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Building o
In 1796 Jefferson described Building o as a "servant's house 20
½ x 12 f. of wood with a wooden chimney and earth floor." A large
ceramic assemblage, recovered from the site during the 1980's
excavations, supports Jefferson's domestic characterization and
suggests that of the site's occupation was concentrated before
1800. This is a puzzling contrast to other areas on Mulberry Row
that seem to have been intensively used until Jefferson's death.
The anomaly needs explanation. The site's assemblages also contained
substantial amounts of nail rod, pointing to the industrial use,
during the 1790's. Here, as at Building l, we confront questions
about the timing of the domestic and industrial usage.
Three
foundation walls of dry-laid greenstone roughly fit Jefferson's
dimensions. The foundation most likely supported a one-room log
building. A concentration of unaligned stones at the east end
of the structure, together with large amounts of charcoal, indicates
the chimney base location. Three additional features, an area
of brick paving and two sub-floor pits, are found within the structure.
The brick paving in the northwest corner implies a doorway that
opened out onto Mulberry Row. The smaller sub-floor pit, composed
of dry laid brick, measures 2 by 4 feet, and is directly in front
of the chimney hearth. The second measuring 5 by 8 feet, is the
largest of any encountered along Mulberry Row. Dry laid stone
caps all four sides and line all interior walls except the southern.
A careful look at the site plan hints at the existence of several architectural phases. The two segments of surviving wall on the south are out of alignment, possibly betraying two building periods. An isolated cluster of cobbles and boulders to the west may belong to another building entirely. The Mulberry Row Reassessment should resolve these mysteries.