Look at the landscape in front of you.

The scene you see today is different from what you would have seen 300, 100, or even 50 years ago. Over the years, humans have shaped the landscape both intentionally and unintentionally.

Signs of Erosion
The rolling fields you see in front of you are signs of erosion, caused by the constant cultivation of crops. The Shaws and later the Sellmans used these fields to grow tobacco and other crops, which exhausted the soil of nutrients. Rain washed soils into nearby streams, leaving behind rolling hills and gullies.

Stormwater runoff creates drainage channels in fields, called gullies (above). Gullies were such a problem in the 1700s that American statesman Patrick Henry (above left) said, “He is the greatest patriot who stops the most gullies.” (Field Image: Meryll/Shutterstock. Patrick Henry image courtesy of the U.S. Senate Collection)

What do you notice?
Is the landscape in front of you forested or cleared, flat or hilly? How do you think this landscape has changed? What do you think caused these changes?

From Forests to Fields
Before European settlers arrived in this area in the 1650s, this land was covered with mature old-growth forests. European settlers cleared the land to grow tobacco and grains for markets in the West Indies and Europe.

Deforestation dramatically and irreversibly altered the local environment. Settlers eradicated some plant and animal species and introduced others. Soils eroded and washed into waterways.

Left image: Forest ecologists identify species of trees and determine their ages by measuring their girths or extracting cores revealing annual growth rings. Most of the forest in this area is former farmland. Many of the trees are less than 75 years old. (Courtesy of Stephen Voss, Smithsonian Institution)
Image below: Muddy Creek, a local stream, was known as Herring Creek until the early 1700s. Sediments from fields and overfishing destroyed the herring. (Courtesy of Christine Dunham)

What did archaeologists find here?
Archaeologists uncovered large quantities of coal ash around Woodlawn House. The Sellman family adopted coal for fuel while some of their tenants continued burning wood, which was becoming increasingly scarce.
Left image: Archaeologists uncovered many small pieces of partially burned coal near Woodlawn House.
This map shows the distribution of coal ash found near Woodlawn House. 

Archaeologists think the coal ash was distributed by stormwater.