Preface 



A luiiiibcr of people participated in the preparation 

 of tliis study. The inspiration for the archeolos;ical 

 .nut historical in\(-stii;.itions came from F'rofcssor 

 ( )scar H. Dartrr. wlio initil 1960 was chairman of 

 the Department of Historical and Social Sciences at 

 Mary Washinijton C'oUeijf, the women's branch of 

 the L'niversity of X'irijinia. The actual excavations 

 were made under the direction of Frank M. Setzler, 

 formerly the head curator of anthropoloijy at the 

 Sniithsunian Institution. None of the investigation 

 would ha\e been fxissible hiid not the owners of the 

 pro|H'rty permitted the excavations to be made, 

 .•itjmrtimcs at considerable inconvenience to them- 

 s<-l\rs. I am indebted to W. Biscoc, Ralph W'hitticar. 

 [r.. and Thomas .Ashby, all of whom owned the ex- 

 cavated areas at Marlborough; and T. Ben Williams, 

 whose cornfield includes the site of the 18th-century 

 Stafford County courthouse, south of Potomac Clreek. 



For many years Or. Darter has been a resident of 

 Fredericksburg and, in the summers, of Marlborough 

 Point on the Potomac River. During these years, 

 he has devoted himself to the history of the .Stafford 

 County area which lies between these two locations 

 in northeastern Virginia. Marllwrough Point has 

 interested Dr. Darter especially since it is the site of 

 one of the \'iri;inia colonial port towns designated 

 by .-Xct of Ancinbly in 1691. During the town's 

 brief existence, it was the location of the Stafford 

 CV>imty courthouse and the place where the colonial 

 planter and lawyer John Mercer established his 

 home in 1 726. Tangible evidence of colonial 

 activities at MarllN)i(iugh Point in the form of 

 brickbats and jxjLshertls .itill can be .seen aft'-' 

 each plowinn. while John Mercer's "Land Bimk 

 examined anew by Dr. Darter, has revealed the on 

 rial survey plats of the port town. 



In this same period and as early as 1938, Dr. T. 

 Dale Stewart (then curator of phvsieal anlhropolo 



at tin- Smithsonian Institution) had commenced 



excavations at the Indian village site of Patawomeckr, 



a few hundred yards west of the Marl' T 



site. The aliorigiiial backgrounds of I' 



ing Marlborough Point already had ijeen investigated. 



As the result of his historical research ■ 



this project, Dr. Stewart has cotitribm 



tally to the present undertaking by foreseeing the 



excavations of .\larll)orough Town as a logical step 



Ix'yond his own investigation. 



Motivated by this combination of interests, circum- 

 stances, and historical clues. Dr. Darter invit..' •' 

 Smithsonian Institution to participate in an .n 

 logical investigation of Marllwrough. Prrliminan- 

 tcsts made in .August 1954 wn •' iitly rrw.T ' — 

 to justify such a project. Cc ;lv, an a| , 



tion for funds was prepared jomtly and was subnutled 

 by Dr. Darter through the l'niversity of \'irgir- ■ ' 

 the .American Philosophical .Society. In I' 

 1956 grant number 1.59, Johnson Fund 

 SI 500 was assigned to the program. In aii 

 Smith.sonian In^iiiuiion contribiitetl the p 

 services nri ■ field research and dire^-irti the 



purchase oi ...i. .....iius and photostats, the drawing 



of maps and illustrations, and the preparation and 

 publication of this report. Dr. Darter ■ 



provided the use of his Marllxirou^h Po; 



during the peritxl of excavation, and Marv W.i- 

 ton College administered the ifranl. Frank ^ 

 directed the excavations duri"" • -.ix-^w.-l i*.- 

 April and May 19.56, while i 

 material and the searches of ! 

 'I were carnetl out by V.. M.i. 



\t the commenccnicnl of a; 



prctetl that (r.ices of the 

 I ! ntury town would l>e fo«i 

 the foundatioits of the rouril 



IS rtot realized, altlKNigh wUm \\.i>. '.Knaid tr> 



