Maritime Archaeology at Shirley Plantation

Maritime Archaeology at Shirley Plantation

What lurks in the river at one of the oldest colonial sites in America

In 2011, Charles Hill Carter III, 11^th generation owner of Shirley Plantation, continues the search for answers on the maritime history of the longest family business in America. Shirley’s land grant dates to 1613, making it the Colony of Virginia’s first plantation, a site dedicated to production of crops or commodities shipped to often-distant markets.

By the 1640s, the Hill family settled at Shirley and was well established in agriculture and shipping.  Seeking to find the 17^th- and 18^th-century wharves and what they might reveal about Shirley’s history, Carter funded an ongoing maritime cultural resource survey.  Its purpose is to determine the extent of the history and archaeological remains along the Shirley Plantation shoreline. The presence and absence of artifacts in a specific area along the shoreline can indicate historic activities or the lack thereof at a specific site.  

Archaeological investigations have focused on the wharf complex north of the Great House and with the help of volunteers have extended to include the entire shoreline of the plantation.  Archaeologist Taft Kiser, geologist Charles “Chee” Saunders of Marshall Miller & Associates, and East Carolina University graduate student in Maritime Archaeology Theresa Hicks have documented surviving pilings and loose frames associated with four remaining wharf structures.  Other preliminary evidence indicates two or more possible earlier dock sites along the shore.

Waterscape development during the colonial period arose from the lack of sufficient and convenient roads. Water transportation such as ferries, canoes, boats, and ships enabled commercial and agricultural industries to develop in the immense river systems of the colonial south.  Rivers provided conduits for early development and prosperity.


Steam Packet at Shirley Wharf in mid 1800s.

 Wharves, jetties, docks, piers, and landing sites transferred cargo, people, and information from land to sea and back again.  Waterfront landings and wharves are interface archaeological sites between rural plantations and the British Atlantic trade network.

Maritime commerce is central to Shirley’s history. Wharves at Shirley Plantation were used for exporting tobacco, corn, and wheat while importing furniture, dishware, clothing, and farm equipment, among many other goods and crops.

Shirley Wharf in late 1800s as seen from
weather deck of departing steamer.

Edward Hill I’s house at Shirley Hundred was designated in 1659 as the location to pay taxes in the form of corn. Edward Hill II collected customs for the Upper James River District from 1699-1702 at the plantation.  Edward Hill III owned sailing vessels that regularly made trips to England with cargos of tobacco in exchange for manufactured goods. He also undertook shipbuilding on the property and maintained a ferry crossing the river from the Shirley dock to Bermuda Hundred.

During Elizabeth Hill Carter and Bowler Cocke’s residence at Shirley, in 1771 a major flood damaged the plantation and surrounding countryside.  A 1771 newspaper account noted the level of maritime commerce when it stated the flood drove the sailing ships at Shirley Plantation from their moorings 3 miles downriver to City Point. Later, during the 1800s, steamboats brought passengers and mail to Shirley Plantation.

      Documentation of pilings at the19th century wharf.

Current maritime archaeology involves a variety of methods.  The investigators use a sub-meter GPS to plot the location of each piling and frame visible above water as well as those hidden below onto an overall site map. The resulting map shows four individual wharf structures running as much as 60 feet into the James River.  Based on wood degradation, it is believed that each structure represents a different time span dating from the late 1700s to the early 1900s.

Mr. Carter and volunteers documenting
Shirley Plantation's shorline.

The shore line survey of artifacts by location involves a "catch and release" collection of finds to analyze occupation and use dates of the riverfront. The goal is to sample enough of the shoreline's historic artifacts to determine whether there are concentrations of 17^th, 18^th, or 19^th century artifacts in proximity to known cultural landscape markers such as wharf sites and outbuildings.

Thus far, investigators and volunteers have surveyed 2000 feet of Shirley’s shoreline.  A previously unknown fifth wharf was revealed near the manor house as well as livestock fence lines running into the river, and, a sixth dock possibly part of the 1742 boat house.

Carter is also teamed with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) of the College of William and Mary to conduct sediment core and side scan sonar studies of the river bottom just off the shore. Initial sediment cores yielded a number of artifacts and indicate silt has been deposited in distinct layers over time.  In one instance, an early 1800s style of nail was discovered 9 feet below the surface of the river bottom, hinting at an incredible siltation rate and deeper water when the docks were in use.

A preliminary side scan sonar survey of the near shore river bottom indicated several submerged features for future investigation.  Sticking up out of the bottom silt are two sunken vessels, remnant pilings, possible dock construction materials and a number of objects that will need to be explored.

Since the first 1613 land grant was issued to Sir Thomas West just six years after the first official English colony, Shirley Plantation’s establishment as a thriving new world economic engine would not have been possible without the role of the James River.  With continued archaeological research of the maritime history in search of wharves and other shoreline structures connected to Shirley Plantation, vital information is being uncovered.  This information will provide a better understanding of the history of commerce, economics, social communications, politics, war, and transportation along the maritime highways of America.