You are standing in front of a graphic panel titled “SERC’s Campus and the Surrounding Area:
Archaeological Sites.” Behind you, to your left, is the entrance to section two of the exhibition. To your right is a hands-on archaeology dig interactive.

The panel in front of you includes text, two maps, and five images.

The larger of the two maps shows an aerial view of SERC’s campus and the surrounding area with markers showing the locations of five archaeological dig sites. The aerial view shows grassy and forested areas and the Rhode River.

A smaller area map shows the location of SERC’s campus in relation to the Chesapeake Bay, London Town, Galesville, Annapolis, Washington, DC, and Baltimore.

The five sites listed are:

1. YOU ARE HERE 
Woodlawn House (1735) In addition to what remains of the original house, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a summer kitchen dating from the late 1700s to the early 1800s, a family cemetery site, and a household trash pile. The accompanying photo shows a group of people outside Woodlawn House gathered around two table-like structures, sifting through dirt to search for artifacts. The site pictured is the household trash pile dig site.

2. Shaw’s Folly (ca. 1650s)
Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a house built by Quaker settler John Shaw, who occupied this land before the Sellmans. The accompanying photo shows a grassy field with trees in the background.

3. Java Mansion Ruins (1747)
The Java ruins are all that remain of a mansion previously known as Squirrel Neck. This was also the site of an earlier house called Sparrow’s Rest, built by Puritan settler Thomas Sparrow in the 1650s. The accompanying photo shows the ruins of Java Mansion. They consist of brick walls and chimneys held up by metal beams in the shape of the house. The ruins are surrounded by a wooden fence in a grassy field. There are trees in the background.

4. Contees Wharf Slave Quarters
Enslaved people lived at this site from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. Archaeological investigations have shed light on the foods they ate and the ways in which they prepared them. The accompanying photo shows a man standing outdoors at a table-like structure looking into a sifter containing dirt from the dig site.

5. Shell Middens
Archaeologists have discovered several shell middens (large heaps of shells) on SERC’s campus. These were left 500 to 3,000 years ago by Native Americans, who used this land seasonally. The accompanying photo shows three people kneeling and squatting in a dig site in the dirt. They are touching the ground. In front of them on the ground are oyster shells.