Excavations--—Parterre
Our excavations in the front, "parterre," section of the garden have several goals: 1) to reveal the nature, extent, and state of preservation of the archaeological deposits; 2) to provide information to aid the Historical Society of Delaware’s efforts to restore the garden to its mid-19th-century appearance; 3) to recover architectural, landscape, and other material culture evidence of the house and yard that stood in this part of the property from the late 17th century until 1824; and 4) to learn more about the material life of the earlier house’s occupants.
To these ends, we excavated two 5-foot by 5-foot units along the back edge of the parterre just behind the kitchen of the burned house South 2.5 West 30 and South 2.5 West 40, and four 2.5-foot and 5-foot by 5-foot units in the northwest quadrant of the parterre, in the side yard of the burned house— South 21.5 West 71 and South 14 West 78, South 19 West 83, and South 14 West 88