An archaeological survey of the Sweet Briar Plantation
In 2002 I began a survey of approximately 3,000 acres belonging, today, to Sweet Briar College. In the 19th century, this land belonged to dozens of land owners and was home to European, African, and Native American groups. In the 1840s Elijah Fletcher began buying land around his newly purchased "Sweet Briar Plantation." By the time his daughter inherited the property (in the 1860s), there were 1000s of contiguous acres. I invited Sweet Briar undergraduates and University of Virginia graduate students to join me in a survey of what remains today.
Between 2002-2005 we located over 450 sites. They ranged from wooden barns to pet cemeteries; from old fences to pop-top beer cans; and from cabin ruins to broken chamberpots.
Archaeologial Sectors
(The boundaries correspond to the Sweet Briar College property line). North is to the right).
Surveying the Sweet Briar Campus
The aerial photograph of campus illustrates part of the survey area (part wooded, part open field). The small red dot indicates the location of the ante-bellum plantation house (today the home of the President of the College).
An old Barn in the woods, just north of Williams Creek.
The recent past: the Outing Cabin Outhouse.