Three Houses and Three Thousand Years: Archaeological Research at the Brearley House, Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1998-2005

Burrow, Ian; Butchko, Joshua

From abstract: "The 1761 Brearley House in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, is one of the most northerly examples of the distinctive group of patterned brick Georgian and pre-Georgian vernacular houses characteristic of the area of the Quaker settlement of West Jersey from Salem northward to the Falls of the Delaware at Trenton. The house is owned by the Township of Lawrence and operated by the Lawrence Historical Society as an interpreted historic site. In 1996, exploratory archaeological excavations were mandated by the building’s listing on the State Register of Historic Places, and by anticipated funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust for the planned restoration of the house. This work, previously reported, identified portions of the foundations of a former attached kitchen wing and located other well-preserved archaeological resources. The archaeological research described in this report took place from 1998 to 2005, and falls into two parts. Firstly, extensive investigations took place around the house in 1999 in order to more fully evaluate, and then document, the archaeological resources around the house. These resources were impacted, to varying degrees, by the restoration program and by plans to construct a service wing on the footprint of the former kitchen. The key historic discoveries were of two possible predecessors of the 1761 house: a basemented structure of perhaps before 1700, and a stone foundation which may date to before 1722. To the south of the house lies a prehistoric site used over a long period, showing evidence for a range of activities, including the manufacture of bifacial tools made of argillite. Its location, like that of the later historic occupation, probably reflects the presence of a rich variety of animal and plant resources in the extensive wetlands to the east. The second component of the research took the form of an educational enrichment program for the 8th Grade of the Lawrence Public Schools, funded by the Lawrence Education Foundation." Funding for this project was provided in part through a fiscal year 2015 Historic Preservation Fund grant to Lawrence Township (project number NJ-15-101) administered by the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P15AF00186) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Lawrence Township, New Jersey is a Certified Local Government.

Three Houses and Three Thousand Years: Archaeological Research at the Brearley House, Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1998-2005

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