Overturning the Turnbull Settlement: Artifact Analysis of the Old Stone Wharf in New Smyrna Beach, Florida

This thesis is a report on an internship at the New Smyrna Museum of History, which primarily focused on the analysis of artifacts found at the primary import and export site of the Turnbull Settlement, called the Old Stone Wharf (8VO4298). The Turnbull settlement in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, was a plantation settlement founded by Dr. Andrew Turnbull of England, using the labor force of primarily European indentured servants. The settlement only lasted from 1768 to 1777. After it failed, all the inhabitants moved 75 miles north to St. Augustine and were able to flourish there, leaving a descendent community that still exists today. Why did the Turnbull settlement fail? We know there were several droughts, and that Turnbull seemed to not have a firm grasp of management of the settlement. Despite that, Governor Grant of St. Augustine in this time period assisted in supplying the settlement and providing goods and supplies to help the settlement survive, but the settlement still failed. Turnbull requested a great many materials and provisions, and there had previously been a revolt within the first month of the settlement’s establishment. Regardless of why it happened, we know that the people of the Turnbull settlement in New Smyrna Beach abandoned the area in 1777 and sought solace in St. Augustine’s embrace. My research examines the archaeological signature of this settlement, using digital elevation modeling to try to identify features from the plantation, and cataloguing the material culture recovered from the wharf site. By analyzing the artifacts from the wharf, this thesis examines what these materials tell us about the lives of the people working the land and trying to make the settlement survive. These artifacts may provide clues to the types of material being brought into New Smyrna for the survival of the short-lived plantation