WINDHAM, Maine
(NEWS CENTER) - Wednesday was the last day on the job in 2015 for a team of volunteers and professionals digging up an historic site in Windham.
They've been excavating the site of a fort that stood at the top of a hill on River Road in Windham. The fort was there from 1744 to 1788. It is believed to have been about fifty feet wide and fifty feet long.
The crew is looking for articafts. They dig about two-and-a-half feet down, then sift through the soil looking for anything they might find that provides a snapshot of life in colonial Maine. "You're constantly working in your mind, looking for little clues, trying to put things together," explains Leith Smith from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. "Initially, was the fort site here? And then what can we find to definitely say the fort is here in the form of features, the artifacts? Yeah, it's thrilling. It's fun." He adds "I love my job," with a laugh.
The Maine Department of Transportation will be making improvements to the road in the future. But the Historic Preservation Commission will complete its work first, before the D.O.T. crews dig up the property.
So, what have these history detectives turned up so far? Their discoveries include nails, window glass, earthenware, a tobacco pipe, pig's teeth and more. "Of particular interest is this silver cuff link. And it has a crown and two hearts under the crown," says Smith, "That dates from roughly 1650 to the 1700s."
The crew is wrapping up this week because winter is coming. They'll cover up the dig site, go back for more excavation next year, and then the D.O.T. is expected to make its repairs to the road in 2017 after the preservation work is completed.
