Archaeology program at Poplar Forest digs up history, credits

By Justin Faulconer

Published: July 6, 2008

POPLAR FOREST — Sweating under the hot July sun, Katie Alaimo spent her 22nd birthday digging in Bedford County dirt thousands of miles away from her Oregon home.

She wasn’t complaining.

Tracking down history on tracts of land belonging to Thomas Jefferson — the icon of one of her favorite eras — was a worthwhile endeavor.

Alaimo was among nine students, teachers and history lovers who came to Poplar Forest in the past five weeks.

As part of the retreat home’s 20th annual archaeology field study program, they excavated an area close to Jefferson’s main house and ornamental grounds.

They uncovered a cobbled surface, holes that may have been related to a fence line and a possible foundation trench for a demolished building. Using a map from 1813, they also worked to make sense of a square on the map surrounding the house.

Jack Gary, archaeology and landscapes director for Poplar Forest, said the work provided a first-hand education as well as five college credits.

Participants could take their findings with them into their careers and classrooms, he said.

And the Poplar Forest staff gains more understanding.

“Their work,” Gary said, “is helping us further our knowledge of Poplar Forest.”

The field school is operated by the University of Virginia, which runs three statewide. The others are at Monticello and Jamestown.

A sense of camaraderie developed, Alaimo said, as the interns worked side by side in scorching weather and severe thunderstorms.

The outdoor work is extreme and vigorous with lectures, field trips and laboratory cataloguing of material.

“This is incredibly intense,” said Gary. “You’ve got to be committed in doing it.”

Alaimo, who recently graduated from George Fox University in Oregon as a history major, said she wanted take part in Virginia’s archaeology. She said she plans to use what she is learning in her résumé and for graduate school.

“My school only had history and no archaeology or anthropology,” said Alaimo. “It was a good idea to come to field school and get some background knowledge.”

To Wayne Haney, a high school teacher from Michigan, it was a chance to do something he always wanted.

“I read about it and teach about it but have never done it,” said Haney, 43. “To be able to get my hands dirty and try it personally I felt was important for my students as much as for me.”

Haney is also glad to secure the credits for a graduate degree he is pursuing at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.

A public school teacher for the past 11 years and former college professor, Haney said he has been to Virginia many times before to explore Civil War history.

This was his first trip to Lynchburg. The students stayed in town homes at Lynchburg College during the program.

Other participants came from Alabama, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.