Matthew D. McKnight, Chief Archaeologist, Maryland Historical Trust
The Teagues Point site is a mystery. It only came to MHT's attention in September of 2023, after a local resident contacted the State about a colonial site he'd collected from decades before the land was acquired by Maryland DNR. Examination of the artifact collection suggested the site was clearly domestic in nature and dated to the latter half of the 17th century. Seventeenth century dwelling sites are extremely rare. Of the roughly 15,000 archaeological sites in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, only 314 contain
17th-century components. Of those, only 29 are in Charles County, 7 of which have received
archaeological attention beyond basic identification-level survey.
In December of 2023, working with the Charles County Archaeologist and a local chapter of the ASM, MHT organized a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey at the site that revealed the presence of multiple anomalies consistent with infilled cellars and subfloor storage pits. We quickly realized that this was a site that would benefit from additional attention. Block excavations at Teagues Point this spring will open up a "window" into domestic life in the mid-late 17th century.
Just who occupied this landscape at that time is yet a mystery. The site may represent the
plantation of Captain Richard Smith, a militia leader who may have acquired the land as an
investment and settled indentured servants or relatives on the parcel. Smith was one of the few Protestant militia officers to support Lord Baltimore during the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689) and served the colony as Surveyor-General in the 1690s. You are all invited to Charles County to help investigate and hopefully solve the mystery!
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