volunteering with the Colchester Archaeological Research Team (or CART) in southeastern Fairfax County.  CART focuses on the excavation of both historic and prehistoric site components on county-owned land around the Occoquan River and the Mason Neck.  I've spent a few fun Saturdays excavating at the historic tobacco port town of "Old Colchester," which is located just across the river from Occoquan.  The town dates primarily to the second half of the eighteenth century and though there's only one original structure left, there's a wealth of history underground.  It's still early on in the project - it seems like every time I'm there the team has found a new mystery structure or soil anomaly.  I definitely recommend checking out CART's blog if you're interested in following the excavations.

An especially fun unit I was working on back in April - I think they eventually had to saw out this tree/root

Since I be moving back to Williamsburg for grad school next month, I won't have as many free Saturdays in Northern Virginia.  However, I look forward to continued volunteer days with CART and Alexandria Archaeology during breaks!