Historic St. Mary’s City – 50 Years of Sharing Our Past
Help honor Maryland Archaeology Month by attending our annual Archaeology Month lecture that is free and open to the public on April 21, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the HSMC Visitor Center (18751 Hogaboom Lane). This year’s lecture features Mr. Silas D. Hurry, Curator of Collections and Archaeological Laboratory Director for Historic St. Mary’s City. A Brief History of Historical Archaeology in Maryland’s First Capital will show how for the better part of fifty years, Historic St. Mary’s City has been exploring the archaeological treasures of Maryland’s founding site and first capital. However, for many years before the state established the museum, an intriguing cast of individuals had undertaken “archaeological” excavations in St. Mary’s City. These explorers ranged from dilettantes to antiquarians to architectural historian and all made their own unique contributions to our knowledge of the City. This presentation will summarize and discuss these early explorations and also describe the birth and development of the research efforts led by the museum’s archaeologists in the five decades since our founding. Many intriguing characters from the past and more recent times will be discussed. The presentation will be highly illustrated with images of past work.
Historic St. Mary’s City is a museum of living history and archaeology on the site of Maryland’s first capital in beautiful, tidewater Southern Maryland. For more information about the museum contact the Visitor Center at 240-895-4990, 800-SMC-1634, or info@hsmcdigshistory.org.