Chair of the Anthropology Department and Professor in the Archaeology Program Doug Charles has stumbled upon a new find in an unexpected location: between Neon Deli and the Freeman tennis courts. The site is the original location of the American Methodist Episcopal Zionist Church, the center of Middletown’s African American community in the early 19th century, and one of the first such community spaces for free blacks in the country.
Charles and his Field Studies class have spent the past several weeks searching the site for historical artifacts that might contribute not only to Middletown’s history, but also to a richer understanding of how African American communities came together in 19th century Connecticut.
According to Charles, his students have been searching primarily for domestic objects.
“We’ve been trying to gather insight into the lives of the families that lived in that neighborhood,” he said.
Charles outlined how the excavation project came into being when the University began preparations for the Fauver dorms. According to Charles, a group of historians analyzed proposed building sites and found evidence of metallic objects underground in one of them. The site was consequently declared off-limits.
Historians further researched the area and discovered that it was the original site of the first Zionist church in Middletown. Soon after, the State of Connecticut declared the area a State Historic Site.
There was more than just a church on the site, however; according to Charles, an extensive, thriving African American community existed. The son of the Zionist Church’s first pastor built an entire neighborhood around the church. Charles said that many of the houses on Vine Street were originally part of this neighborhood, but renovations have destroyed most historical evidence.
“The neighborhood slowly transformed as more ethnic groups moved in,” he said. “The makeup of the neighborhood changed, and eventually it lost its status as an African-American community.”
As a result of this movement, most remnants of the neighborhood are underground—including the foundation for a large outbuilding that has not yet been identified.
While little has been found thus far in the excavation, Charles attributed this more to time constraints than a dearth of artifacts. He also commented that poor weather has put off much of the search.
“Many times this semester we haven’t been able to dig because it’s been too cold, or raining,” he said.
Since most of the descendants of the neighborhood’s families have dispersed across the country, Field Studies students have had a difficult time determining the exact identities of many of the neighborhood’s inhabitants. Further complicating research, many members of the community were runaway slaves and were never recorded in town or national census records.
Alice McKenney ’08, a TA for the class, echoed Charles’s statement that time constraints have limited the finds thus far.
“Because excavations only began the weekend after spring break, nothing too notable has been found as of yet,” McKenney said. “However, if excavations pan out the same way this year as they did last year when I took the course, we are likely to find a lot of rusty metal, charcoal, and other items that are indicative of garbage dumps, privies, or outdoor cooking spaces.”
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