Agenda - 10-02-1995 - IX-F - Laserfiche WebLink

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NPS Form 10.900-a (9'86( OMB Approval No.1021-,M,. United States Department of the Interior 17 National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number s Page 5 Alexander Hogan Plantation Orange County,NC Statement of Significance(continued) With few exceptions (e.g., Daniel and Ward 1993), little archaeological work has been done on nineteenth-century sites in the county. The Hogan site, in particular, would fit neatly into the field of plantation archaeology. With some 20 years of development, plantation archaeology is now recognized as area of specialization in historical archaeology. Moreover, plantation archaeology has readily demonstrated its ability to provide unique insights into the historic period(see e.g., Orser 1984). To this end,two lines of research could be pursued at the Hogan plantation: studies of plantation material culture and history, and studies of plantation slavery and social structure. In fact, these two avenues of research compliment each other. First, a culture history approach could be utilized to provide a general description of the form, function, and content of a nineteenth century artifact assemblage (cf. South 1977). Such a study would provide valuable information on the material culture of a Piedmont plantation. Directly related to such a study would be the question of whether distinct assemblages between the planter and slave class could be identified at the Hogan site. Along these lines, how similar is the artifact assemblage from the Hogan plantation to other such assemblages elsewhere in the Southeast? For example, among the unexpected remains associated with slave cabins from sites outside North Carolina have been the consistent finding of firearms and writing materials, as well as a richer material culture than expected (Otto 1977; Singleton 1980). Such data could also be used to examine potential diachronic changes between antebellum and post-bellum artifact assemblages. Another aspect of plantation life that can be addressed at the Hogan site is describing the physical layout of the plantation itself. In the absence of any documentary evidence, an archaeological examination of the architectural remains and other potential features is the only way to address this issue. As mentioned earlier the remains of at least four and possibly five structures are currently known. One of these foundations (Al) almost certainly represents the main house, while the functional identification of the other remains awaits additional investigation. Initially, then, it could be postulated that the spatial design of the Hogan site conforms to other Southeastern plantation sites. That is, it is composed of a main house and associated buildings and a group of other out-buildings related to other plantation activities that were clustered apart from but near the main house(e.g.,Lewis 1985). The main house complex should be identifiable as an area primarily representing specialized domestic activities, while the other out-buildings functioned as workers'living areas and other specialized plantation activities. Thus, in order to identify the spatial layout of the Hogan plantation it is necessary to identify the function of each of its structures. While the identification of structure function would be partly based upon the size and nature of the foundation remains themselves, such an interpretation largely rests on the recovery of functionally significant artifact classes associated with each structure. In addition to identifying the structures functionally,their artifact