Archaeology conducted by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation on the Bruton Heights property between 1990 and 1995 revealed a complex plantation landscape shaped by John Page and his successors between 1655 and 1730. Features of the Page plantation identified archaeologically include the remains of the Page manor house (1662), a substantial outbuilding with a brick foundation, a brick and roofing tile production site, an earthfast structure, as well as several boundary features and trash pits which chronicle the layout and use of the property.

John Page was born in England in 1627 and came to Virginia in 1650. He was typical of the second wave of immigrants who arrived after 1650 in that he was educated, prosperous, and had come from a family of higher social standing. These qualities allowed him to move freely in the upper strata of Virginia society and politics. Page served in the House of Burgesses beginning in 1655 and became the head of the York County militia when he was appointed Sheriff of the county in the early 1670s. However, the culmination of his political career came in 1680 when he was appointed to Virginia's Council of State.

Page acquired the property where the Bruton Heights school now stands in 1655, from Col. George Reade. This 100-acre parcel described as "lying & being upon the Pallizadoe of the Middle Plantation in the County of York" contained much of what was to become the City of Williamsburg. Page's Middle Plantation tract included present-day Duke of Gloucester Street, Nicholson Street, and part of Francis Street. John Page died in March, 1692, leaving his Middle Plantation property to his son Francis. Unfortunately, Francis did not live long enough to enjoy his father's bequest. He died three months later, leaving a "brick mault house, and brick barn" in addition to several other "houses att Middle Plantacon".

The Page landscape appears to have taken shape in the years immediately following the construction of the manor house in 1662. Moreover, the evidence suggests that this landscape remained dynamic for over sixty years. Throughout the second half of the seventeenth century, buildings appeared, fences were moved, and different elements came and went. Despite the fact that much of the Page landscape lies obscured beneath the school structures built in the 1940s, the various landscape features identified during the investigation shed light into how this early colonial plantation functioned as an integrated whole. The attached chart displays the results of a simple exercise in occurrence seriation using tobacco pipes, glassware, and ceramics. Major Features are arranged from earliest to most recent based on artifact content.

I. A fence line (Fence line A), identified during the excavation of the kiln site located east of the extant school building, provides the earliest indication of historic-period activity on the Bruton Heights property. The remains of twelve post holes aligned on a northerly axis marked the location of the fence line. Artifacts recovered from the post holes consist of a brick fragment and nine pieces of badly degraded Venetian glass. Moreover, a kiln-related feature cuts one of the post holes, suggesting the fence stood prior to the brick making activity on the site during the 1660s.

II. A brick and tile manufactory was constructed on the Page property prior to the construction of the house in 1662 (based on the dated brick cartouche recovered during the excavation of the Page house cellar). The archaeological evidence from the site includes an irrigation trench, a clay borrow pit, three clay tempering areas, pugmill and water barrel stations, as well as an earthfast building, all symmetrically organized around a single kiln. A post structure built approximately forty feet southwest of the kiln was probably constructed as a molding and drying shed for bricks and tiles. Although no temporally diagnostic artifacts were found in association with the structure, the notable absence of brick and tile fragments suggests that the building was constructed prior to the firing of the kiln. Artifacts recovered from the post holes included six nails, two domestic pipe stem fragments, a piece of glass, and two pieces of furniture hardware. Given the paucity of artifacts and the few repair posts (2), this structure does not appear to have lasted beyond the operation of the brick and tile manufactory in the early 1660s.

III. A rectangular updraft-type kiln consisting of a firebox and a stoking pit was the centerpiece of the brick and tile making operation at Bruton Heights. The firebox measured twelve feet-by-11½ feet and was excavated to a depth of three feet, suggesting a capacity of 15,000 to 24,000 bricks and tiles per firing. Although pit kilns of this type were usually fired more than once, the absence of a refractive lining (such as under-fired brick) indicates the Page kiln was semi-permanent in nature. Artifacts recovered from the kiln fill consist of thirty-three pieces of case bottle glass, eight domestic pipe fragments, two imported stems with 8/64s inch bores, and three kaolin pipe fragments.

IV. An outbuilding was discovered thirty feet northwest of the manor house. The building was large by seventeenth-century standards, measuring approximately fifty feet by thirty feet. Excavation revealed a foundation 1½ bricks wide. Unlike the main house, the outbuilding lacked a cellar. Given the width of the brick foundation, this building may have stood one-and-a-half stories high. Artifacts recovered from the builder's trench of this structure suggest that it was built at the some time around 1662 when the manor house was constructed. Artifacts from the builder's trench include eight domestic pipe fragments, six kaolin pipe fragments, a piece of wine bottle glass, three pieces of roofing tile, and a piece of undecorated tin-enameled ware.

Architectural debris recovered from a large trash pit located on the northern side of the building suggests that it may have been constructed of brick, fitted with casemate windows, and covered with roofing tile fired on the property. Interior details recorded during the excavation included the remains of an H-shaped hearth which divided the structure into two bays with a lobby entrance. Oddly, the offset position of the chimney indicates that at least one door was located on the northern side of the building away from the main house. It is possible that this entrance opened into a work yard hidden from view of the main house. Moreover, this configuration might also suggest that the area immediately behind the main structure was a more formal space. The outbuilding identified at Bruton Heights appears to have served as both a work area and quarter for servants and, later, slaves.

