On the 8th of April we witnessed dramatic changes in the rear yard behind the log side of the Stone House. As we discussed in our last post we were needing to remove the twentieth century obstacles that stood in the way of our archeological search for evidence of the detached kitchen that once stood in the rear yard behind the Stone House. Before moving forward with the demolition we thoroughly documented the shed and saved the hardware for our collection. Once that was complete we called in our contractor who took down the latticework fence, the overgrown shrubs, the silver maple tree, and the old garden shed that had belonged to the Argenbright family. The work was accomplished quickly with the aid of some heavy equipment. Among the most critical steps in the process were the demolition of the shed and the removal of the silver maple tree. They were located in the area of the old property line that formerly subdivided the stone side from the log side of the lot. It was along this former property line that the old detached kitchen once stood.
The last step in the process was the removal of the corner section of the concrete retaining wall that had been constructed along the old property line. Days after the contractor finished that step we then began to remove the fill dirt on both sides of the remaining section of the concrete retaining wall. After consulting with the archeologists who will be excavating there soon we have decided to hold off on the demolition of the concrete retaining wall that ran along the old property line. We were concerned that the work might disturb features in the ground that we are still looking for.
Once we are sure that we have found no danger of destroying archeological evidence in the area of that concrete retaining wall we will call the contractor back so that he can demolish the remaining section of that retaining wall with a jack hammer. We hope that somewhere underneath this concrete retaining wall, along this section of the former property line, we will discover the foundations of the old kitchen. We will keep you posted.
