New York area;*'' apparently they were a common 

 source of amusement in the 18th century. 



STABLE RELICS AND METAL TOOLS 



Among the metal finds, items grouped under this 

 heading are the most numerous. The presence of so 

 many objects of an equestrian nature leads one to 

 believe that the stables were situated in the vicinity 

 of the pit, that is, west of the mansion. The indica- 

 tions of iron-working can reasonal)ly point to the 

 e.xistance of a smithy in the same area. If the stables 

 were there it would seem a natural corollary that the 

 forge should be there too. It seems probable that 

 the Rosewell forge undertook repairs to carriages and 

 farm tools, shod horses, and may even ha\e made 

 simple tools and hinges. The evidence for the last 

 activity is derived from three crudely made kni\es 

 (fig. 23, no. 10: fig. 36, nos. 2-4) and two apparently 

 home-made hinges (fig. 38, nos. 1, 2). But in ac- 

 cepting these items as local products, one must bear 

 in mind the fact that John Page is known to have 

 ordered his nails from England. However, this can, 

 perhaps, be explained by the size of the order, a 

 quantity that would be as cheap to import from Eng- 

 land as it would be to try to make on the plantation. 

 The belief that there was a forge there at all is based 

 only on the evidence of the many fragments of waste 

 iron (examples in fig. 23j that were found in the pit. 



It has often been suggested that the absence of 

 paved streets and of hard, rocky roads in the Tide- 

 water area made it unnecessary for horses to be shod. 

 Archeological evidence is scant. The majority 

 of the horseshoes found in WiUiamsburg excavations 

 are unstratified and could easily be of 19th-century 

 date. Ne\ertheless, in recent years a few shoes have 

 been found in dated contexts, the earliest belonging 

 to the decade 1740-1750. Research in this direction 

 in England has resulted in the identification of cer- 

 tain trends; for example, the absence of toe-caps 

 before the 19th century, the presence of more than 

 four nail holes per side on shoes from the 18th century 

 onward. Unfortunately, the number of horseshoes 

 found so far in Virginia has been insufiicient either to 

 support or disprove these rules, but the presence of 

 only four holes on either side of the Rosewell shoe 

 does nothing to promote confidence in them. 



There are no written records to indicate whether 

 the Pages pos.sessed a carriage, although it might 

 reasonably be assumed that they did. Here arche- 

 ological evidence is more helpful, for the recovery of 

 the handsome brass harness buckle (fig. 22, no. 1) 

 and the harness ornaments (nos. 6-8) clearly indicate 

 that there was at least some coach harness at Rose- 

 well. Another ornament (no. 3) and a fragment 

 from a decorative brass mounting (no. 9) point to the 

 same conclusion. Also, the base of a brass terret 

 (no. 2) is more likely to have been associated with a 

 coach or carriage saddle rather than with a vehicle of 

 lesser stature. A purely utilitarian farm harness 

 would normally have had fittings of iron, and relics of 

 such fittings include four iron buckles (fig. 38. nos. 

 9-12) and fragments from two iron hub sleeves (one 

 is shown in fig. 38, no. 7). No bits or stirrups sur- 

 vived as relics of the horseman at Rosewell, but 

 two broken spurs — one of iron (fig. 38, no. 8) and 

 the other of brass (fig. 22, no. 12) — were found. 



The number of brass and copper items recovered 

 proved to be surprisingly large compared to the small 

 quantities found in the average trash deposit in nearby 

 Williamsburg.''^ Many of the items were nothing 

 more than .scraps of waste metal, trimmings from ob- 

 jects whose identity cannot be deduced (fig. 24. nos. 

 1-3, 5, 8). However, these trimmings are of con- 

 siderable interest iiecause they definitely indicate that 

 the Rosewell workshop or shops could handle metals 

 other than iron. Perhaps the most significant of all 

 the finds with such associations was a lump of un- 

 shaped stone streaked with \eins of copper ore, a 

 combination of malachite and hemadte. The re- 

 covery of this item caused a good deal of speculation. 

 It certainly was not indigenous to the area, and it 

 seemed highly unlikely that the Pages would have 

 transported or imported ore simply to obtain enough 

 metal to supply their needs at Rosewell, needs which 

 could well have been met by the purchase of scrap. 



*■ W. L. Calver and R. P. Bolton, History Writlen with Pick and 

 Shovel, New York, New York Historical Society, 1950, p. 80, 

 pi. 4. 



"In the summer of 1 960 after this report had been completed, 

 an important brass bookbinder's tool was found by a student in 

 the \ icinitv of the Page graveyard. The object was used to im- 

 press into leather bindings a foliate device incorporating the 

 head of a fox. The shape of the tool, with its T form and long 

 cast tang, was comparable to a number of such objects found on 

 the printing office site of the 18th-century Virginia Gazette on 

 Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg. There is no doubt 

 that this new find is of colonial date, and it may be assumed 

 that bookbinding (or at least leather decorating) was among 

 the crafts practiced at Rosewell. (See fig. 6.) 



PAPER 18: EXCAVATIONS AT ROSEWELL 



175 



