Ferryland: What We Know - Artifacts

Ferryland: What We Know

The Fishery: From Industry to Settlement

Sir George Calvert: Founding Proprietor

The Kirke Family: Merchant Patrons

War: Death & Destruction

Dating: Clues, Clues, Clues

The Privy: History down the Drain

Stratigraphy: Just One Thing Under Another

Status: Who's in Charge Here?

The Living Site: Recent Discoveries

Bottle seals

Miscellaneous Artifacts

Pipe makers' marks

Artifact Explorer

Ferryland: What We Know

This is the introductory case for the exhibit and for the Interpretation Centre. The main image had to be bold and colourful, and relevant to the overview nature of this case.

The background photo shows work on the site, with modern Ferryland in the background.

The inset images suggest the historical (aerial) and current (dig) nature of Ferryland, with visual links to its early history (map and Beothuk point).

Theme Text
In the 1500s fishermen from France, Portugal and England's West Country caught and dried cod at Ferryland every summer. This activity soon attracted visits by Newfoundland's Beothuk Indians.

In 1621 Sir George Calvert, later Lord Baltimore, founded the original Colony of Avalon, under royal charter, and sent men and women to build a settlement. After spending the winter here in 1628-29, he moved on to found the American colony of Maryland.

In 1638, Sir David Kirke took control under a new charter for a Newfoundland Plantation. After his death in 1654 Lady Sara Kirke ran his large fishing premises at Ferryland's Pool Plantation. The Dutch attacked and damaged this in 1673 and French forces destroyed Ferryland completely in 1696. The English planters soon returned and Ferryland flourished in the 1700s, when many new settlers arrived from Ireland.

Display Case
The selection represents all themes.

North Devon Coarse Earthenware Sgraffito Dish - CgAf-2: Restored Vessel 14 Planter House, 1670-1690

North Devon Butter Pot CgAf-2: 86674 (base) 135385 (body) Planter House, 1650-1700

Rhenish Brown Coarse Stoneware Bellarmine Bottle - CgAf-2: Restored Vessel 2 Waterfront, 1600-1650

Beothuk Stone Points and Scrapers CgAf-2: various Hearth under Smithy, 1520-1570

Fish Hook - CgAf-2: 23683 Waterfront, 1670-1700

Crystal Wine Glass Stems CgAf-2: 16793 77365a Waterfront, 1700-1800

Drawer 1
Ceramic Sherds - Pieces of broken pottery are among the most frequent finds on archaeological sites of historic times. Earthenware was the most commonly used material for containers in the period and even after breakage it is durable enough to last for centuries. These are some of the ceramics from a single excavated context at the Waterfront Premises near the Pool.
(CgAf-2: Event 9, Coarse Earthenware, 1690s).

Drawer 2
Glass Sherds - Glass is another common find on historic sites. Olive- green wine bottles are unusually common at the Colony of Avalon. These are some of the glass finds from a mixed deposit near the Planter's House.
(CgAf-2: Event 63, Glass, about 1650-1850).

Drawer 3
Clay Tobacco Pipes - Clay tobacco pipes are also typical of post- medieval sites. Newfoundland fishermen seem to have smoked a lot. These are some of the thousands of broken stems and bowls recovered from a single seventeenth-century context in the Planter's House, and less than five per cent of the pipes excavated to date.
(CgAf-2 Event 62, Pipe Stems and Bowls, about 1660-1690).

Only a sampling of the artifacts contained in this display are shown here. For a listing of the artifacts in the Ferryland: What We Know display case please refer to the Artifact List.