While the rest of the world slowed down this spring and summer, the Fairfield Foundation staff has been busy excavating test units around the Fairfield Plantation manor house.
The staff has been focused on clearing the areas that will be impacted by post holes for a new protective structure, which will likely be installed in 2021.
“As a teaching and preservation tool, it’s essential,” said Thane Harpole, co-chairman of the Fairfield Foundation along with archaeologist David Brown. The structure will help to preserve the ruins while leaving them uncovered for further archaeological work and to show visitors the outline of the manor house.
The Fairfield Foundation, established in 2000, began with a focus on archaeological research and public outreach at the Fairfield Plantation site in Gloucester. The property is part of 2,350 acres patented by Lewis Burwell I in 1648 and sits near the head of Carters Creek.
The plantation was the home of the Burwell family for six generations stretching...