Recycling at Russellborough: The Living Landscape and Reuse at a Colonial Governors Mansion at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson, North Carolina
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
The UNCW 2024 Archaeological Field School focused on finding the location of known outbuildings attached to the Colonial Governor’s mansion at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic site. Remains are visible above the surface of the mansion itself, now generally known as Russellborough, and one of the two kitchens associated with the structure. Using GPR, the field school located the original locations of the other kitchen, a possible flagpole, and have partial indicators for the presence of other known outbuildings. However, the visible remains of the kitchen and possibly other outbuildings were recycled sometime between 1776 and 1850. Recycled building materials were likely used to construct housing for enslaved people at a nearby plantation. Although Russellborough is often thought of as an unmoving part of the historical record, it was in reality part of a living cultural landscape. In local usage, it was both a treasured historic monument and also a brick mine.
