Archeological Overview and Assessment of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

WSP USA Inc; Katz, Gregory; Tiffany, Raszick; Meredith, McCulley

On behalf of the National Park Service (NPS), National Capital Area, WSP USA Inc. (WSP) has carried out a two-year Archeological Overview, Assessment, Inventory, and Evaluation Study of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (WOTR or Wolf Trap) in Fairfax County, Virginia. WOTR’s mission is to provide visitor access to the performing arts, related educational programs, and recreational opportunities. WOTR is the first and only national park for the performing arts. The park encompasses approximately 117 acres with approximately 65 acres of natural woodland, streams, and wetlands. The main goals of the study, as an Overview, Assessment, Inventory, and Evaluation Study, were to document what has already been learned about the park’s archeological resources, including review of previous research; to assess the archeological potential of both known sites and unexplored areas; to explore more of the park through Phase I field survey to identify new sites, and to carry out additional testing of selected sites to evaluate their significance and eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The results of the project will assist the NPS in complying with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act, Executive Order 11593, and the Archeological Resources Protection Act. This project does not constitute a Section 106-level survey of the entire park. WOTR’s Cultural Resource Manager or other qualified personnel may decide in the future that the survey is adequate for Section 106 compliance in certain locations for certain projects; however, that determination must be made on a case-by-case basis. The findings of the study are presented in two volumes. Volume I contains a narrative of the history and archeology of the park, written to be accessible to park interpreters and the public; it does not contain sensitive information, such as the locations of archeological sites. Volume II contains the detailed archeological findings, organized geographically by site and survey area, along with detailed maps and other sensitive data. Studies of WOTR began in the 1970s, but it has not previously been the subject of a complete and thorough archeological reconnaissance. The NPS previously conducted limited research on the history and precontact era of the area, in the form of a draft NRHP nomination in 1975, a reconnaissance survey conducted in 1979, a previous overview and assessment study in 1997, a park foundation document in 2013, and a historical summary in 2015. Two archeological sites were recorded, and four site locations were noted but were not given official site numbers. The two recorded sites are lithic scatters likely representing small hunting camps. During this two-year study WSP tested 10.42 acres, re-investigated the two previously identified sites, and identified four new archeological sites. Two of those sites are considered eligible for listing in the NRHP, and four were recommended as not eligible for listing in the NRHP. Of the newly recorded sites, one precontact site has artifacts indicative of site use during the Late Archaic period, and the second site is a quartz quarry that was utilized from the Early Archaic period to the Early Woodland period. Two of the newly recorded sites have a precontact component of unknown period as well as a nineteenth- and twentieth-century component. One of those is the Filene Shouse farmhouse, now the location of the park administrative building. A mid-twentieth-century dump site was also recorded but, given the late date of the artifacts, was not assigned an official site number.

Archeological Overview and Assessment of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Products