Trove of Relics Discovered Tells The Story of the Origins of A Mississippi Town

Tom Hughes

Sergeant Major
Joined
May 27, 2019
Location
Mississippi
In 1823, a watering stop along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi attracted enough settlers to carve out a community. By 1829, a town was formed. This frontier town was named Clinton. In its earliest days it had many businesses including a cotton exchange, a wine merchant, banks, jewelry shop, a saloon with billiards, a newspaper and several hotels. By 1835, the town had at least four notable hotels that were entertaining travelers.
Like most histories of old towns, their earliest days are sometimes overlooked.

In 2012, an old livery stable building in town was being torn down to its foundation. In fact, the foundation was being dug out to install new pipes, etc.
Before the livery stable was built in the 1870's, a hotel had stood very near this location.
I had the opportunity to explore and investigate the dirt that was being pulled from the site. Basically, this was salvage archaeology. Many truck loads of dirt laden artifacts were being hauled off. Time was running out to save anything I could.
With metal detector and shovel in hand, what I discovered was a treasure trove of interesting early community artifacts that told a story of the town's earliest days. Hundreds of items were found, many of those pieces being transferware pottery, butchered animal bones, musket balls (one of the balls was found in the bone), a "hogscraper" candlestick, civilian flat coat buttons, militia ball buttons, an 1823 capbust silver dime, a lead textile seal, a pontil base opium bottle, an iron door key, etc.
All these items helped to paint a picture of what life was like in the town.
I was able to do partial reconstructions of platters and bowls that featured beautiful images of castles and countrysides. I even reconstructed part of chamber pot which featured Ben Franklin flying a kite in a thunderstorm. These images were known as British and American View Ceramics, circa. 1815-1840. After the war of 1812 and trade was re-established between the U.S. and England, many of these pottery pieces were imported to the American market. This was very popular at the time and appealed to our new country's patriotism and nationalism.
The hope is to display these artifacts in a public location in town and help preserve the memory of our town's earliest days.

Featured here are just a few of the many artifacts recovered.

ball buttons.JPG


candlestick.JPG


bone.JPG


chamber pot.JPG


coin.JPG


key.JPG


musket balls.JPG


opium bottle.JPG


textile seal.JPG
 
Wow. So glad you were able to save some of these things. If only there had been a way to do a real dig. Builders where I live hate it, but we require any digging in the Colonial part of the city to have an archaeological survey. So much neat stuff has been dug up! It's amazing how much history can be discovered from even shards of old pots.
 
In 1823, a watering stop along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi attracted enough settlers to carve out a community. By 1829, a town was formed. This frontier town was named Clinton. In its earliest days it had many businesses including a cotton exchange, a wine merchant, banks, jewelry shop, a saloon with billiards, a newspaper and several hotels. By 1835, the town had at least four notable hotels that were entertaining travelers.
Like most histories of old towns, their earliest days are sometimes overlooked.

In 2012, an old livery stable building in town was being torn down to its foundation. In fact, the foundation was being dug out to install new pipes, etc.
Before the livery stable was built in the 1870's, a hotel had stood very near this location.
I had the opportunity to explore and investigate the dirt that was being pulled from the site. Basically, this was salvage archaeology. Many truck loads of dirt laden artifacts were being hauled off. Time was running out to save anything I could.
With metal detector and shovel in hand, what I discovered was a treasure trove of interesting early community artifacts that told a story of the town's earliest days. Hundreds of items were found, many of those pieces being transferware pottery, butchered animal bones, musket balls (one of the balls was found in the bone), a "hogscraper" candlestick, civilian flat coat buttons, militia ball buttons, an 1823 capbust silver dime, a lead textile seal, a pontil base opium bottle, an iron door key, etc.
All these items helped to paint a picture of what life was like in the town.
I was able to do partial reconstructions of platters and bowls that featured beautiful images of castles and countrysides. I even reconstructed part of chamber pot which featured Ben Franklin flying a kite in a thunderstorm. These images were known as British and American View Ceramics, circa. 1815-1840. After the war of 1812 and trade was re-established between the U.S. and England, many of these pottery pieces were imported to the American market. This was very popular at the time and appealed to our new country's patriotism and nationalism.
The hope is to display these artifacts in a public location in town and help preserve the memory of our town's earliest days.

Featured here are just a few of the many artifacts recovered.

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Wow!! How neat to be involved in a "treasure hunt."
 
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