Local history is frustrating because of the lack of written records from our earliest settlers. The first Euro-American to write about entering Chenango County was Richard Smith in 1769. He described his passage down the Susquehanna River through what are now the towns of Bainbridge and Afton. I suspect that some Euro-Americans arrived here even earlier. Our first “History of Chenango County,” by Hiram Clark, was published in 1850, two generations after the establishment of the county in 1798. He no doubt missed a lot.
In the absence of written records, history must be studied by relying on the physical remains people left behind. Here too, our earliest settlers did not leave much that has endured. Nevertheless, we continue looking.
Archaeology is the study of the past as evident in the material remains available to us. In this area it is most commonly associated with Native Americans. However, other subjects are also studied, categorized as to whether they are historic or prehistoric. History in North America is usually considered to have begun with the arrival of the Europeans, who did leave a paper trail. Topics in the historic category are domestic, military, urban, industrial, canal, and railroad archaeologies, just to name a few. Out of domestic site archaeology grew the study of old houses, wells, privies, dumps, and schoolhouses. Farmstead archaeology developed because too many archaeologists were focusing on the farmhouse and ignoring the barns and other outbuildings.
Currently, farmstead archaeology is a hot topic. In our area, almost all homesteads were farmsteads, so any of our old foundations and other stone structures, such as fences, are within the purview of farmstead archaeology. I find this exciting because it is an interface where archaeology and history merge.
We in the Chenango Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association are very fortunate to have David “Dave” Moyer recently join our group. Dave is a professional archaeologist who owns his own business, Birchwood Archaeological Services, headquartered in Sidney Center, Delaware County. He has worked in sites throughout New York State. During 2004 through 2006 he conducted the survey at the Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne, in preparation for an extension to the Village water system.
Dave is working with Douglas Mackey to set up a new Yahoo Group “Farmarch” on farmstead archaeology. It can be reached by going to Yahoo.com, clicking groups, and asking for Farmarch.
In the photo, Dave is showing me some features of a silo foundation at the remains of an old farm in the Town of Guilford. He is able to determine the age of certain features using various diagnostic characteristics.
Dave will be presenting a talk on farmstead archaeology at our Chapter meeting on Saturday March 8 in the Chenango County Historical Museum on Rexford and Silver streets in the City of Norwich. His talk will start promptly at 1:00 pm. This program is free and open to the public. We encourage anyone with an interest in the history of local farming to attend. For more information call me at 336-4628. He will start his program with the farmhouse and work his way to the outbuildings
The study of our early farms is urgent, because the folks who understand the tools, wares, and techniques of the past are rapidly departing from us and are taking their vast storehouses of knowledge with them. To compound the tragedy, as more and more farms are being abandoned they are being destroyed to make room for development. We are losing our physical heritage. We are trying to record as much as we can before it is too late.
We also encourage owners of old farms to leave any remains in place. Too many landowners regard old foundations as eyesores, rather than as the picturesque souvenirs of yesteryear that they are. Travel through Europe is interesting because the ruins of old buildings are part of the viewscape. We may not have any old castles here, but we do have barns; they are our castles.
One of the questions Dave asks when he visits and old farm site is why did this farm fail, while its neighbor did not? There are plenty of possible reasons, sickness, death, or voluntary withdrawal all come to mind. But could it have been a failure to keep up with technological innovations? Farmstead archaeology examines how farms reacted to both local changes in agricultural production and technology as well as to larger trends that affected the entire nation, such as wars and economic depressions.
The earliest farms had few cattle and the number increased with time. The switch over from horses to tractors resulted in enormous changes. Stone fences had to be removed because newer machines needed more room to maneuver. The most relevant chronicle of these changes is the 1933 book by Ulysses Prentice Hedrick, “A History of Agriculture in the State of New York.” Hedrick would be very pleased to learn about the emergence of farmstead archaeology.