Archeologist Dr. Nicholas Honerkamp, at right, talks to middle school students from Bristol in May during an archeological dig at the Doak House Museum on the Tusculum College campus. Dr. Honerkamp returned to Tusculum on Monday to report the findings of the month-long dig. In the inset area at lower left, are two of the ceramic artifacts found in the dig. The one in the left box is a piece of blue-on-white hand-painted pearlware dating from the 1780-1820 period. At right is a fragment of plain whiteware with the maker's mark of W.E. Corn still visible. It dates from the 1837 through mid-1890s period. (Tusculum College photos)

Archeological field school yields unexpected discoveries about past uses of the Doak House Museum property

Two previously undocumented buildings, scores of ceramics dating from the 1800s, and even the remnants of a fence post from late in that century were among the items found last May in an archeological field school at the Doak House Museum.

How these items describe the past uses of the property on the Tusculum College campus and what further questions they raise were discussed Monday during a presentation by Dr. Nicholas Honerkamp, who directed the archeological field school.

"We did answer some questions and generated a lot more. It has been a wonderful experience," said Dr. Honerkamp, professor of anthropology and acting head of that department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

"It was frustrating at times, but also stimulating and exciting," he said. "We did have some unexpected discovered while finding out some significant things about Samuel Witherspoon Doak."

The Rev. Doak was a co-founder of Tusculum Academy which later became Tusculum College and built the brick home that now houses the Doak House Museum. The property, originally a large farm and also site of the original academy building, stayed in the family until the 1970s when it was given to the college, an advantageous circumstance for the archeological project to investigate past usage of the property.

"The site hadn't been looted," Dr. Honerkamp said. "It had been protected and that was very encouraging."

The work on the site began with survey and the digging of test pits points at various points on the site by Dr. Honerkamp and nine UTC students participating in the field school. Using those tests pits as a guide, larger pits and trenches were dug, which yielded a bountiful number of artifacts and more than a few surprises.

More than 8,000 artifacts were found during the archeological field school, 26 of which were on display at the presentation, sponsored by the Andrew Johnson Memorial Association and Tusculum's Department of Museum Program and Studies. The artifacts are now temporarily part of the "Tusculum's Trunk" exhibit on display at the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library on campus.

One of the oldest objects discovered, and an unexpected find, was a projectile point made of quartz 5,000 to 8,000 years old, Honerkamp said.

Scores of ceramic and pottery shards were found as expected, most from the 1800s. Some of the pieces were put back together and primarily appear to be tableware made in England, he said, although there are a few pottery shards of materials that indicate they could have been locally made.

Other discoveries pointed to the educational pursuits on the property, such as a stub of a slate pencil.

In digging a trench near the existing Tusculum Academy building, postholes and the remains of a post were found, dating from probably the 1890s were found. Traces of an angled post were also found, dating from the lifetime of Samuel Witherspoon Doak, Dr. Honerkamp said.

Two of the most intriguing discoveries were what appears to be a root cellar about eight feet in front of the Doak House and a wall from a two-room structure beside the Tusculum Academy. Honerkamp theorized that the root cellar may be from a house the Doak family occupied while the existing house was constructed, and the wall may be from the original Tusculum Academy building. Further investigating these two finds has Dr. Honerkamp anticipating the opportunity to come back to the museum site for another field school planned next May.

The field school was made possible by a grant from GenCorp Foundation in addition to support from Tusculum, including the housing of the UTC students in one of the houses the college owns.

The Department of Museum Program and Studies administers the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library and the Doak House Museum on the Tusculum campus. The department also offers one of the few undergraduate degree programs in museum studies in the country. The Andrew Johnson Museum houses a collection of books, papers, and memorabilia of the 17th president of the United States. The museum also houses the Charles Coffin Collection from the original college library and the College archives containing documents related to the history of Tusculum. The Doak House Museum, which was the home of the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, co-founder of the college, hosted more than 7,000 school children from Northeast Tennessee last year for a variety of educational programs related to the early 19th century.