You are standing in front of a large, four-sided artifact case. The artifact labels facing you are titled “Building Materials and Tools,” “Horse Tack,” “Tobacco Pipes,” “Wining and Dining,” and “Trade and Commerce.” To your left is a graphic panel titled “SERC’s Campus and the Surrounding Area: 1650s to 1776. To your right is a graphic panel titled “The Plantation Economy.” Behind you is a timeline titled “Historic Milestones: From First Peoples to the Arrival of SERC.”

The section of the case in front of you includes five groups of artifacts with labels and two images.

The labels read:

Building Materials and Tools
These items are all that remain of the early structures European settlers built in the area. Bricks were made locally by hand, but most other building materials, including nails and window glass, had to be imported from Europe. Enslaved people and indentured servants did much of the work.

Recovered from Woodlawn:
1 to 3. Iron strap, hook, and nails
4. Iron gutter mount, ca. mid-1700s to 1900s

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
5. Tin-glazed ceramic tile from a fireplace surround, ca. 1650s to 1700s
6. Decorative metalwork, ca. 1650 to 1735
9. Metal file, ca. 1650 to 1735
10. Iron weight, possibly a plumb bob, which would have been suspended from a string to create a vertical line, ca. 1650 to 1735

Recovered from Shaw’s Folly:
7. Handwrought iron chisel, ca. 1650s to 1680s
8. Handwrought iron nails, ca. 1650s to 1680s
13. Window glass, ca. 1650s to 1680s

Recovered from Shaw’s Folly and Sparrow’s Rest:
11. Window lead or “cames” used to hold panes of glass in place, embossed with the initials “WM” and the year 1671

Recovered from SERC’s campus:
12. Rubble from handmade bricks, ca. 1650 to 1735

Think About It . . .
Think about the materials and tools used to build houses today. How are they similar or different to those displayed here? 

Horse Tack
Archaeologists have recovered horse tack (horse equipment) from multiple sites on SERC’s campus. Colonists depended on horses for transportation and agricultural work, such as pulling plows and hay wagons.

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
14. Horse spur, ca. 1650 to 1735
15 to 16. Snaffle bits (metal pieces that apply pressure to a horse’s mouth), ca. 1650 to 1735

Tobacco Pipes
First smoked by Native Americans, tobacco was introduced to Europe in the mid-1500s. European settlers began to grow the crop in the Chesapeake Bay region in the early 1600s. Tobacco was so valuable in Maryland that it was used as a currency. Colonists smoked tobacco in clay pipes, like these. The earliest pipes were small, reflecting the high price of tobacco. This label is accompanied by a photo and drawing of a molded clay pipe bowl featuring embossed figures of a mythological woman, a hunter or soldier, a deer, a rabbit, a dog, and a flower.

Recovered from Shaw’s Folly:
17. Pipe bowl with deer design, ca. 1650 to 1735. Archaeologists think Native Americans made this pipe bowl for Europeans.

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
18. Molded clay pipe bowl featuring embossed figures, British, ca. 1660 to 1680
19. Fragments of “trade pipes” made for the colonial market, ca. 1600s to 1750s

Wining and Dining
Archaeologists have recovered fragments of imported ceramics and wine bottles that offer a glimpse of how wealthy plantation owners dined and entertained during the colonial period. Enslaved people cooked and served the meals and cleaned the dishes.

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
20 to 22. Wine bottle fragments, ca. 1650 to 1735
23. Wine bottle seal, ca. late 1600s
24. Tin-glazed pottery sherds made in England or the Netherlands, ca. 1650 to 1735

Recovered from Shaw’s Folly:
25 to 26. Sherds of pottery made in or near Pisa, Italy, ca. 1650 to 1735

Trade and Commerce
During the colonial period, British coins were scarce. Colonists had to barter for goods or use other forms of currency, such as Spanish coins, letters of credit, or tobacco.

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
27. Wax seal stamp used to seal letters and other documents, ca. late 1600s to early 1700s
28. One-ounce scale weight for weighing gold and silver coins, ca. 1650 to 1735
29. King George I halfpenny, 1724
30. Spanish silver cob coin, ca. 1660 to 1734

Recovered from SERC’s campus:
31 to 32. Spanish copper cob coins, ca. 1600s

Recovered from Woodlawn:
33. Spanish half-reale coin, 1774