Archaeologists dig up Surry homestead belonging to family among earliest European settlers
Channel: WesterNNews
Date: 2013-07-20

A team of budding archaeologists is working to uncover the period of European settlement in Hancock County, one painstaking trowel stroke at a time.

The students, led by professor Ben Carter of Muhlenberg College, are excavating what they call "the Joy/Flood site," a mid- to late-18th century home on Weymouth Point, occupied first by Nathaniel Joy, son of Benjamin Joy, who founded Ellsworth in 1763. The modest plot was later occupied by Dominicus and Elizabeth Flood and their nine children, from 1786 to 1811.

Though the building is small — it would hardly be called a "camp" today — Carter said the site is shedding light on the lives of a moderately successful family by the standards of the time.

"This is a middle class home," said Carter, who grew up in Hancock County. "This was a good, solid, successful family."