You are standing in front of a large, four-sided artifact case. The artifact labels facing you are titled “Food Preparation,” “Domesticated Livestock,” “Hunting and Fishing,” “Sewing Tools,” and “Pewter Toy.” To your left is a graphic panel titled “European Settlers.” To your right is a graphic panel titled “New Arrivals.” Behind you is a graphic panel titled “House History: Fireplace.”

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

The labels read:

Food Preparation
Archaeologists have found cooking, serving, and dining implements at the site of Woodlawn’s summer kitchen and other sites on SERC’s campus. Summer kitchens were used to avoid heating the house while cooking during the warmest months. Enslaved people cooked and served the food.

Recovered from SERC’s campus:
1. Latten or brass “Puritan spoon” (a type of spoon with an ovoid bowl and a straight, flat, plain stem), ca. 1651 to 1683

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
2 to 6. Metal and bone eating utensils, ca. late 1600s to early 1700s

Recovered from Woodlawn’s summer kitchen:
7. Knife handle, ca. late 1700s to mid-1800s 
8 and 9. Chain links and pot hook used to hang kettles over an open fire, ca. late 1700s to mid-1800s

Recovered from Shaw’s Folly:
10. Bone knife handle, engraved “Thos Sparrow,” ca. 1650 to 1735. This label is accompanied by a photo of the engraved bone knife handle. Thomas Sparrow was one of the earliest European settlers in the area.

Domesticated Livestock
Europeans brought domesticated livestock with them to the colonies, including pigs, cattle, and sheep. Bones found by archaeologists show that the residents of Sparrow’s Rest preferred beef while the residents of Shaw’s Folly preferred pork. These dietary choices impacted the environment. Overgrazing by livestock led to erosion, which silted up streams and damaged local ecosystems.

Recovered from Woodlawn: 
11. Pig jaw and teeth, ca. 1650 to 1735
12. Cow bones and teeth, ca. 1650 to 1735

Think About It . . .
Think about the foods you eat. Where are they from? What impact do you think they have on the environment?

Hunting and Fishing
Local families probably supplemented their diet by hunting and fishing, although archaeologists have found little evidence of this. Concerns about overhunting led Maryland to pass a deer conservation act as early as 1730.

Recovered from Woodlawn: 
13. Musket ball
14. Lead shot

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
15. Brass escutcheon, possibly for a firearm, ca. 1650 to 1735 This label is accompanied by a photo of the brass escutcheon, which features the image of a 17th-century soldier.
16. Fish hook, ca. 1650 to 1735. 

Sewing Tools
Women, including enslaved women, made and repaired clothes. In addition to scissors, needles, and thimbles, archaeologists have found lead bale seals. These were attached to bales of cloth to prevent theft and to declare the sources and quality of the material (similar to clothing tags today).

Recovered from Shaw’s Folly and Sparrow’s Rest: 
Sewing tools, including scissors (17 to 18), a thimble (20), curtain rings (21), hooks, buckles, and buttons (22), ca. 1645 to 1699
23. Lead bale seals used to mark textiles, ca. 
1645 to 1699
24. Copper thimble, ca. 1650s to 1735
25. Brass straight pin, ca. 1650s to 1735
26. Scissors, ca. 1650 to 1735

Recovered from SERC’s campus:
27. Buckles from the colonial period

Pewter Toy
This pewter toy may have belonged to one of the Sparrow family’s children.

Recovered from Sparrow’s Rest:
28. Toy pewter figure of a child, ca. 1600s to 1700s. This label is accompanied by an image of the toy, which is small, in the shape of a simple human figure without features.