First day of field school.....

Today was the first day of field school. We arrived early and spent the first 3 hours doing boring introductions, and a tour of the whole facility. Not only do the grounds contain the archeology sites, they also are the home to administrative offices, museum spaces, scenic walks, restored landscapes, and outdoor educational activity spaces. Then we went to lunch (when I saw we, I mean the 8 field school interns and our teacher Dr. Phillip Levy, and his son Felix who is 7 years old).

After lunch we went to the filed to work with Paul, the field supervisor. Paul is an archaeologist. He gave us all the information we needed to start using the tools and excavating our 5' squares. And, we learned how to use Munsell color charts to record the soil. Then we set out marking the grid for our squares. This ended up being more difficult than we thought it would be and it took us an hour and a half to mark 3 squares. We finally started digging, removing the grass first (this is as far as we got). I found an artifact! It was just a bent nail or piece of wire, but I was very proud of myself.

Now I'm ready for a nice warm shower, but the hot water isn't working in hte dorm building. Our TA Justin says he's contacted the school's maintenance about it, but it's been out for 2 days now. It's annoying.

A tiny bit of Fredericksburg Civil War history...

Fredericksburg was the setting of the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862.


Here's the confederate cemetery taken today on Memorial Day:






























And, here is the building on whose steps President Abraham Lincoln stood and gave a speech when he visited Fredericksburg after Union occupation:

Fredericksburg, VA and Washington, DC

I arrived safely Thursday afternoon in Fredericksburg. After getting a late start from Fayetteville, I arrived here around 4:00pm. The town is really nice. It reminds me of a southern Edgartown, MA. (For those of you who don't know, that is on Martha's Vineyard.) I had a chance to walk from University of Mary Washington campus (where we're staying) to downtown Fredericksburg. It's all of 15 minutes to walk from one end of town to the other. The dorms that we're staying in are what you might expect from a dorm. They were built in the 30's by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Thanks, New Deal!

Friday morning I traveled to Washington, DC (I drove to Springfield, the last Metro stop, parked my car, and took the train into DC). I did all of the monuments, saw the White House, and toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). There are some assorted pictures below. But the most exciting thing was.......Chris Tucker was in the tour group at the BEP! He was very nice. And, he was with a woman who may or may not have been a former member of Destiny's Child. I'm waiting on Mark to confirm it.

I stayed the night in a hostel in DC. This was a first for me. It was OK but I'm not sure that I'd do it again. Hosteling people seemed to be either Europeans looking to get the most out of their cheap American Dollar, or crazy Americans who longed for a hippie commune lifestyle. Either way, I don't think it's for me.

Saturday I did some more DC gallivanting. The National Archives was very good. I enjoyed it tremendously. The rest of the day was kind of a bust....I walked by the Capitol building and the Jefferson building of the Library of Congress. By 1:00pm I was making my way back "home" to Virginia.

Two of my fellow archaeologist people arrived this afternoon, and I think we're going to get some dinner soon.





The white house. There were a lot of protesters in front of it.



Honest Abe.



The National Archives building.



This is an example of a you-too-can-be-in-the-National-Archives letter. I thought it was cute! (if you can't read it, just click on it, and it will get bigger)



Who knew Liberty could be so demanding!

Virginia

More to come later....

North Carolina

The plan was to start driving at 7:00am.....well, I woke up around 2:00am and was on the road by 3:00am. It was nice to get a head start, and I arrived in Fayetteville at 1:00pm.

Here's where I'm staying.



It's decent. I'll leave tomorrow morning and drive the rest of the way to Fredericksburg. There will be more updates then!

On the Road.....

I'm heading out tomorrow morning. The plan is to drive 10 hours to Fayetteville, NC and drive the rest of the way Thursday morning. Wish me luck!

New Boots

I bought some new Red Wing boots today.

They have minimal tread so they shouldn't upset the archaeological site too much.


This is my first attempt at posting pictures. I hope they turn out well.

Getting Ready

I leave next week for Virginia. I've been trying to get ready for the trip. Earlier this week I bought some 'work' clothes, and last night we had a meeting with the other USF students about the trip.

I am going to drive and I'd like someone to drive with me. But I think I'll be driving all alone.