Digging up the past: Student archaeologists uncover history at Patrick Henry’s Red Hill

One of the most interesting things about this opportunity is that we don't know exactly what these two cabins were used for. We know there were people living in one of the cabins, but there are a lot of mysterious elements to the other. It's been really fun to discover.

"One of the most interesting things about this opportunity is that we don't know exactly what these two cabins were used for," Hall said. "We know there were people living in one of the cabins, but there are a lot of mysterious elements to the other. It's been really fun to discover."

The opportunity for Longwood students to get their hands dirty, literally, at sites like Red Hill has long been a hallmark of the university's archaeology program. Under the direction of Dr. Brian Bates '92, students like Chaos, Dudley and Hall have put their classroom knowledge to use in the field not only through Longwood Field School but also other local excavations like those at Red Hill and Hampden-Sydney College, and with the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation.

This was a great opportunity for 10 of our students to get a really in-depth, practical experience in the field. With the four weeks they spent at Field School and the eight at Red Hill, that's 12 weeks of research and skills experience. In our region, there are no students coming out of any other program who have that depth of experience that ours do.

"This was a great opportunity for 10 of our students to get a really in-depth, practical experience in the field," said Bates, professor of anthropology and archaeology. "With the four weeks they spent at Field School and the eight at Red Hill, that's 12 weeks of research and skills experience. In our region, there are no students coming out of any other program who have that depth of experience that ours do."

Those opportunities also add real-world context to classroom studies and have prepared many a student, like Dudley, to move straight from the graduation stage to careers in archaeology.

"Longwood has a wonderful archaeology program because of the opportunities students have to get involved with activities and fieldwork," said Dudley, a Field School veteran who also supervised an excavation at Hampden-Sydney College as an undergraduate. "Opportunities like Red Hill that students can put on their resumes to show they have the skills to go on and succeed somewhere else, are so valuable."

In addition to building their resumes, those students are involved in consequential work. The Double Cabins excavation is a major component of the ongoing effort by Red Hill staff to learn about the enslaved people who lived and worked at Red Hill and tell their stories in relation to the history of the plantation as a whole.

At the Quarter Place site - the 77-acre portion of land where Double Cabins is located and where Red Hill's enslaved population lived and worked - that history revealed itself in the form of artifacts including nails from the 19th century; glass from windows, jars and bottles; and pieces of ceramic that were once dinnerware or storage containers. Occasionally, the students uncovered something more unusual, such as a watch, jewelry, shoes and even a large glass apple.

"The artifacts we've found have told us more about the people," said Lucia Butler, a Red Hill staff archaeologist and graduate of the College of William & Mary. She also took part in Longwood's Field School in 2018 and later co-taught with the program.

"When Patrick Henry died at Red Hill in 1799, 67 African Americans were enslaved on the property. Of course, slavery continued here into the 19th century, and freed descendants of enslaved people continued to live here and work here as sharecroppers. Red Hill has been working toward telling their stories and doing more research into their stories. This archaeology project is a part of that - trying to find out more about people whose lives weren't recorded or written down."

Centimeter by centimeter, the mysteries freed from the dirt by the trowels of Longwood students played a vital role in revealing insights into what life was like for the enslaved people who once worked and lived on Red Hill's land. It's a developing chapter in a narrative that Longwood students are helping to tell and, in turn, drawing experience from as they emerge as the next generation of archaeologists.

Doing this, having a professor who trusts me to do important work like this, has really shown me I can do it. I now have that experience because of what we've been doing at Longwood.

"Doing this, having a professor who trusts me to do important work like this, has really shown me I can do it," Hall said. "I'm already doing independent work, and I have it on my resume. I bought my own trowel. I've already done all these different elements of the job, from excavation to lab work. If you've done that, you can get hired as an archivist or a lab assistant or an actual archaeologist in the field. I now have that experience because of what we've been doing at Longwood."

She also has the calluses to prove it.