Pit 107: Level 3

Completed on May 22, 2020, by DC Locke and David Brinkman. The top half of level three was mostly void of artifacts, but that would change. This is a pattern we have seen when digging near Brookcliff Road. There are two distinct layers of artifacts here. We believe levels one and two contain artifacts excavated and pushed into this area during the 1962 road construction. Level three, we believe, are artifacts that have remained in place for almost 200 years. This bottom part of level three gave us a number of Native American artifacts including the dig's fourth point (a broken bird arrowhead.) The level would also give us a great set of Granby artifacts, but one artifact stood out. I knew it was special when I saw the beautiful, unique glaze, and the fact that the item had a rectangular shape. I sent pictures to Natalie Adams Pope and, although she had not come across a glaze like this, she quickly suggested that it may be a glazed brick from a fireplace. We have already proven, from the expensive pottery types found in our dig, that Granbians were very wealthy people. Having a stunning fireplace should not have been a surprise. Adding to this find were those special brick pieces found in level two. One was a rounded brick that was obviously made for cosmetic purposes. Its brick material matches the unique brick material of our glazed brick. Several other brick pieces of level two and level three also were of this type of brick. And there was also distinct grey colored hard brick, which we believe came from fireplaces and the lower portion of chimneys. This set me on a research mission, which led to something hidden in our data. Even though we do not count the tens of thousands of brick pieces we find, as artifacts, we do keep them. We photograph them, and we weigh them per level per hole. Our colonial Granby structure was probably made of wood with brick foundation segments to raise the wood structure off the ground. All our pits contain brick fragments from the foundation. They are fragile and can be easily broken. But, there are also fragments that have that distinct grey color. Some of these are burned. They are impossible to break with the hand. These are fireplace and chimney bricks.

After finding this new glazed brick artifact, I looked at the distribution of all brick fragments in the Granby dig. There are four areas (almost like the four corners of a house) with high concentrations. Only within each of these areas, did we find the hardened fireplace brick pieces. Suddenly, the house has taken on a larger size, and there's a new area we need to focus on. It seems our Granby house may have been very similar to the Friday Arthur house, as shown in an 1817 drawing. If you have ever been to Steel Hands Brewing in Cayce, maybe you have noticed the cemetery in the front of the property. This is the Arthur family cemetery. The Friday Arthur house was 2500 square feet and had two large chimneys. Our Granby dig house may have housed as many as 16 free whites. Another identified structure, next to the house, did not have window glass and shows artifacts of a storage house. Or, it could be the house for the ten slaves shown in the 1800 census.

Our one little artifact find is redrawing what we think this 1785 property may have looked like. It is also changing the direction of the dig. We will need to dig more and go into an area where only one pit (pit 48) has been dug. The large concentrations of building artifacts (brick, nails, and window glass) in level three, compared to the totals of level one and two, shows that the original wall of the house runs through the line of pits we have along Brookcliff Drive. It also shows that we have not yet come to the western end of this house wall. We recovered 50 pieces of window glass in this level! We will need to dig more in that direction and, possibly, dig up the 1960s asphalt driveway. The 19 pieces of kitchen glass also shows this could be a continuation of the main kitchen.

The fireplace discoveries of Pit 107 also points us back to the middle of the front yard of the dig site, where we had dug a single pit in 2013. A new review of its artifacts shows evidence of another chimney and strong human activity.

The discoveries of pit 107 mean that there are probably a minimum of 20 more pits that need to be completed. In her 1810-1815 drawing of Granby, Sarah Friday seemed to abruptly end the drawing at the point of the house we are excavating. This was the Samuel Johnston homesite. Sarah did, however, give us a clue that there might be much more when she called the house: "Part of Sam Johnston."

Pit 107: Level 3 produced: All Levels produced: Granby period: One pipe bowl piece, 15 kitchen pottery, five stoneware, 19 kitchen glass, 50 window glass, 14 square nails, five iron pieces, five slate, six slag, and two charcoal pieces. Native American: One pottery.

Below: Fireplace and chimney brick from levels two and three

Below: Fireplace rounded brick from levels two

Below: A revised look at the Granby dig site