V. Artifacts recovered from the irrigation trench located on the kiln site helped to establish the chronology for kiln related features on the Page site Over three hundred feet of the trench was exposed during the excavation of the kiln site. Unfortunately, the trench extended beyond the northern boundary of the project area and its terminus was never located. Excavated sections of the trench reveal a triangular ditch, approximately five feet wide at the top and three feet deep. An assemblage of 388 artifacts was recovered from the trench. While this assemblage is primarily architectural and industrial in nature, a fair number of datable objects were recovered including nine domestic pipe fragments, six imported stems with 7/64s inch bores, nine case bottle fragments, nine wine bottle fragments, and seventeen pieces of unused roofing tile. The absence of pipe fragments, glassware and ceramics dating later in the seventeenth century suggests this feature was filled in the 1660s, prior to widespread activity on the site.

VI. A fence line (Fence line B) constructed on the kiln site suggests that the area located northeast of the manor house was converted into an enclosed field or work yard after brick making ceased in the 1660s. Eighteen post holes set on nine foot centers comprise this feature. Artifacts recovered from the holes generally reflect the proximity of this feature to earlier kiln-related deposits. Several artifacts including two domestic pipe stems, an imported stem with a 7/64s inch bore, three pieces of case bottle glass, and two pieces of tin-enameled ware suggests that the fence was erected shortly after the kiln site was abandoned.

VII. Only one clay extraction pit, or borrow pit, was identified at Bruton Heights. Although the school was constructed on top of the western portion of this feature, the exposed remains measured in excess of fifty by thirty-seven feet and up to four feet deep. After clay for tile and brick making was removed, the pit was abandoned and slowly silted in. Artifacts recovered from two major layers within the pit suggest the pit was filled in gradually. The lowest layer contained forty-three pieces of case bottle glass and four pieces of shaft-and-globe bottle fragments, including a nearly complete shaft-and-globe bottle with a Billingsley seal dating after 1640. While the lowest layer (Lyr.2) within the pit produced material dating to the mid-seventeenth century, layer one contained later seventeenth-century items such as non-leaded table glass, North Midland slipware, and colonoware. The remains of a hand grenade, a spur, and sword recovered from layer 1 suggest that this borrow pit was open during Bacon's Rebellion. In fact, Page petitioned the Crown for restitution for losses suffered at the hands of Bacon's men.

VIII. Four substantial post holes identified eight feet west of the post structure associated with the kiln. These large posts, set on an eight foot interval, probably represent the remains of a post-and-rail fence (Fence line C). This fence line differs from other features located near the kiln site in that all of the post holes contained a great deal of domestic debris including ceramics, bone, tobacco pipes, table glass, and 371 pieces of wine bottle. Architectural material was also abundant. A total of 195 roofing tile fragments were recovered from the four holes. In fact, brick and tile were used to shore up posts in two of the holes. Twenty-two window leads, dated 1669 were also recovered, suggesting the material contained in holes dates to the 1670s. All of the artifacts recovered from this fence line come from replacement posts dug directly over original holes. Evidence of the original holes was found in the bottom of three of the holes. As such, fence line C may represent repairs made to the Page plantation in the wake of Bacon's Rebellion. The fact that John Page filed a claim for losses after the rebellion demonstrates that troops under Nathaniel Bacon plundered the his estate in 1676.

IX. A trash pit identified in the "yard" located on the northern side of the outbuilding produced an assemblage dating from the 1670s through 1720. The trash pit measured at least ten feet by fifteen feet and a foot in depth, however the feature continued beyond the project area to the north and beneath the extant school building to the east. Four layers were identified within the feature. However, the artifacts suggest little temporal difference between the layers. Imported pipes with bores of 6/64s inch (10) and 5/64s inch (14) were more frequent than domestic pipe fragments (2). Likewise, wine bottle glass (514) was more common than case bottle glass (12). Leaded table glass (91) introduced after 1670 was also well represented. Ceramics recovered from the trash pit included utilitarian wares such as Fulham stoneware and Iberian jars, as well as more refined wares such as Chinese porcelain (17) and a nearly complete dipped white-salt-glazed cup.

X. Excavation revealed that John Page built a brick cross-plan house at Bruton Heights. The corpus of the house measured nearly thirty-seven feet by twenty-two feet with porch (front - east) and stair (back - west) towers measuring nearly fourteen feet square. Foundations measuring eighteen-inches wide suggest the structure was at least one-and-a-half stories high with two-story towers. Although there was no structural evidence of chimneys or hearths in the cellar, Dutch-type brick concentrated at opposing ends of the cellar suggest that fireplaces were located on the first floor. Plowing and grading subsequently destroyed any evidence of the chimneys located on the flanks of the house. Window leads removed from the cellar provide evidence for casemate windows while carved and molded brick found on the site suggest the structure was very stylish for the day. The remains of a carved brick cartouche bearing a heart, the initials of Anne Page (the "J" or "I" for John was never found) and dated 1662 were also found in the cellar.

Although the dated cartouche provides a solid terminus post quem for the Page manor house, the assemblage excavated from the cellar represents possessions destroyed by fire sometime around 1730. The 35,840 artifacts used to seriate the manor house assemblage attests to wealth of the Page family as well as the longevity of the occupation. Imported pipe stems with 5/64s inch bores (105) were most common among the 190 tobacco pipe fragments. Leaded and non-leaded glass was abundant but overshadowed by the 950 pieces of case bottle glass and nearly 30,000 fragments of wine bottle glass. Much of this material was concentrated in the an area believed to be a wine cellar. Ceramics from the cellar included nearly 2000 pieces of tin-enameled ware, over 800 pieces of Fulham, and 1056 flower pot fragments. The presence of white salt-glaze stoneware and earthenware from the William Rogers pottery in Yorktown attests that the Page house remained in use into the 1720s. The last tenant may have been John Page III, a nephew who died in 1727.

The Page site was completely excavated between 1990 and 1995 in advance of the renovation of the Bruton Heights school for Colonial Williamsburg's new educational facility. Analysis of this site is complete and a report detailing the findings is available through the Colonial Williamsburg Research Publication series.


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