ASNJ Conference 2024 | 02-17-24 Michael Gall, Cottagers and their Homes

Michael Gall, Richard Grubb and Associates
Cottagers and their Homes: Archaeology of Tenant Farm Laborers at the Area Y Site
Abstract:
Between 2021 and 2023, Richard Grubb & Associates identified and archaeologically documented a tenant farm laborer household at the Area Y Site that stood from roughly the 1830s to 1849 in the Clarksville area of West Windsor, Mercer County. Among the site’s occupants in 1840 were the young, Black Brister family, composed of Charles and Eliza. A later family may have included the white Roland family around 1849, consisting of Samuel and Elizabeth. Tenant farm laborers, also known as cottagers, were an important and poorly-documented element of the local economy and labor force. Their homes were seldom recorded on historic maps. Archaeology at the Area Y Site offered an opportunity to examine the site’s layout, dwelling size, and material culture associated with early to mid-nineteenth-century cottagers in the county.
This presentation was a part of the Saturday afternoon session of the ASNJ 2024 Conference:
A Varied and Diverse Landscape: Encampments, Tenant Laborers, Weavers, Farmers, and Enslaved Individuals in West Windsor
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