1789 St Ferdinand Church Excavation BLOG

Thursday afternoon brought a flurry of activity at the excavation site. The archaeologists were busily sweeping away excess dirt and misting the site down with water. Why the sudden fuss? The Archaeological Research Center staff and volunteers were preparing for a press conference that would announce that enough funding was obtained by the Old St. Ferdinand Dig Committee to extend the Church excavation for an additional 2 weeks. Channels 2, 4, 5, 11, Florissant City Cable and a reporter from the Florissant Independent News were covering the conference and Florissant's Chief of Police, the Health Department, Parks Department, Street Department, City Clerk, Community Development, Director of Finance, and Councilman Tom Schneider were present when when Mayor Lowery made the announcement.

The mayor turned the podium over to Committee Chairperson Gretchen Crank and Principal Archaeological Investigator Joe Harl. Joe led the press on a tour of the presbytery, pointing out the kitchen, chimney area, bedroom quarters and the building's wall trenches and post holes. In his characteristic easygoing manner, Joe discussed how the artifacts were shedding light on French Colonial culture. The French selectively adapted certain British and American Indian traditions and the remaining artifacts are telling us what these settlers found interesting and important.

It was exciting to see the press and City employees mingling together to learn about and see the first excavation of a Colonial French site in the St. Louis area. And it has been especially exciting to know that we can now continue the excavation for another two weeks.

Visit us at Spanish Land Grant park, located on St. Ferdinand and St. Denis streets and take a peek into the past. Walk around the presybytery grounds, look at previously discovered artifacts and chat with the archaeologists about life on the frontier. The excavation site is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from the hours of 9am -5pm.

For directions to the park, or additional information on our St. Ferdinand Church dig, please contact

Gretchen Crank (314)838-5085
gcrank@1789stferdinand.org

or 

Mound City Archaeological Society at moundcity@missouriarchaeology.org

Be sure to check the blog often. Photographs of an interesting discovery will be posted soon!

Posted by Colleen C at 10:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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Wednesday marked the beginning of a 2-week long archaeological dig in Spanish Land Grant Park in Florissant MO. This is the last of a series of excavations that began in May 2004 and the main purpose of this dig is to find the original St. Ferdinand Church constructed in 1789. Besides finding the location of the church, many have been curious to the method of the building’s construction. Was the church made of logs placed in a horizontal fashion in Anglo tradition, or was the church created in the French colonial style with the trees cut, fitted and placed in a vertical fashion?

During that first dig, The Archaeological Research Center (ARC) and volunteers from the Old St. Ferdinand Archaeological Dig Committee and Mound City Archaeological Society set to digging in the southeast corner of the park and uncovered what appeared to be a burial ground instead of the anticipated remnants of the church. Out of respect for the dead, the coffins were left untouched and our professionals set off to excavate another portion on the southwest corner of the park. The dig ended with a cliffhanger when a series of postholes were discovered on that corner of the lot. Could this at last be the very church everyone was hoping to find? Or was this the remnants of a rectory? The question would remain unanswered until the next excavation event, but everyone knew for certain that the building was indeed constructed in the French vertical style.

During a week-long excavation in October 2004 and another six week excavation that began in May 2005, the southwest corner of the park revealed the remains of the church presbytery, an outside bake oven and an exciting array of English dinnerware, tea cups, saucers, wine bottles, buttons, pipe stems and surprisingly, Indian artifacts that included brass tinklers, gunflint and a black bear tooth.

During the last excavation, the ARC returned to explore the southeast portion of the park and found the impression of another vertical post. Have we finally discovered the original St. Ferdinand Church?

We invite you to visit Spanish Land Grant Park, located on St. Ferdinand and St. Denis streets. The excavation site is on the southeast corner of the park and there will be an information table with artifacts to inspect and knowledgeable professionals to chat with while you witness the first excavation of a French Colonial site in the St. Louis area.

 For information on the dig or directions to the park, please email

Gretchen Crank at gcrank@1789stferdinand.org

or 

 Mound City Archaeological Society at moundcity@missouriarchaeology.org

Posted by Colleen C at 09:00 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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