An Archaeological and Spatial Exploration of Yard Use at the Oval Site, Stratford Hall Plantation: A Mid-18th-century Mixed-Use Site on the Northern Neck of Virginia

The Oval Site (44WM80) is located on the grounds of Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia and was excavated by the Department of and Center for Historic Preservation at Mary Washington College/the University of Mary Washington between 2001- 2014. The Oval Site was one component of a larger eighteenth-century plantation and is comprised of four structures. These buildings are currently interpreted as an overseer’s house, a barn, a kitchen, and an unidentified building. The kitchen had also served as a quarter for the enslaved Africans and/or African Americans that worked on this site. Using methods developed in landscape archaeology studies, I will be examining the relationship between these buildings and by extension the relationship the inhabitants had with one another through an analysis of refuse disposal patterns, as shown through artifact distribution analyses. This research can aid in highlighting and expanding the narrative of historically excluded and/or underrepresented groups in studies focused on 18th century Virginia