402 THE STONE AGE AT MOUNT VERNON. 



THE STONE AGE AT MOUNT VERNON. 



EY OTIS T. MASON. 



The estate of General George Washington comprised 6,000 acres of 

 laud, lying along the Potomac River 14 miles south of Washington, 

 and bounded on the south by Dogue or Ipsawassou Creek and the laud 

 of Lord Fairfax. 



Job n Smith, in his exploration of the Potomac Eiver, mentions the 

 Indians living in this neighborhood, and a few of their occupatious. 

 Having spent my youth upon this estate I am able to recall the re- 

 sources of the region as they existed in the seventeeuth ceutury. 



In the winter the inlets and water courses of Mount Vernon were 

 thronged with wdd fowl, white rabbits, squirrels, quails, and deer 

 abounded in the woods. On the approach of spring the numbers of shad 

 and herring that thronged the waters were simply incredible to one who 

 never saw them in the early days. Later on the sturgeon and other 

 fishes took the place of the migratory shoals, while the woods abounded 

 in fruits of all kinds known in this region. Add to all this the fact 

 that these Indians were corn-plauters and had some knowledge of rude 

 agriculture, and we are ready to study the stone implements found on 

 the estate. 



Those who have examined the region carefully are not wholly agreed 

 about the continuance of man on this area. We have along all the 

 water courses excellent stone implements, with soapstone vessels and 

 fragments of pottery. On the hills back from the waters the pottery 

 disappears and the stone artefacts are decidedly ruder. 



On the western side of the Mount Vernon estate, upon a high hill two 

 miles back from the Potomac Eiver, lies the Woodlawu mansiou, the 

 home of Nellie Custis, Washington's favorite granddaughter. Here is 

 found what may almost be called the Woodlawu type of ax, so rude is it, 

 a flatfish oval pebble, barely chipped at one end for an edge, and having 

 the least possible working at the hafting place. No pottery or arrow- 

 heads or other finely flaked implements occur here. All the pieces are 

 coarse and many types are wanting. 



The two theories that confront us are these : 



First. There were two waves of population that swept over this area, 

 the later being that of the John Smith Indians, the former ruuning 

 back, some say, into paleolithic times. 



Second. The shore collections stand for the dwelling places of the 

 Indians, while the pebble-abounding hills farther back were the work- 

 shops of the same people where they fabricated their implements aud 

 where they abandoned chips, spalls, cores, broken artefacts, and such 

 as could not be satisfactorily finished. 



