In Haddonfield, NJ, Digging Into Early U.S. History
By John McDevitt
HADDONFIELD, N.J. (CBS) -- Dozens of volunteers and professional archeologists have been working side by side for the past month in Haddonfield, NJ, to uncover pieces of history from more than two centuries ago.
The archeological dig is taking place on the side lawn of the Indian King Tavern Museum, located where legislators met in 1777 to change New Jersey from a colony into a state.
The dig is at the site where a 1764 addition to the row of buildings once stood. (It was demolished in 1909.)
"We have found the necks of 18th-century wine bottles to early 20th-century Heinz condiment bottles," says Garry Stone, an archaeological historian with the museum. "We have found pottery dating from the 18th century up until the early 20th."
Stone classifies most of the items as trash, used to fill the hole of the demolished building.
He adds that there is also evidence of two other buildings on the site, with discovery of a 1741 "cool vault," for storage, which was replaced by a larger "cellar house" -- an underground warehouse used for storing goods.
